Loona
Dover, US · 1 known investors
Loóna is a mobile relaxation and sleep app built around 'sleepscapes' that combine 3D coloring, storytelling and music.
Also known as Loóna · Loona Inc.
Founders & leadership
Investors · 1
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Loóna is a consumer mobile application for relaxation and preparation for sleep, developed by Loóna Inc. (USA). Rather than presenting itself as a set of direct sleep-onset techniques, the app is positioned as a mood-altering product intended to help users stay calm during the day and reach a suitable emotional state before bedtime. Its core unit of content is the 'escape' or 'sleepscape' — a guided session that bundles activity-based relaxation (coloring in 3D dioramas), narrated storytelling and ambient sound into a single immersive episode. During the day the app also offers playlists and immersive stories, and it writes completed escape sessions into Apple Health.
The content library spans fantasy settings such as 'Light of Hope' and 'The Luminous Realm' alongside more realistic locations such as a park in Paris or a cafe in Brooklyn, with some episodes linked by recurring 'Easter eggs'. The team has described the art direction as deliberately avoiding visual triggers — for example scattered objects — that users found mentally activating before bed. The app launched on iOS in May 2019 and on Android in June 2020, and is available in English and Russian.
Founding story
Loóna was created by the team behind MSQRD, the AR face-swap app acquired by Facebook in 2016. After roughly a year working at Facebook, Andrew Yanchurevich and Dmitry Doryn left to start Loóna in 2019; Sergey Gonchar and Eugene Nevgen subsequently also left Facebook to join the venture. The product began as a 3D coloring activity paired with soothing music. The interactive storytelling element was added after Yanchurevich noticed that he became drowsy himself while reading nightly bedtime stories to his three-year-old son; the team then wrote tales describing the detailed dioramas users color in, which became the 'sleepscape' concept.
Business model
Loóna is distributed as a free-to-download consumer mobile app with in-app purchases. A paid tier, loóna PLUS, unlocks the full collection of escapes.
Auto-renewing consumer subscriptions sold through the app stores, offered as one-month, three-month and one-year plans, with a seven-day free trial on the annual option; pricing varies by location.
Traction
The iOS app holds a 4.6 rating from approximately 27,000 ratings and carries Apple's Editors' Choice designation. It was named Best App in the U.S. by Google Play's Best of 2020 Awards and won a 2021 Apple Design Award.
Latest developments
The app remains listed on the App Store in the Health & Fitness category with subscription tiers, holding Editors' Choice status.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
Loóna competes in the sleep-aid and meditation app market, which The Guardian and Forbes have described as fast-growing and in which the app has been characterized as central to the sleep-aid category; Quartz has ranked it among the best relaxation and sleep apps. An investor has framed its positioning as sitting at the intersection of health and entertainment.
Unlike sleep and meditation apps that ask users to close their eyes and listen passively, Loóna keeps users visually engaged through an interactive coloring activity paired with narration and music, an approach recognized with an Apple Design Award for visuals and graphics.
Technology
The app builds interactive 3D dioramas that users color in, layered with specially produced narration and ambient music for each episode; it integrates with Apple Health to record completed sessions and ships on iOS, iPadOS, macOS and Android.
Go-to-market
Direct-to-consumer distribution through the Apple App Store and Google Play, supported by paid social advertising and amplified by editorial placements and platform awards such as Apple's Editors' Choice, the Apple Design Awards and Google Play's Best of 2020.
Consumers seeking help winding down, reducing anxiety and improving bedtime mood, including users who have tried meditation and sleep apps.
Geography
Headquartered in the United States (Loóna Inc.), with the app distributed globally on iOS and Android and localized in English and Russian.
History
Loóna Inc. was formed in 2019 by former MSQRD and Facebook employees. The app soft-launched on iOS in May 2019 and arrived on Android in June 2020. In 2020 it was named 'Best App' in the U.S. in Google Play's Best of 2020 Awards, and in 2021 it won an Apple Design Award in the Visuals and Graphics category. Its founders received recognition from GQ in 2020 ('The Businessmen Of The Year' nomination) and Forbes Russia's '30 under 30' entrepreneurs list in 2021.
Risks & controversies
The English Wikipedia article on the app carries a maintenance notice flagging promotional content and tone. App Store reviews reference negative user reviews of the product alongside positive ones.
Compiled by commissioned research from 3 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 7
launches, deals, and filingsThe App Store listing carries an Editors' Choice designation describing the app's sleepscapes.
Andrew Yanchurevich and Dmitry Doryn were nominated as founders of Loóna.
Andrew Yanchurevich, Dmitry Doryn, Sergey Gonchar and Eugene Nevgen were recognized by GQ.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 3
primary sources listed
- Loóna: Sleep, reduce anxiety - App Store - Appleapps.apple.com · web
3 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Loona do?
- Loóna is a mobile relaxation and sleep app built around 'sleepscapes' that combine 3D coloring, storytelling and music.
- Who founded Loona?
- Loona was founded by Eugene Nevgen.
- Who are Loona's investors?
- Loona's investors include Hoxton Ventures.
- Where is Loona headquartered?
- Loona is headquartered in Dover, US.