Recovery culture, preventative healthcare, and wearable tech have broken through.
Ancient rituals become modern wellness infrastructure
Nordic-inspired wellness experiences — including saunas, cold plunges, and breathwork — grew 62.5% globally from 2024 to 2025, while attendance climbed nearly 33%, according to Eventbrite.
Among Gen Z and millennials, 43% want high-energy wellness experiences blending recovery and community, while 26% specifically seek thermal recovery experiences.
The global cold plunge market reached roughly $355M in 2025, while the sauna industry approached $1B alongside the rise of social bathhouses and communal wellness clubs.
Lucis expands preventative health across Europe
The French startup raised $20M to scale its “Function Health for Europe” platform, combining 110-marker blood testing with an AI health companion designed to benchmark functional health and guide behavior change.
The company already counts 10K users across France, the UK, Ireland, and Portugal, with plans to expand into Spain, Germany, and Italy by year’s end.
While Function Health and Superpower scale in the US, startups across Europe, Canada, the Middle East, and Asia are racing to build localized versions of the Personal Health OS.
Healthcare systems remain reactive, while consumers want continuous monitoring, prevention, and personalized guidance.
Apple loses momentum in digital health
According to Bloomberg, Apple’s health strategy has slowed just as wearables shift from passive tracking toward predictive insights, AI coaching, and preventative care.
Despite generating an estimated $100B in Apple Watch sales over the years, Apple now faces growing competition from companies like Oura and WHOOP, which built always-on ecosystems around behavior change and personalized guidance.
At the same time, stalled glucose-monitoring efforts, internal restructuring, and leadership turnover are creating uncertainty around Apple’s next move in health.
The challenge is no longer just building a device. It’s building a trusted Personal Health OS consumers rely on every day.
