Investment

A relaunched wellbeing start-up has raised £1m in funding. 

Hekapreviously GoSweat, has received pre-seed funding from Playfair Capital with participants including experienced Angels, ex-professional athletes, mental health experts, as well as the founders of Thomson’s Online Benefits.  

The new platform gives employees access to over 3,000 mental, physical, lifestyle, and on-demand experiences including physical classes in the likes of yoga, life coaching and gym memberships and on demand mindfulness and nutrition resources.  

It has also unveiled the Heka academy, a virtual space to host workshops and coaching sessions  

Since closing the investment, the team has expanded from eight to 18 and the company will be initiating its second round of hiring this year to add  marketing, customer success and experienced sales.  

“The lockdown gave us all time to reflect and Heka was born in the midst of the crisis. We realised that our mission was to inspire and equip people no matter where they are based to be balanced and happy, and give them a reason to smile every day,” said Stephanie Newport-Booth, Co-Founder and COO. 

Co-Founder and CEO Alex Hind added: “Employee needs and expectations have shifted and we think it is time for something special. Our reality has changed and so have we. 

“Heka was created for HR Managers who truly want to inspire their people and help them tick buckets lists, not boxes. This contrasts with the majority of benefit alternatives which simply serve to tick the wellness box.” 

Chris Smith, Managing Partner at lead investor Playfair Capital, said the co-founders were “a phenomenal founding team who live and breathe wellbeing”. 

They passionately believe that offering tailored mental and physical experiences to employees is an essential part of having a motivated and engaged team. We fully agree and are delighted to have led their pre-seed round alongside a fantastic group of angel investors,” he added.