Health and fitness content has seen a massive uptick in consumption since the onset of the pandemic. As a result, startups working within that industry are growing quickly. Ongo, a San Francisco-based platform, is the latest health and wellness startup to receive a financial lift from keen-eyed investors with a pulse on the market.
On Tuesday the company launched out of stealth with $3.5 million in seed financing. An illustrious group of investors backed the round, including Twitch founder Emmett Shear and Dropbox founder Drew Houston.
Ongo helps health and fitness influencers turn their content into revenue-generating virtual wellness businesses. The company’s no-code platform achieves this by providing its users with all of the tools they need to launch an app.
The platform is more than just an app builder though. Creators who use Ongo gain access to analytics, data management, payments capabilities, a content management system, customer support and security functions, to name a few features.
Those signed on to the platform set their own subscription price and although Ongo charges a transaction fee, creators walk away with the majority of the revenue, according to the company.
“The idea is to use algorithms to serve humanity versus using algorithms to serve ads,” Rick Henrikson, founder and CEO of Ongo, said in an interview with Built In.
Henrikson was inspired to get the company off the ground after a harrowing battle with cancer.
“It feels like you’re dropped in a dark forest, and you’re only the only one there and there’s no way out,” Henrikson said in an interview with Built In. “Neither of those things are true.”
Throughout his treatment, Henrikson longed for a way to collect data and find support.
“That kind of crystallized this idea around Ongo, like, OK, this should exist, and not just for cancer, but for any journey somebody is on,” Henrikson continued. “Whether it’s dealing with a diabetes diagnosis, or training for a marathon or trying to, you know, reach some other kind of goal in their life.”
TikTok star and fitness guru Thoren Bradley launched his own workout app, ōhk, via the Ongo platform. Doing so enabled him to quit his full-time job and focus on his career as a creator.
At the top of the pandemic, Bradley gained notoriety after a video of him chopping wood went viral on TikTok. Now Bradley, who just joined the social media platform in February of 2020, has grown his account to reach 2.9 million followers.
Ongo reached out to Bradley in October of last year, when the company was still operating out of stealth. Three months later, ōhk was available and ready to use. Five months after that, Bradley had acquired enough subscriptions to be able to quit his full-time job. Ongo, he says, has allowed him to make more money than his previous job and continues to provide him with ongoing support.
“When there’s technical difficulties, it’s not me that users are reaching out to, it’s Ongo’s support interface,” Bradley told Built In. “So I can instead focus my time and energy on the content I’m putting in the app, rather than running the app itself.”
On ōhk, users can find personalized nutrition guidelines, workout regimens, exercise programs and lectures from Bradley himself.
“A lot of these trends that come about in the fitness industry are very short lived, people are looking for overnight answers, they’re looking for quick fixes.” Bradley continued. “So helping people find a sustainable approach to something that could change and be implemented in their lives every day is incredibly important to me.”
Ongo plans to invest in the ongoing development of its platform as it continues to scale. Recruiting is also a top priority. Although the company doesn’t have any jobs currently listed, Ongo has its eyes set on hiring fresh talent for its engineering and product design teams in the future, according to Henrikson.
For those interested in joining the platform, Ongo’s waitlist is now open.
Additional investors Day One Ventures and The House Fund participated in the round, among others.
