Turkish-German mental health app Meditopia has today announced a Series A investment of $15 million. 

The round was co-led by European venture capital firm Creandum, an early backer of Spotify, iZettle, and Klarna, alongside Highland Europe, the European growth investor behind matchesfashion.com, Zwift and Wolt. 

Carl Fritjofsson of Creandum and Fergal Mullen of Highland Europe will join Meditopia’s board of directors. 

WHAT IT DOES

Many meditation apps are built to largely suit the needs of English-speaking, western populations, making them potentially less useful for other demographics.

Meditopia provides resources specifically designed to address cultural differences in the way topics such as sexuality are perceived around the world.

It works with mental health professionals in each of its five regions to develop bespoke plans, tailored to the specific and nuanced needs of that culture, language or country. 

WHAT IT’S FOR

In three years, Meditopia has grown to 14 million users. The funds will be used to further its expansion and services. 

MARKET SNAPSHOT 

Meanwhile, competitor Headspace has built on February's Series C raise with an additional $47.7 million, bringing the round's equity total to $100.7 million.

Sleep and stress app maker Big Health also announced a $39 million Series B raise last month. 

Earlier this year, mental health tech firm Meru scored $8.1 million in Series A funding, while behavioural-health platform SilverCloud raised $16 million in Series B funding.

ON THE RECORD 

Meditopia cofounder, Berk Yilmaz, said: “Our mental wellbeing is deeply rooted in our culture and the events happening around us, the way we speak, people we interact with, the community we live in, politics and so on. These are the main factors that affect our peace. Therefore, mental wellness needs to be handled locally, personalised to our local needs and culture.” 

Meditopia cofounder, Fatih Celebi, said: “We don’t believe there is a one-size-fits-all solution to mental health and with Meditopia we’re helping to provide for the long-term deeply personal, complex needs of people across the globe.”

Partner at Creandum, Carl Fritjofsson, said: “We're now experiencing a new wave of technology which allows users to turn their focus inwards on themselves. We've followed Meditopia for the past two years and have been incredibly impressed by how they've been able to capture this opportunity across the world, all while being one of the most capital-efficient run companies around."

Founding partner at Highland Europe, Fergal Mullen, said: “For too long, the technology available was created for English-speaking groups alone. Meditopia provides the alternative; a solution that helps its members get to the heart of what they need in a way that suits them.”