Just under a month after Telus Health announced its intent to acquire digital healthcare company Nightingale, Telus Ventures and the investment arm of Techstars have announced investments in Canadian wellness company Sprout.
“At Telus, we’re committed to helping Canadians make positive lifestyle choices, and are excited to advance our partnership with Sprout so together, we continue to strengthen the emphasis on health and wellness and improve long-term results,” said Rich Osborn, managing partner of Telus Ventures.
The amount of the investment was not disclosed. Sprout, which has offices in Vancouver and Toronto, uses tech-based tools to motivate employees to become active. The platform includes tools like physical activity tracking, nutrition, mental health, and biometrics, while also integrating with fitness trackers. Employers can measure the impact of employee wellness on their business. Sprout plans to use the funding to develop its platform and data analytics features, and work on partnerships.
The investment from Telus and Techstars came out of Nike+’s first accelerator program powered by Techstars, where Sprout was one of 10 tech companies chosen to participate.
“Telus and Techstars are both invaluable influencers of wellness technology. Telus is making huge strides in generating awareness about the benefits of preventative health and Techstars continues to support developments in wearable wellness,” says Martha Switzer, co-founder of Sprout. “Through these partnerships, we hope to advance our platform even further so we can create a wellness movement across corporate cultures, for happier, healthier people and happier, healthier companies.”
Sprout also received an undisclosed strategic investment from Telus in May of last year. Prior to that, Sprout received $1 million in seed funding in a round led by Optimé International and Bullet Time Ventures, with participation from Techstars Ventures, Dipcom Investments Corp. and Roboson Capital Inc.