Nowadays, people are often busy with work and don’t take enough breaks, neglecting their mental health. This inspired Yunha Kim to develop Simple Habit, an app for stress relief through meditation. She pitched her business on Shark Tank but failed to land a deal. As of 2024, Simple Habit is valued at $12 million.
Yunha Kim’s Background
Yunha Kim is from San Francisco, California. She graduated from Duke University and has interned at the United Nations and McKinsey & Company. Kim began her career as an investment banking analyst at Jefferies & Company.
In 2013, her first business venture was co-founding the tech company Locket, an app that delivers targeted news to the lock screen. Kim served as CEO of the company for more than two years until it was acquired by Wish in 2015. While working, she earned an MBA from Stanford University, and her demanding job forced her to find a way to relieve stress after a busy day.
Start the application
In 2015, Yunha dropped out of graduate school to start her second business, developing a meditation app for busy people. While designing the app, she turned to a psychologist at Harvard University for help.
To this end, her app, which was ready in 2016, aims to improve people’s lives by promoting restful sleep and reducing stress levels. It is mainly targeted at overworked young professionals who need comfort.
The standard version of the app is free, but to unlock enhanced features, users must pay $49 to $99 per year. On launch night, 75,000 users signed up for the app, which raised $2.8 million to fund its development.
Shark Tank Talks: A Fierce Exchange
In 2017, Yunha Kim appeared on Season 9 of Shark Tank, asking for $600,000 for a 5% stake. She began her pitch by inviting the Sharks to a moment of meditation. However, she could not have anticipated what would happen next.
At the time, Simple Habit had 500,000 users, with over 5,000 paying customers generating $750,000 in annual recurring revenue. The business was growing 50% quarter-over-quarter, and it was well-funded. Tensions grew when Kim mentioned that only $500,000 of the $2.8 million in funding had been used.
The Sharks were confused as to why she was raising more money. Mark Cuban called her a “gold digger” and others said she was just in it for the publicity. Robert Herjavec and Richard Branson jointly offered $600,000 for a 20% stake, but Yunha turned it down. Yunha couldn’t take the deal because her previous investors had invested at a $10 million valuation.
After Shark Tank: App Growth and Fundraising Success
After the series aired, the app saw a significant increase in downloads, with more than one million users having downloaded the app by the end of 2017. Currently, the app has 5 million users, with an average of 80,000 new members per month.
The publicity and user growth from Shark Tank helped Yunha’s future funding rounds. She raised more than $12.8 million from well-known investors including New Enterprise Associates, Y Combinator and Foundation Capital.
Simple Habit is now one of the top meditation apps alongside Calm, Headspace, and Insight Timer. Well-known websites such as Verywellmind.com have ranked it as the best meditation app based on their choices. Simple Habit’s annual revenue is estimated to be around $5 million, and the company is valued at $12 million.
Categories: Shark Tank
Source: dut.edu.vn
