Vivecoach, which offers employee wellness programs that make use of gaming and smartphone apps, recently announced a $1.5 million round of funding. The investment was led by two individual investors: Konstantin Othmer and Bruce Leak. Seraph Group, Aquinas Companies and Jeff Risberg also contributed. The funds will help Vivecoach build up its marketing and sales efforts, according to the company.
Vivecoach says it is focused on "creating the simplest, most rewarding user experience for corporate employees". Its service is already being used by employees in more than 20 countries. The company says that its customer base include "large public companies and institutions" throughout the US.
The Vivecoach platform includes goal setting, individual and team challenges, activity tracking and alerts or reminders. Here's how the company explains its offering:
"Vivecoach challenges turn simple daily health activities into games. Typical challenges are short and sweet one to four-week competitions around weight-loss, walking/steps, exercise, nutrition or a variety of other wellness activities. Our challenges tap into powerful social dynamics, incorporating gaming mechanics that make it rewarding and fun for individuals to participate. We use personalized messaging to keep people engaged in the challenge and use mobile and text messaging interfaces to make it easy to stay involved on-the-go."
For more on Vivecoach, read the press release after the jump.
PRESS RELEASE
Vivecoach, the leading corporate wellness challenge application company, today announced that the company has raised a new round, bringing total funding to $1.5M. Lead investors include serial entrepreneurs Konstantin Othmer and Bruce Leak, with participation from Seraph Group, Aquinas Companies, TIBCO Software co-founder Jeff Risberg, and several other technology investors.
“We are delighted that these seasoned investors have partnered with us to fulfill our vision of revolutionizing corporate wellness through gaming,” says Vivecoach co-founder and CEO Doug Keare. “They really understand what it takes to build a significant business and are providing incredibly valuable insight and guidance.”
The new funding will allow Vivecoach to expand its marketing and direct sales efforts and continue to push the envelope on creating the simplest, most rewarding user experience for corporate employees. The Vivecoach service is currently being used by employees in over 20 countries as executives everywhere are eager to bring visibility and action to their corporate wellness efforts while improving teamwork and morale.
“Vivecoach’s early customer success proves the effectiveness of their gamification approach to wellness and employee engagement. This financing will help them expand their direct sales efforts and pursue key strategic partnerships,” says co-lead investor Konstantin Othmer.
About Vivecoach
Vivecoach, launched in 2010 in Menlo Park, California, brings gaming to work. Vivecoach’s fun web- and mobile-based challenge platform helps corporations link wellness to strategic objectives and initiatives and engage employees in health behavior change. Challenges bring gaming benefits to any activity where competition among individuals or teams, or the shared experience of striving toward a group goal, can be used to encourage desired behaviors. Vivecoach has combined the universal appeal of gaming with the convenience of mobility and the power of employee initiative to help corporations drive organization performance. Vivecoach customers include numerous large public companies and institutions throughout the U.S.
