UAE-based Steppi, a corporate health and community engagement platform that encourages users to be more active by allowing them to exchange daily steps for discounts has raised $720,000 from undisclosed investors.

The platform, founded by Joe Franklin and Milos Savic addresses inactivity in the workplaces and aims to improve wellbeing of employees by incentivizing them with rewards for being active.

“We saw wearable adoption increasing and growing demand for corporate health software from government and privately-owned companies here in the UAE,” said Franklin. “We set out to create a corporate health platform that adhered to local regulations on data hosting and supported both English and Arabic language.”

Steppi connects to wearable devices from a variety of different brands including Fitbit, Garmin and Apple and can also be paired up with mobile phone devices to track activity. The company is now looking to expand its platform being the corporate world and into schools and education facilities.

“Addressing inactivity at a young age encourages users to make healthier decisions for their future,” said Emily Frankly, head of wellness at Steppi. “We are running pilot projects with GEMS World Academy and Sunmarke International School and the results have been amazing. Our first challenge with Sunmarke saw an 81 per cent increase in activity from participants throughout the period.”