Mental health and mindfulness app Open has completed a Series A funding round worth US$9m, with Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey among the high-profile investors.

The round was led by existing investors A.Capital Ventures and Founders Fund, alongside Susa Ventures and Aglaé Ventures. Tony Xu, the co-founder of online food ordering platform DoorDash, also took part.

California, US-based Open was launched in 2020 by Raed Khawaja and is marketed as a "social space for meditation, movement, and practice".

It offers on-demand and live classes that combine breathwork, meditation, yoga, Pilates, elements of HIIT to support "transformation and personal development".

Classes are broadcast and recorded in bespoke studios and have been designed to engage the senses and "regulate the nervous system to reach a meditative state that many find elusive".

"Open broadens the world of modern meditation, drawing from practices old and new, designing varied, reliable ways into the present moment," Open said.

"Our approach grounds the experience in your senses, using music, sound, breath, and movement to interrupt the chatter in our minds and anchor in the here and now.

"We believe that meditation is more. More than a form of stress relief – it can be a tool for personal growth, deeper understanding, vibrancy.

"More than a way to disconnect, it can be a community, a way to feel a part of something bigger."

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FEATURE: Research – Monitoring mental health