Journaling App Jour Closes $1.8 Million Seed Round Led by True Ventures
NEW YORK, May 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Journaling app Jour closed a $1.8 million seed round led by early-stage venture capital firm True Ventures. Jour offers a space to maintain a personal journal, encouraging journalers to mindfully reflect and create a record of their lives.
In just four months, Jour organically gained more than 25,000 preorders in the App Store. Since releasing to the public on March 5, 2019, Jour’s community has grown to more than 65,000 users.
“Today, nearly 1 in 5 people have a diagnosable mental illness and mental illness impedes 1 in 25 people from leading their everyday lives,” explained Maxime Germain, Jour CEO and co-founder. “We wanted to create a product that would have a positive impact on personal wellbeing and assist individuals around the world to feel better, calmer, and more present.”
Maxime and his co-founders, Bobby Giangeruso and Justin Bureau, observed that writing exercises such as journaling improve mood, physical health, working memory, and productivity. These benefits were validated in the long-term conclusions of a 2005 study on the effects of expressive writing. The team also found journaling to be an easily implementable and portable practice for themselves, one which requires no previous experience with mindfulness or wellness practices.
The app makes journaling more accessible and effective than ever before by offering a variety of guided Journeys, created with the input of psychology experts. These interactive, step-by-step tracks help journalers focus their practices on not only what they’ve done in the past, but also on how they can continue to grow.
“Max and his team are passionate, highly motivated, and have an incredible eye for beautiful design,” said Kevin Rose, partner at True Ventures. “They are inventive in their use of prompts to guide journaling and getting the user to take that first step toward self-reflection. We’re excited to see how Max and the team grow Jour’s product offerings and teach new communities the benefits of this practice.” Rose brings valuable expertise to the Jour board given his past entrepreneurial endeavors and founding of guided meditation app Oak.
Jour will use this seed round to finance the creation of premium, month-long Journeys, that will incorporate both audio content and written questions. These new, more immersive tracks will, in turn, assist Jour in the company’s long-term vision: to make journaling a more accessible practice in bettering mental health and wellbeing.
About Jour
At Jour, we want people to feel healthy, happy, and empowered. We offer a space to create an authentic record of your life while focusing your thoughts on how you can continue to grow. We’ve created guided, step-by-step support through a wide array of challenges, from dealing with anxious feelings to recording dreams, or from making a necessary life change to feeling a little more day-to-day gratitude. Jour is the mindful companion you can take with you, wherever life takes you.
About True Ventures
Founded in 2005, True Ventures is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that invests in early stage technology startups. With more than $2 billion under management, True provides seed and Series A financing to entrepreneurs in today’s fastest growing markets. The True team believes creativity flourishes when founders are supported fully and empowered to pursue brave ideas. To that end, the firm offers programs that inspire both professional and personal growth. To date, True has helped more than 250 companies launch and scale their businesses, creating over 10,000 jobs worldwide. The firm was awarded 2018 Venture Firm of the Year by the National Venture Capital Association. To learn more, visit www.trueventures.com.
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