Meditation app Calm raises another $27M as a mindful McConaughey unicorn

Turn up the chill... Meditation app Calm evolved into a unicorn in February, raising $80M to hit a $1B valuation — now $27M has been tossed in from another venture capital firm. The leader of that firm made clear that she's a power-user — Calm helped her falling-asleep time drop from 30 minutes on average to less than 5 (that's 150 hours more zzzzs per year).

The moment of zen... occurred last year. Calm charges $60/year (or $400 for "Calm for Life") to access its meditative relaxation content. But with competition flowing into mindful apps (think Headspace, Aura, and others), it had to transition from a weekly resolution to a daily habit. So it launched "Sleep Stories" to help you get to your dreams. That's when engagement and retention surged.

• Celeb strategy: Sleep Stories features Matthew McConaughey coaxing you into slumber ("How often do we ponder depth of the present moment") or John McEnroe reading tennis rules to your pillow.
• It became a ritual: The feature led to 150M listens from 2M paid subscribers since the feature launched last year.
• Revenues popped: They're on pace to double this year to $150M.