Shape Up The Nation Raises $5 Million in Funding from Cue Ball
Capital and Excel Venture Management
Boston-based VCs Provide Series A Funding to Leading Software as a
Service (SaaS)
Provider in Health and Wellness Space
PROVIDENCE, R.I.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Shape Up The Nation, the innovative provider of social networking-based
online health and wellness services, announced today that Cue Ball
Capital and Excel Venture Management, in partnership with management
members, have provided $5M of Series A funding.
?Our company was founded on the knowledge that the most effective way
to improve health is by connecting people with those who care about them
?colleagues, friends, family?and empowering them to succeed through peer
motivation, support, and accountability.?
?This new investment reaffirms the exciting opportunity for our
Software as a Service (SaaS) health and wellness platform and is a
milestone on our path to becoming the leading online hub for wellness
activities and programming. Cue Ball and Excel each bring a unique base
of experiences and relationships that will augment our already meteoric
growth,? notes Mike Zani, CEO of Shape Up The Nation.
Founded in 2006 by Brown Medical School students Rajiv Kumar and Brad
Weinberg, Shape Up The Nation marries the power of online social
networking technology with the proven phenomenon that people working
together achieve better health and wellness outcomes. As described by
Kumar, Shape Up The Nation?s co-founder and Chief Clinical Officer:
?Our company was founded on the knowledge that the most effective way
to improve health is by connecting people with those who care about them
?colleagues, friends, family?and empowering them to succeed through peer
motivation, support, and accountability.?
Members of the Shape Up The Nation platform utilize peer-based
motivation tools to succeed in challenges and achieve goals such as
losing weight, increasing physical activity, and quitting smoking. The
benefits for employers and health plans include improved workforce
health, lower health claims, increased productivity, and enhanced
corporate culture. During its short history, the company has
demonstrated significant success with over 120 marquee clients,
including Cleveland Clinic, Cargill, Jarden Corporation and National
Grid, choosing Shape Up The Nation to power their health and wellness
efforts.
In conjunction with the financing, Anthony Tjan, CEO and General Partner
of Cue Ball Capital, will join the board and serve as Executive
Chairman. Juan Enriquez, Managing Director of Excel Venture Management,
will also join Shape Up The Nation?s Board of Directors. Both Tjan and
Enriquez are recognized leaders in their respective fields. Tjan brings
deep experience in the online media services space through Cue Ball?s
focus in the area, his previous role as the long-standing Senior
Strategic Advisor to the CEO of The Thomson Corporation, and as the
founder of ZEFER, a pioneering Internet services firm. Enriquez is one
of the most respected global leaders and thinkers in genomics, medicine,
and health. Prior to co-founding Excel Venture Management, Enriquez
founded Biotechnology Ventures and was co-founder of Synthetic Genomics.
The new directors share their excitement for the company:
?We love this company! The founders and management team have done an
incredible job of creating something very special that is quickly
getting the attention of Fortune firms and the country?s leading health
plan providers. I am proud to be joining the board,? says
Tjan.
Enriquez echoes the sentiment:
?Shape Up The Nation?s unique social platform provides the most
engaging and effective option for employers and health plans seeking a
wellness solution with tangible ROI. We are thrilled to be a partner
with Cue Ball and Shape Up The Nation, and it is going to be very
exciting to help this company lead a new online wellness movement.?
About Shape Up The Nation
Shape Up The Nation is the first wellness company focused on leveraging
the power of trusted social networks to promote healthy living. Founded
in 2006, Shape Up The Nation has pioneered an innovative approach to
behavior change that uses social networking to reduce health care costs
by improving the health of large populations through peer motivation,
support, and accountability. Shape Up The Nation's evidence-based online
platform is used by more than 120 leading self-insured employers and
health plans. (www.shapeupthenation.com)
About Cue Ball Capital
Cue Ball Capital is a Boston-based venture capital firm focused on early
stage growth companies with recurring revenue business models and
differentiated intellectual property across sectors such as business
information services and Internet media and commerce. Cue Ball was
founded by a team of proven business builders who seek to support early
stage companies with capital, capabilities, and relationships through a
unique brain trust (The Cue Ball Collective) of leading industry
entrepreneurs, executives and thought-leaders. Cue Ball?s portfolio
includes a mix of business information and consumer service investments
including Knovel, Stylesight, MiniLuxe, PlanetTran, Epic Burger, and
Tickets-for-Charity. (www.cueball.com)
About Excel Venture Management
Excel Venture Management builds companies that apply transformative life
science technologies to solve problems in healthcare and beyond. The
Excel investment portfolio is balanced across healthcare IT and
services, diagnostics, and medical devices, plus life science platforms
that address adjacent markets including energy, chemicals, defense and
agriculture. The majority of the team's prior investments, which include
some of the world's premier healthcare and life science companies, are
thriving and over half have achieved successful exits generating
billions in value. (www.excelvm.com).