Santa Monica-based Headspace meditation app maker lays off 15% of employees

Mental health and meditation app company Headspace Health laid off 15% of its workers in its second round of job cuts since December amid a wave of layoffs that continues to sweep the tech industry and beyond.

In an internal memo to employees Thursday morning, Chief Executive Russell Glass said the company had “underestimated” how much the current economic environment would affect consumer behavior but remained “committed to being cash-flow positive in 2024 so that we aren’t reliant on outside funding to serve our members.”

The layoffs will affect 181 employees, Headspace spokesperson Sara Lindsey confirmed.

“These changes will equip the company for the future and pave a strong path to profitability,” the company said in a statement.

The bulk of the cuts were made to the teams that create content for Headspace’s meditation app, which has been downloaded more than 70 million times as of 2022, according to Business of Apps. The internal memo also mentioned prioritizing the success of new initiatives in 2024, including a journaling feature powered by artificial intelligence.

The Santa Monica-headquartered company let go of 50 of its 1,200 workers last December. Its competitor, Calm, laid off about 20% of its 400-person staff in August. Calm hit 135 million app downloads at the end of 2022, according to Business of Apps.

Headspace was founded in 2010 by Rich Pierson and Andy Puddicombe, a former Buddhist monk, and was one of the first popular apps for wellness and meditation.

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The company doubled its subscribers in 2020 as Americans’ mental health was strained by a global pandemic and a divisive presidential election. Many of the app’s offerings feature a smiling orange face as Puddicombe’s voice walks users through guided meditation exercises and breath work. Headspace also offers an employee assistance plan for companies to provide mental health benefits for workers.

In 2021, it took on the name Headspace Health after joining forces with Ginger, which provides mental health coaches, in a merger worth an estimated $3 billion, Bloomberg reported. The company also acquired mental health companies Shine, which focused on inclusive wellness content, and Sayana, which utilized AI-power chatting for user mood-tracking, in 2022.

The wave of tech layoffs that began last fall has continued in full force, with Pokemon Go maker Niantic announcing Thursday that it was shuttering an L.A.-based studio and investment app company Robinhood laying off 7% of its workforce, Insider reported.