StepJockey raises £600,000 to fuel growth and corporate wellness innovation

StepJockey Ltd today announced that it has secured £600,000 in new investment capital to drive the company’s growth in the corporate wellness and facilities management sectors.

The investment round was led by London Business Angels (LBA) and was supported by Angels in Med City and Capital Enterprise. It includes substantial participation fromSevenex Capital Partners, the London Co-Investment Fund as well as a consortium of private investors.

StepJockey promotes wellness and fights sedentary behaviour in multi-storey office buildings by labelling stairs for calorie burn and gamifying stair use by staff. Combining the latest near field technologies and behavioural economics, StepJockey’s unique smart signs and gamification platform enable employers to make their offices visibly healthier and more active without the need for large-scale capital investment. Benefits include:

• More active and engaged employees
• An ability to impact all staff within an office (not just the active minority)
• Quantifiable ROI via time, energy and carbon savings
• Rich data feedback for wellness, sustainability and CSR reporting

Since launch in November 2013, StepJockey has labelled more than 6,000 staircases in 90 countries. Customers include Deloitte, Disney, Barclays, KPMG, ITV, Jones Lang LaSalle, Lloyds of London and L&G as well as a growing number of hospitals, universities and public authorities both in the UK and overseas.

StepJockey will use the new capital to expand its sales, marketing and product development operations. Paul Nuki, co-founder and CEO of StepJockey, said: “We are delighted that such an experienced group of investors have backed StepJockey’s expansion. The new capital will allow us to bring our evidence-based and uniquely inclusive wellness intervention to many thousands of desk-bound office workers in the UK and around the world”.

London and the South East of England is rapidly becoming a key destination for life science research, development and commercialisation. Dr Eliot Forster, Executive Chair of MedCity, said: “Health-focused entrepreneurs are increasingly embracing the view that helping people to keep healthy and active is at least as important as developing better ways to manage and treat illnesses when they develop. StepJockey is a great example of that, taking a really innovative approach to how people can build activity into their day-to-day lives. I’m delighted to see the company growing and really pleased that we could support them through Angels in MedCity.”

Sevenex Capital Partners joined with private investors including leading life science analysts Duncan Moore and Mark Tracey as well as Rowan Gormley, CEO of Majestic and Nakedwines.com, in backing StepJockey.

Jonathan Feroze of Sevenex said: “StepJockey is not just a very clever, very scalable idea: it also has the potential to transform aspects of corporate well-being, culture and performance.”

Anthony Clarke CEO of LBA, said: “It is encouraging that Step Jockey already has a significant number of worldwide customers and revenues from its highly innovative and scalable health and wellness platform which has the potential to change the daily behaviour of employees at work. It is notable that an LBA syndicate anchored by value-add lead angels investors alongside the 2015 LBA EIS Roundtable Syndicate Fund and our partner the £25m London Co-Investment Fund have also participated in this funding round”.

Notes for editors
StepJockey is part of the active design movement. We see the world as a gym and we make sedentary buildings active by promoting and gamifying stair use.

Our smart signs give the calorie burn data for office stairs and increase stair use in office buildings by 20%-40%. Our stair climbing Challenges can increase stair use by up to 800%. Unlike pedometers and other personal fitness devices, StepJockey impacts and engages the vast majority of people within a building.

It is this ability to involve all (not just the already fit minority) that is the key to designing and implementing a cost effective and impactful corporate wellness initiative.

Benefits for employers:

• An effective and affordable way to promote health throughout the workplace
• Improves staff engagement and productivity with quantifiable ROI
• Engages and benefits everyone in the building, not just a minority
• Clearly signals to stakeholders that you value a healthy work environment
• Helps meet Corporate and Social Responsibility (CSR) standards
• Reduces lift congestion, carbon emissions and improves fire safety

Benefits for consumers:

• Rate and label any set of stairs quickly, simply and without charge
• Track and compare your stair-climbing performance with a free app
• Take part in stair climbing challenges with friends and colleagues
• Improve the health of others in your building by labelling it for calorie burn
• Be part of a global community which is promoting workplace wellness

Stair climbing facts:

Stair climbing burns 8-9 times more energy than sitting and about 7 times more energy than taking a lift. Per minute, stair climbing burns more calories than jogging)

A Harvard Alumni Study found that men who average at least eight flights a day enjoy a 33% lower mortality rate than men who are sedentary

You also burn calories going down stairs but perhaps more important, descending stairs builds bone strength and density – vital to reducing your osteoporosis risk

Just 7 minutes stair climbing a day has been estimated to more than half the risk of a heart attack over 10 years

Climbing stairs two at a time burns more calories per second but you get there quicker. Research shows you burn more calories on average climbing stairs one at a time.