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SA employee wellness start-up opens UK office

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer
Johannesburg, 01 Jun 2022

Strove, a South African health technology start-up, has gone global, opening an office in London, UK.

Founded in 2020 by triathlete and business science graduate Chris Bruchhausen, the activity-based web and mobile application empowers organisations to inspire their employees to live a healthy and active life, combatting inactivity, burnout and chronic stress.

The Cape Town-headquartered start-up says it is on a mission to create healthier businesses globally, through healthier employees, by providing a wellbeing platform that proactively assists workers with their physical and mental wellbeing.

In the 18 months since its inception, Strove has grown to a team of over 20 people, gained a strong foothold in the South African market and recently launched in the UK. Its first British customer recently went live, it notes.

“Our expansion to the UK greatly increases the number of lives we can change with the power of scalable digital technology,” saysBruchhausen.

“Many corporate employees spend more time at the office than they do in their own beds. Unfortunately, all this work and no play is playing havoc with their mental and physical health. Strove is about returning balance to the lives of employees so they can unlock health, happiness, and in turn, creativity and productivity.”

Bruchhausen points out the company’s experience in the South African market has proven organisations are desperate to solve the problem of health-related issues that stem from a lack of a balanced lifestyle.

Once a company becomes a client of Strove, their employees are given access to the Strove mobile app, where they are rewarded for healthy lifestyle behaviour and gain access to a range of wellbeing resources.

Rewards can be earned by employees for completing wellbeing activities, including exercise, meditation sessions, daily steps and sleep aid content.

As employees develop these healthy habits, they unlock value in the form of vouchers from well-known rewards partners, including Spotify, Airbnb, Uber, Deliveroo, Nike, Adidas and many more, says the company.

“Gamification in the form of leader-boards, badges and streaks keeps engagement high, while the library of educational content educates users on health and wellbeing topics. By analysing aggregated data on the Strove web app, organisations gain valuable insights into the health and wellbeing of their workforce.”

In July last year, Strove closed a $277 000 seed funding round, led by Launch Africa Ventures, to help it on its road to expansion to the UK. The company says it now targeting wider European growth.