Kodeon acquires mental wellness app Breethe in largest acquisition to date

Toronto-based Kodeon has closed its fourth and largest acquisition, buying Montréal mental wellness platform Breethe. The deal, completed earlier this month, adds a profitable app to Kodeon's portfolio of life-improvement applications that already includes Fitness Buddy, HealthView, and Memorado.

"It's an excellent product, as you can see from the stats," Kodeon co-founder Jon Walsh told BetaKit. "For us, it was really a bullseye in terms of the category – sleep, anxiety, meditation: those are really important life-improvement categories that we didn't have a strong presence in."

Neither side disclosed the exact purchase price. Breethe co-founder Garner Bornstein said it was in the "eight-figure range." The consideration consisted primarily of cash plus some Kodeon stock.

Kodeon launched in late 2023. Walsh, co-founder Trevor Fencott, and COO Ben Huxley have worked together for more than 20 years, including at Toronto-based mobile monetization company Fuse Powered (sold to Upsight in 2016) and Vancouver-based Ionik, formerly PopReach. With Kodeon, they are pursuing an AI-focused rollup strategy in the crowded life-improvement app space. The startup has acquired more than 30 apps and layered on agentic AI to automate onboarding, customer service, operations, and software development. Walsh sees room to grow Breethe by integrating it into Kodeon's AI platform and adding better analytics, shared services, and cross-promotion.

Breethe launched in 2015. It grew into a profitable mental wellness platform without raising equity financing, using its own revenue and some debt. The app generated over $50 million USD in total revenue and holds 4.6 and 4.7 star ratings on Google Play and Apple's App Store. Bornstein said Breethe has helped more than 18 million clients globally. "It's been very rewarding," he said.

Breethe's founders, which include Bornstein, Pierre Le Lann, Lynne Goldberg, and Laurence Ardouin, nearly sold the company five years ago to an undisclosed public company. That deal fell apart when COVID-19 hit. Last year they launched another sales process and found several interested parties. Bornstein said Kodeon stood out because of its business strategy and commitment to "maintain the spirit of the brand." He said the founders actually asked Kodeon to increase the equity portion of the deal because they believed in Kodeon's vision.

Kodeon has raised $8.75 million USD to date, including $5.5 million in equity from undisclosed Canadian family offices and US individuals and $3.25 million in debt from an unnamed Canadian lender. The startup is profitable, with operating margins above 30%, and approaching eight figures in revenue, Walsh said.

Kodeon plans to buy more profitable life-improvement apps with strong product-market fit and long track records. Walsh said the startup is open to bootstrapped or venture-backed businesses, and partial or full-company purchases. Kodeon will fund future acquisitions using its existing cash and additional equity fundraises and debt financing, including a potential Series A later this year.