From SA to the world: Strove closes major funding round

South African healthtech start-up Strove is set to transform employee wellbeing around the world after closing its latest funding round led by a Japanese venture capital fund, Lifetime Ventures. 

Strove is on a mission to transform workplaces into healthy spaces. The proactive platform assists employees with their physical and mental wellbeing. This recent capital raise will contribute to speeding up software development as the team strives to further develop their holistic wellness platform.

Despite the current challenges associated with the funding market, Strove chief executive Chris Bruchhausen is positive about the recent capital raise.

“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 wellbeing of employees around the world.”

Strove’s development roadmap is packed with exciting updates. The healthtech start-up is planning a substantial upgrade to their mental health offering with richer content, cognitive behaviour therapy courses, and an in-app coaching feature.

Other updates include launching more activity tracking integrations, incorporating a recommendation engine to help personalize wellbeing guidance and continuous usability upgrades.

With their strong focus on health and age tech, including future of work, Lifetime Ventures is the perfect fit to partner with Strove in their mission. The venture capital firm based in Japan invests in ambitious entrepreneurs to create businesses with lasting impact.

“Covid has highlighted deteriorating employee wellbeing and a strong need for holistic wellbeing programmes,” says Koshu Kunii, general partner of Lifetime Ventures.

“We see a global corporate future where most companies provide group-based employee wellbeing programs 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.”

Lifetime Ventures’ strategic partnership with Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), Asia’s leading scientific research institution, opens up exciting collaboration opportunities for the future.

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