Health and wellness company ShapeUp announced a new round of funding this week aimed at expanding its mobile technology capabilities and global presence.
The financing comprises $5 million of equity from venture capital firms Cue Ball Capital and Excel Venture Management, and $2.5 million of debt from Silicon Valley Bank.
“What I really believe is that no company in the corporate wellness space is truly taking advantage of the power of mobile technology to build mobile-first wellness programs for employees and corporations,” says Dr. Rajiv Kumar, ShapeUp’s founder and CEO.
The company plans to integrate its social wellness platform with smartphone technology, including GPS, accelerometers, co-processors such as Apple’s new M7 and companion smart watches to empower employees to track their fitness, share their progress and receive personalized feedback through their daily routine.
For example, says Kumar, “imagine you have a mobile app that knows when you walk into a Starbucks and says ‘looks like you’re in a Starbucks, here are the three healthiest items on the menu we’d like to suggest to you.’ That is leveraging GPS, what it knows about your personal goals and it’s leveraging push communication in real-time to nudge you in the right direction and make a healthy recommendation. … that’s the level of sophistication we aim to have in our mobile app experience.”
ShapeUp projects that the majority of participants will access its platform primarily through mobile devices by 2015.
