Japanese VC led undisclosed funding secured by SA employee wellness platform Strove

Lifetime Ventures, a Japanese venture capital firm, has provided an unknown amount of investment to South African startup Strove to help it develop its platform.

Strove is an activity-based mobile rewards program that was created in 2020 by Chris Bruchhausen in collaboration with venture builder The Delta. It enables businesses to motivate their staff to lead healthy, active lives while battling inactivity, burnout, and ongoing stress.

To encourage employees to be their best selves, the site employs activity monitoring and gamification. Rewards come from more than a dozen partner businesses, including Old Khaki, Poetry, Bootlegger Coffee, Mugg & Bean, Dis-Chem, Vida e Caffè, and Engen.

Strove received US $277,000 in early investment in July of last year, and it debuted in the UK in April. To speed up software development and further improve its holistic health platform, it has recently secured a second investment round from Japanese venture capital firm Lifetime Ventures.

“We are excited to have closed our funding round in a challenging funding environment. This raise allows us to further develop our product and service offering as we strive towards our mission of improving the holistic well-being of employees around the world,” said Bruchhausen.

Richer material, courses in cognitive behaviour therapy, and an in-app coaching tool are all part of a significant overhaul that Strove is planning for its mental health service. Other enhancements include expanding the number of activities monitoring integrations, introducing a recommendation engine to better tailor well-being advice, and consistently improving usability.

“COVID-19 has highlighted deteriorating employee wellbeing and a strong need for holistic wellbeing programmes. We see a global corporate future where most companies provide group-based employee wellbeing programmes as part of holistic employee benefits to support employees from the prevention phase. With strong C-level and execution to date, we know Strove will be a leading player in this market,” said Koshu Kunii, general partner of Lifetime Ventures.