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UK tech star and serial entrepreneur, Michael Acton Smith, discusses his rollercoaster journey as the Founder of Calm, Firebox.com, and Mind Candy.
Just two years after graduating university, Michael co-founded the online gift retailer, Firebox.com, which quickly became one of the fastest growing privately-owned companies in the UK at the time. Then, in 2004, he secured $10m backing to launch Mind Candy, the digital entertainment company behind Moshi Monsters. The game was a huge success, with 90 million users around the world, and by 2011, the business was valued at $200m.
When he initially had the idea to build the online meditation platform Calm, he and his co-founder, Alex Tew, were far ahead of the conversation about mental health that is so prevalent today. It was 2012, and the concepts of meditation and mindfulness were far from any company’s agenda. Yet, in 2013 they announced $450k in funding from a group of Angel investors, and just two years later, Calm had 2 million downloads worldwide. Over a decade it has become one of the most popular mental health apps in the world, with over 100 million downloads. In 2024, the business was valued over $2 billion.
In 2014, Michael was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the New Year Honours for his services to the creative industries.
