Givhero, Inc., an employee well-being platform that leverages employees’ intrinsic motivation to increase adoption, retention, and engagement in well-being programs, closed its SEED round with participation from Conscious Venture Fund II, Swerve Limited, TEDCO and other angel investors in addition to the University System of Maryland Momentum Fund. Givhero leverages charitable causes, challenges, peer recognition, team competition and gamification strategies to enhance the employee experience.
Givhero is increasing program adoption and engagement in employee wellness programs which reduces absenteeism and increases productivity for employers. Current wellness programs have low adoption rates, high administrative burden, and low program engagement. Covid-19 has magnified some of these problems. Using their unique approach to wellness, most of Givhero’s clients have increased program participation by 50% over previous programs and their retention and engagement in wellness programs is more than 90%.
“We fundamentally care about improving the well-being of employees and supporting the community causes they care about, for maximum social impact. We have an enterprise product with years of actionable data.” said Vishal Chintawar, Founder of Givhero. “We have been a great resource for our clients across the globe especially by leveraging our virtual programs during the remote work environment.”
Designed to be easy to implement and participate, the employer pays an annual SaaS fee and funds employee selected nonprofit causes through healthy behaviors.
“Vishal is driven, focused, and very coachable, but is in a busy, fragmented space. That said, this technology is quite advanced, the strategy of giving back to non-profits is unique and personalized, and the company has seen an excellent growth trajectory,” said Claire Broido Johnson, Managing Director of the Maryland Momentum Fund. “We look forward to the data that proves employee retention and more and are pleased that 90% of Givhero’s members say the connection to local charities motivated them to meet their health goals. Employers, especially during the pandemic, have had to find new innovative ways to engage remote employees and keep them healthy.”
“One of the most important societal issues being addressed by companies today is the lack of employee engagement. According to a recent Gallup survey, in 2021 66% of U.S. employees were either disengaged or actively disengaged in their work. Not only is working in an organization that doesn’t care for your well-being a soul crushing way to live, with the requisite impacts on society at large. It’s estimated that this is costing U.S. companies between $400-$500 billion dollars each year,” said Jeff Cherry, Founder and Managing General Partner of Conscious Venture Partners. “The Givhero team is focused on curing this problem for companies in a unique way that also improves employee wellness. We believe that is bound to create a business that cares for all stakeholders. A true win-win-win situation and we are proud to be on this journey with them.”
“TEDCO invests in tech companies that not only provide a cutting-edge product or service, but also demonstrate an exemplary business model. Givhero provided us an excellent example of this through its technological innovation and well-established customer demand,” said Jean-Luc Park, senior director of TEDCO’s Social Impact Funds. “Givhero’s focus on sales and innovation, tied to their core goals of healthier employers and increased community support for nonprofits, bode well for their future success.”
For more information on Givhero, please visit givhero.com. To learn more about becoming a Givhero partner, please contact partner@givhero.com. For media inquiries, please contact info@givhero.com.
About Givhero
Givhero is an innovative social wellness platform, that leverages employees’ intrinsic motivation to increase adoption, retention, and engagement in well-being programs. Employers tap into this powerful motivation by supporting community causes employees care about and rewarding healthy behaviors with donations to those charities. Givhero provides multiple benefits to employees and employer strategic goals (employee engagement, experience, culture, health benefits, and social responsibility).
About the USM Momentum Fund
The Maryland Momentum Fund is an initiative of the University System of Maryland (USM) to provide late seed investment funding for promising technology ventures that come out of any of the 12 constituent USM institutions, its research parks, and its students, faculty, or graduates. With a $10M commitment from the USM already in place, the Fund co-invests with venture capitalists, foundations, and angel investors.
The Maryland Momentum Fund was established by the USM Board of Regents to support promising commercial opportunities arising from advances in research and intellectual property at USM campuses, and its portfolio companies include: MF Fire, NextStep Robotics, the North American Wave Engine Corporation, Zest Tea, PaverGuide, Retrium, Veralox Therapeutics, Gemstone Biotherapeutics, Neoprogen, Minnowtech, ARMRSystems, Infercabuary, Datakwip, pathOtrak, KaloCyte, MiRecule, N5 Sensors, VisiSonics, Voxy EngGen, Dynamhex, TargetDocs, Qualytics, Liatris, AquaLith and Sunstone Credit. The Fund is designed to create returns and support USM’s most innovative ideas as they enter the marketplace. Learn more at the Maryland Momentum Fund.
About TEDCO
TEDCO, the Maryland Technology Development Corporation, enhances economic empowerment growth through the fostering of an inclusive entrepreneurial innovation ecosystem. TEDCO identifies, invests in, and helps grow technology and life science-based companies in Maryland. Learn more at www.tedcomd.com.
Tammi Thomas, TEDCO’s Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, tthomas@tedco.md
About Conscious Venture Partners
Conscious Venture Partners is a seed-stage venture capital fund and associated startup accelerator on a mission is to uncover entrepreneurial talent wherever it might be. They invest in diverse founders, no matter where they come from or what they look like and those who are being ignored by others for all the wrong reasons. The Conscious Venture Fund II looks to invest in minority and female founders who are using capitalism to break down barriers and create a more just, joyous, equitable, sustainable and profitable world for us all.
