Welltory is a consumer health and stress-management platform that analyzes heart rate variability (HRV) and multi-signal data from your smartphone and wearable devices to provide personalized insights on your stress, energy levels, and recovery. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Welltory founder and CEO Jane Smorodnikova to learn more.
Jane Smorodnikova’s Background
Could you tell me more about your background? Smorodnikova said:
I’m Jane Smorodnikova, 42, and in 2006, I began my career in technology. I studied innovation at MIT and have degrees in small-to medium business management and information security. I’m passionate about science and technology and have a strong background in behavioral science, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence. I occasionally even create algorithms for our products myself.
I started the science-backed stress and energy management app Welltory, a decade ago, and have since grown it to 17 million users across 130 countries.
Formation Of The Company
How did the idea for the company come together? Smorodnikova shared:
I think the biggest, toughest, and most unexplored problem on the planet is the physical and mental well-being of humanity — because there isn’t a short-term financial gain for anyone to solve it. No one wakes up in the morning thinking, “How can I lower my chances of having a heart attack in 10 years?”
Insurance companies get more business, hospitals expand as companies, and doctors themselves are more concerned with alleviating suffering than preventing it. It’s easier to build a rocket ship than to get people to exercise and take care of themselves. That’s why I’ve set out to improve the physical and mental well-being of at least 100 million people in a statistically significant manner.
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Smorodnikova reflected:
One of my favorite memories at Welltory was when we achieved product-market fit for the first time at the end of 2021. Our retention went through the roof — months before our revenue started growing at 30% per month. I remember walking on a cold but not too cold autumn night on the beach, looking at the stars, listening to music, and feeling both ‘I can do this’ and ‘I did it.’ After four years of hard work and three pivots, I finally felt like I believed in myself. This was a life-changing moment.
Another unforgettable experience that comes to mind is when we launched our latest version. It had been nine months of work, and we accidentally pushed the App Store release to 100% rather than a gradual rollout. Our team, both in person and via Zoom, was hysterically excited and nervous. Servers were down for a week, developers didn’t sleep, and we even brought in massage therapists to help them cope. Yet, despite all the craziness, people started paying like crazy. It was one of those special and emotional times.
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Smorodnikova explained:
Welltory is a company that helps people take better care of their physical and mental well-being through a mobile app. The app collects and analyzes data from wearable devices, tracking metrics such as heart rate variability, stress levels, energy, and overall readiness.
Welltory uses proprietary algorithms to turn continuous wearable data into actionable insights in real time, giving users a clear picture of their nervous system and overall health. Beyond tracking, the app provides personalized recommendations to help users manage stress, improve energy, and optimize performance throughout the day.
Challenges Faced
Have you faced any challenges in your sector of work recently? Smorodnikova acknowledged:
ChatGPT and other AI health tools are certainly a challenge, as AI is changing everything in our sector. We’re addressing this by creating a counter-positioning approach: people often ask questions too late and don’t always know what to ask.
To solve this, we’re building a system that guides AI interactions on behalf of our users, asking the right questions at the right time.
Evolution Of The Company’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Smorodnikova noted:
Our technology has been evolving non-stop since we started. Ten years ago, we were already focusing on heart rate variability as a key health metric, way before different companies started exploring it. Today, we combine real-time analysis with both objective wearable data and subjective user input, providing a more complete and actionable picture of physical and mental well-being.
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Smorodnikova cited:
Some of the most important milestones we have reached so far include reaching our first product-market fit at the end of 2021, which meant we had successfully found a way to get people interested.
By the end of 2023, we had become profitable, and this was a huge milestone for us because it changed the way we thought about scaling and strategy.
In 2025, we made major advances in our algorithms and technology, culminating in the submission of a provisional patent application for our latest innovation. That same year, we received more visibility on Product Hunt than any other health and fitness product — a sign of the impact we’re having and a preview of what the future looks like.
Customer Success Stories
Can you share any specific customer success stories? Smorodnikova highlighted:
There are just so many inspiring stories from customers, and I often go to our 5-star testimonials channel just to read one a day. One such story caught my attention, however, as it was about a user with vascular Ehlers-Danlos, POTS, congestive heart failure, and who was returning to work via the Utah State Vocational Rehabilitation Program.
While they were working with an occupational therapist, they were initially advised to use another app, but they ended up using Welltory during the trial period, which they found to be the most supportive tool in managing their health. The user shared that three years ago, they never would have thought they could take care of their health enough to go back to work, even part-time. Now, they are thriving in an early childhood special education program and Welltory has truly made a difference to their life.
Funding/Revenue
Are you able to discuss funding and/or revenue metrics? Smorodnikova revealed:
We have raised around $10 million in convertible notes from angels and seed funds over the years, and then we became profitable. We are in talks with VCs, but we have not yet found the right partner—someone who shares our same mission and vision.
Market Focus
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Smorodnikova pointed out:
“Currently, our focus is on users above the age of 40 in the U.S., especially those using Apple Watches. However, our product can cater to a much broader audience, depending on how much time and investment we put into it.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Smorodnikova affirmed:
In contrast to generic AI conversations linked to Apple Health, we actually know what the data means and how our users feel, not just what the numbers say. In contrast to most wearable devices, we can monitor stress in near-real time rather than extrapolating between discrete HRV readings. And in contrast to many wellness companies that focus on high-performance or healthy users, we focus on users who are not okay — users who are tired, exhausted, or struggling with autonomic nervous system dysfunction like long COVID and chronic stress. If Whoop is for performance and Oura is for tracking, Welltory is for people who are struggling.
We also avoid shame, guilt, and fear as motivators and employ extremely intuitive and almost artistic data visualization to help users feel their bodies, not just think about them.
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future goals? Smorodnikova concluded:
One of the key things we want to do is deepen our integration with the health space. Currently, 4% of our users find us via a doctor, and we want that to be 20%. We want to be the default app that a doctor recommends to someone for stress and nervous system management.
