Why we invested in BRX — our investment thesis
BRX is a new breathe-to-own game developed lead by Bradley Young of Breathonics. Breathonics is an existing business with a working business model, they have a breathing app as well as a hardware for meditation.
I met the founder Bradley 2 years ago as we’re both in the wellness hardware business based in Hong Kong while we were working on KARA smart fitness mirror. We were also recipients of the Tatler Generation.T award and bump into each other often.
Bradley is also a true degen, a web3 native. He started an agency that helps web3 companies with marketing, building discord communities from 0 to 20K members. I’ve been sharing notes and learning from him on web3 marketing strategies for a long time.
I was deeply impressed by Bradley in my meetings with him. He founded Breathonics because he was getting burnt out at his previous job as a high performer at a prestigious marketing agency. He got so burnt out he quit his job and found breath work effective in managing his stress. He was so committed he became a certified breath work coach. He even lead a breath work session with our team and it’s a life changing experience if you’ve never tried breath work.
Whilst yoga and meditation are gaining popularity, breathe work is arguably a more effective form of meditation because you will instantly physically feel the results.
The business of mindfulness is fast becoming a pillar of the $4.5T wellness industry.
Mainstream mindfulness
- The US meditation industry is now worth $1B.
- By 2027, the global alternative healthcare industry — including meditation, acupuncture, breathing exercises, yoga and tai chi, and chiropractic services — will be worth $296.3B.
- Mindfulness is one of the fastest-growing health trends in America, with nearly 14% of people having tried meditation.
Money on the mind
Despite the apparent conflict, this industry isn’t going anywhere, and opportunities for business and revenue growth will continue to rise.
To date, Headspace and Calm have managed to build billion-dollar businesses on the back of this trend. Following their lead, a growing list of startups and investors are hoping that their mindfulness play will hit it big. Recent funding rounds and products launches include:
- WAVE Meditation, a music-driven meditation app and sensory, vibrating pillow, closed $5.65M in seed funding.
- Journey Meditation, a subscription-based group meditation app, landed $2.4M in seed funding.
- Core raised $4M for its handheld meditation training device.
- Calm Radio, a provider of “life-enhancing music” for focus, relaxation, mindfulness, and sleep, secured $1.25M.
- meditation.live, a wellness platform focused on interactive meditation and movement coaching, raised $3M from SoftBank Capital.
- Elevate Labs, a “mental fitness” startup, closed $7.1M in Series B funding after announcing its new personalized meditation app, Balance.
We see alot of potential with the wellness space and when Bradley told me that they want to move into the web3 we jumped at the chance. Today, BRX officially launched their social media accounts. It’s blowing up as we speak.
We believe in breath work changing lives and it makes a great complement to our existing games Dustland Runner, Dustland Rider and DEFY disrupt. We envision players playing all of our games and getting healthy in multiple ways, including their mental health.
It’s still early. Head on over to their website and enter your email address for a SURPRISE.
