What Shine does

Shine is a New York-based, venture-backed consumer technology company founded in 2016 that operated a self-care mobile application targeted at individuals managing anxiety and depression. The product positioned within the digital mental wellness category, offering app-based content and community experiences aimed at a long-tail consumer audience rather than enterprise or clinical buyers. The company was supported by a syndicate of mission-aligned and media-adjacent investors, raising approximately $8.25 million in cumulative funding between 2016 and 2018 across a $750,000 seed round (led by Flybridge), a $2.5 million Series 1 (co-led by Betaworks and Eniac Ventures), and a $5 million Series 2 (led by Comcast Ventures, with participation from The New York Times, Female Founders Fund, BBG Ventures, Felix Capital, and others).

Shine's go-to-market was consumer-direct, relying on app-store distribution and the brand/marketing reach of its investor base, including media properties such as The New York Times and Comcast. The company operated with a small team (11-50 employees) and disclosed only two named leaders — Jonathan Uy as CTO and Luna Ausin as Marketing Manager — consistent with an early-stage, product-led consumer company. Pricing was not publicly disclosed, which is consistent with a freemium consumer mental wellness model, though no subscription tiers, ARPU, or revenue figures were reported. The company's primary website (theshineapp.com) currently appears as an unregistered/parked domain, indicating limited or no active operations at the time of data aggregation.

The input also contains a separate, contradictory data block describing Shine as a European fintech infrastructure platform providing AI-driven banking and payments tools for SMBs and accountants across France, which was acquired by Cegid in 2025. This block appears to describe a distinct entity sharing the same name and is not consistent with the firmographic profile (NYC-based, 2016-founded, self-care app). The investment analysis above is grounded in the self-care app identity supported by the funding history, leadership, and firmographics.

Name

Shine

Legal name

Shine

Website

https://theshineapp.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Acquired

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Shine is a New York-based consumer self-care mobile app founded in 2016 that delivers daily mental wellness content and community support for individuals managing anxiety and depression.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Mental Health & Wellness Apps

NAICS

Offices of Mental Health Practitioners (except Physicians) (621330), Outpatient Mental Health and Substance Abuse Centers (621420)

SIC

Services-Health Services (8000)

akta.pro primary industry

Behavioral Health & Neurocognitive Therapeutics (Digital) (HLACANAI)

Keywords

• Mental health app
• Self-care platform
• Daily meditation
• Anxiety support
• Mindfulness content

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Distribution channels1 record

Core offering

Shine is a self-care mobile app that helps people manage anxiety and depression through daily audio content, mindfulness exercises, and a community-driven support platform. The app delivers personalized wellness content designed to make mental health support accessible and engaging for individual users seeking low-friction, on-demand mental wellness tools.

Product overview

Shine is a European fintech company offering banking and payments tools for SMBs. The company was acquired by Cegid (backed by Silver Lake) to integrate its financial services into a unified AI-driven platform serving over one million SMBs and 15,000 accountants across Europe.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Shine Self-Care App Mobile application delivering daily self-care content, guided audio meditations, mindfulness exercises, and community support features for individuals managing anxiety and depression.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• CegidcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFrench business software provider Cegid is acquiring Shine to expand its small-business and accountancy market share. The deal integrates Shine's banking and payments tools into Cegid's offerings to serve over one million SMBs and 15,000 accountants across several European countries, creating a unified 'finance hub'. Cegid is backed by Silver Lake.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Direct peers

• Calm: Calm is a leading direct-to-consumer meditation and mental wellness subscription app with audio content, sleep stories, and masterclasses - a head-to-head competitor to Shine's self-care app targeting anxiety and depression.
• Headspace: Headspace offers guided meditation, mindfulness, and mental health content via a mobile subscription app - directly competing with Shine for the same anxiety/depression self-care audience and B2B employer channels.
• BetterHelp: BetterHelp provides online therapy and counseling subscriptions including messaging-based self-help resources; overlaps with Shine's anxiety/depression target market via a more clinical delivery model.
• Talkspace: Talkspace offers online therapy with subscription plans for individuals and B2B partners, directly serving people with anxiety and depression - comparable target users and recurring subscription model to Shine.
• Sanvello (Optum): Sanvello is a mental health self-care app offering CBT, mindfulness, peer support and coaching for anxiety, depression and stress - a direct category competitor to Shine with similar feature set and audience.

Emerging players

• Happify: Happify delivers gamified self-care activities, CBT-based exercises and mindfulness content for anxiety and depression - niche overlap with Shine on activity-based behavioral health content.
• Woebot Health: Woebot is an AI-chatbot-driven digital therapeutic for mental health, including anxiety and depression - an emerging player in the same behavioral health digital therapeutics space as Shine.
• Mindstrong (closed): Mindstrong was a digital mental health platform combining AI-driven app tools and clinical services targeting anxiety and depression - referenced as a comparable emerging model in the self-care plus clinical space.
• Simple Habit: Simple Habit is a wellness and mental health meditation app offering on-the-go sessions for stress, anxiety and sleep - a smaller-scale direct competitor to Shine in the consumer self-care app category.

Broad incumbents

• Lyra Health: Lyra Health is a broader mental health benefits platform combining therapy, coaching and digital self-care tools for employers - addresses the same anxiety/depression population with a more comprehensive, enterprise-focused offering.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/theshineapp
• Facebookfacebook.com/TheShineApp

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors14 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Shine