A health app backed by former Manchester United and England star Michael Carrick has won £2.4 million in further funding.
GoJoe, also backed by Alistair Brownlee MBE – Olympic triathlon gold medal winner at London 2012 and Rio 2016 – will look to develop its global corporate offering in the UK, US and Canada with the fresh investment.
The round is led by Venrex Partners, whose portfolio includes Revolut, Just Eat and Charlotte Tilbury, alongside Redrice Ventures, early backers of Castore and Ocean Bottle. It is supported by Amrock Ventures and includes follow-on investment from Hellen’s Rock Ventures. Previous investors include Superbet Ventures.
Active in more than 150 countries, GoJoe was developed on the idea that social connections drive better health. The app uses gamification and social accountability to motivate and inspire users to achieve better physical, mental and social health, whilst helping businesses across the globe address challenges and rising costs relating to employee wellbeing.
Last month GoJoe launched major campaigns with high street bank NatWest and energy provider Centrica to inspire better physical and mental health for their staff, and to leverage their respective Team GB and ParalympicsGB sponsorships across staff networks in the UK ahead of Paris 2024.
Other clients include Capita, EY and Amazon.
The app’s features include gamified virtual team-based challenges, a market-first weighted points system across 50 different activities, live tracker maps and the ability to train virtually alongside celebrities and professional athletes.
“It’s really exciting to welcome investment from leading firms who have helped scale some remarkable businesses and build household brands,” said co-founder Will Turner. “In recent years, we’ve demonstrated the huge value that a social product like ours can have on individuals and the companies they work for.
“This investment represents a huge opportunity for GoJoe and we’re delighted to have Redrice Ventures, Venrex Partners and Amrock Ventures join us on the next stage of the journey. Investment not only allows GoJoe to increase its resources to support its growth but also widen its reach in supporting businesses in the health and fitness challenges they face in the modern workplace.”
GoJoe says one enterprise client has seen over 61% of its staff report a sizeable improvement in their physical, mental and social health, with these trends most pronounced in the sedentary and slightly active cohorts.
In some cases, it claims, previously sedentary users increased their activity levels by up to 800%.
GoJoe is now working with leading health insurers to quantify the impact of its product on lower incidences, claims and premiums, as well as integrating with human capital management systems to quantify the impact on reduced absences brought about through mental and physical health.
Alistair Russell, Venture Investor at Venrex, said: “We’re thrilled to be involved with GoJoe at the intersection of the sports and consumer sectors. We’re particularly excited to leverage our experience from investments in other successful consumer and/or sports-related startups, such as Revolut and Ellipse Data.
“The team embodies many of the characteristics of the most successful founders we’ve partnered with at Venrex.”