Breathing.ai may have a solution to restore our brain power at work

My computer screen lights up as Rose Désauguste, cofounder of breathing.ai, provides me with a breathing exercise from its latest feature which is in beta until May. It’s a Wednesday at 3 p.m. and my routine neck pain has begun again so, for me, it’s perfect timing. 

Mini white dots, and masses of friendly purple, mustard yellow, and pale blue align the corners of my face. My BPM appears on the screen, rising from 92 to 98 during the practice. After doing the exercise for a second time, my BPM fell. 

I am advised to “browse the web for 20 minutes” in bold letters typed on screen. The app assesses my stress levels through the webcam. I am ultimately assigned my “calming color,” a warm tan which ultimately fills into my entire screen. I feel instantly relieved. 

Many of us are frying our brains at work. In our progressively automated world, 83% of information workers are stressed, and 58% of those working remotely experience burnout.

Désauguste and her cofounder Hannes Bend hope to provide a solution for that through personalized stress monitoring for every person with a digital device. Having worked at some of the largest Fortune 100 companies, Désauguste has seen firsthand the effects that excessive screen time has on our mental well-being. She chose to study how the brain (and hormones) is shaped by our environments, earning a master’s degree in biomedical science. Bend is pioneer in bio-adaptive technologies who has done some of the earliest research on the use of advanced technology to make mental well-being more accessible. Together they found breathing.ai in 2021.

Breathing.ai uses personalization to humanize the workspace. The mission is to minimize the side effects of excessive screen use by recommending breathing breaks and adapting screen colors to benefit the user’s experience. It is completely unified into the user’s workspace without having to create new habits, according to Désauguste and Bend. 

Their current product, a browser extension providing screen color filters, quick guided resets, and soothing sound waves, has a daily and monthly engagement rate of 42.5% in contrast to the average for mental health apps, which is roughly 3%, according to data published by the National Library of Medicine.

The startup has been operating with funding from Techstars, Expert Dojo, Gaingels, GTM fund, and some angel investors, according to Désauguste. Preferred clients are midsize to large companies whose employees work primarily online and include startups and SMBs (global nonprofits, enterprise law firms, tech startups, and agencies) that range from a dozen to 250 employees.

The mental well-being market comprises roughly 10,000 to 20,000 apps with a revenue estimated at $2.7 billion dollars in 2022. Many of these apps focus on quick daily check-ins and guided meditations, so there may be some competition. Two apps in particular, Calm and Headspace, have generated an impressive following. 

Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, Calm’s revenue increased by $155 million and Headspace’s revenue increased by $85 million. Headspace announced plans to merge with Ginger, an on-demand mental health service in 2021, giving the companies under the Headspace Health umbrella, a combined value of $3 billion. Yet the wellness sector is forecast to reach $9.9 billion in 2030, so there may be some room for other contenders. 

Jonathan Roberts, an industry expert and senior analyst at Forrester, says that as long as “trust, security, usability, and perceived value are aligned” then people will give their data over to “yet another app—especially apps that address some of the current gaps in the solution space.”

Breathing.ai prioritizes data privacy and security, so no actual photos of your face are stored. Also, users have the option to merge their data into the extension to get personalized recommendations rather than using the webcam. Will this be enough to ease people’s minds?

“As the workforce is getting younger and more reliant on these types of support solutions, I don’t see that slowing down,” says Roberts. “Increasingly, employees are going to look for solutions to mitigate modern stressors. Increased screen time, sedentarism, and the commitment to hybrid work formats will continue to drive this market.”

My computer screen lights up as Rose Désauguste, cofounder of breathing.ai, provides me with a breathing exercise from its latest feature which is in beta until May. It’s a Wednesday at 3 p.m. and my routine neck pain has begun again so, for me, it’s perfect timing. 

Mini white dots, and masses of friendly purple, mustard yellow, and pale blue align the corners of my face. My BPM appears on the screen, rising from 92 to 98 during the practice. After doing the exercise for a second time, my BPM fell. 

I am advised to “browse the web for 20 minutes” in bold letters typed on screen. The app assesses my stress levels through the webcam. I am ultimately assigned my “calming color,” a warm tan which ultimately fills into my entire screen. I feel instantly relieved. 

Many of us are frying our brains at work. In our progressively automated world, 83% of information workers are stressed, and 58% of those working remotely experience burnout.

Désauguste and her cofounder Hannes Bend hope to provide a solution for that through personalized stress monitoring for every person with a digital device. Having worked at some of the largest Fortune 100 companies, Désauguste has seen firsthand the effects that excessive screen time has on our mental well-being. She chose to study how the brain (and hormones) is shaped by our environments, earning a master’s degree in biomedical science. Bend is pioneer in bio-adaptive technologies who has done some of the earliest research on the use of advanced technology to make mental well-being more accessible. Together they found breathing.ai in 2021.

Breathing.ai uses personalization to humanize the workspace. The mission is to minimize the side effects of excessive screen use by recommending breathing breaks and adapting screen colors to benefit the user’s experience. It is completely unified into the user’s workspace without having to create new habits, according to Désauguste and Bend. 

Their current product, a browser extension providing screen color filters, quick guided resets, and soothing sound waves, has a daily and monthly engagement rate of 42.5% in contrast to the average for mental health apps, which is roughly 3%, according to data published by the National Library of Medicine.

The startup has been operating with funding from Techstars, Expert Dojo, Gaingels, GTM fund, and some angel investors, according to Désauguste. Preferred clients are midsize to large companies whose employees work primarily online and include startups and SMBs (global nonprofits, enterprise law firms, tech startups, and agencies) that range from a dozen to 250 employees.

The mental well-being market comprises roughly 10,000 to 20,000 apps with a revenue estimated at $2.7 billion dollars in 2022. Many of these apps focus on quick daily check-ins and guided meditations, so there may be some competition. Two apps in particular, Calm and Headspace, have generated an impressive following. 

Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, Calm’s revenue increased by $155 million and Headspace’s revenue increased by $85 million. Headspace announced plans to merge with Ginger, an on-demand mental health service in 2021, giving the companies under the Headspace Health umbrella, a combined value of $3 billion. Yet the wellness sector is forecast to reach $9.9 billion in 2030, so there may be some room for other contenders. 

Jonathan Roberts, an industry expert and senior analyst at Forrester, says that as long as “trust, security, usability, and perceived value are aligned” then people will give their data over to “yet another app—especially apps that address some of the current gaps in the solution space.”

Breathing.ai prioritizes data privacy and security, so no actual photos of your face are stored. Also, users have the option to merge their data into the extension to get personalized recommendations rather than using the webcam. Will this be enough to ease people’s minds?

“As the workforce is getting younger and more reliant on these types of support solutions, I don’t see that slowing down,” says Roberts. “Increasingly, employees are going to look for solutions to mitigate modern stressors. Increased screen time, sedentarism, and the commitment to hybrid work formats will continue to drive this market.”