Israeli Welltech1, which is a VC fund dedicated to promoting leading wellness-related tech, announced that it has invested $400,000 in Los Angeles based PopBase, which has developed a proprietary platform that teaches and encourages to adopt a healthy lifestyle. The funds will be targeted towards talent recruitment, as well as preparation for another funding round at the end of the year, prior to the launch of the platform.
However, Welltech1 didn’t just randomly take a chance with its investment. PopBase was actually one of two startups that won an international competition held by the Israeli VC in collaboration with the Global Wellness Institute (GWI). The competition was part of the GWI’s Wellness Moonshot: A World Free of Preventable Disease, the first commitment to eradicate preventable, chronic diseases worldwide. PopBase took home gold out of 152 wellness-focused startups coming from 25 countries around the world, including the US, Canada, Bahrain, Denmark, Australia, India, Hong Kong, Chile and Israel.
With $1.8 million to date in funding from Israeli and American investors, PopBase is set to launch next year its initial product called, Woodland Fables, directly to consumers. By utilizing gamification the children’s wellness company provides accessible information to children through immersive interactive stories told at the child’s level. The gamified characters help teach the kids about exercising, healthy nutrition, and more, with medical personnel and nutritionists monitoring content, deciding what science-backed data feeds the platform’s content.
PopBase, headquartered in Los Angeles, was founded by CEO Lisa Wong (USA), CCO Amit Tishler (Israel), and CTO Richard Weeks (UK). The startup aims to provide a kids with data-backed healthy information to help combat child obesity, which is ravaging throughout the world, especially in the U.S.
“The development process led us to the realization that we could use our technology to address a major global problem, which affects kid's quality of life on a daily basis. We can teach healthy values via a world of adventure, using storytelling and interactivity to instill and encourage positive habits,” said Wong. “We’re truly grateful to Welltech1 for their investment and trust in us.”
Using common gaming and social media practices, the PopBase platform transforms complexity into simplicity, making wellness information easy to understand and apply. Using the product’s proprietary tools, the content can be adjusted instantly based on real-time user feedback.
“We built a technology that will drive the next generation of entertainment consumption. It’s a medium through which entertainment brands can run a continuous narrative that responds to the needs of its target audience and a platform that combines the immediacy of social media with the interactivity of modern video games,” said Tischler.
“We ran a tough competition in which we examined – together with our experts from Facebook, Nike, Harel Insurance and others – more than 150 wellness-related startups from across the globe,” said Amir Alroy, co-founder, Welltech1. “And we’re happy to announce that we’ve chosen to invest in PopBase. “
“PopBase represents the fast-growing trend of linking the worlds of gaming and health,” noted Galit Horovitz, co-founder of Welltech1. “The coronavirus pandemic has proven that wellness is a necessity, not a luxury. PopBase’s solution resolves an acute problem creatively, effectively and professionally."
