Ongo launches platform for health and wellness creators.

Ongo Launches New Platform for Health and Wellness Creators

Backed by a $3.5 million seed funding round, including investments from successful subscription companies

There is a new creator platform in town, Ongo, and they are focused solely on health and wellness. Following an impressive $3.5 million seed funding round, Ongo helps health and wellness creators launch virtual wellness practices that can be easily monetized. Early investors in the health and wellness creator platform include Day One Ventures, The House Fund, Emmett Shear (Twitch founder), Drew Houston (Dropbox founder), Albert Lee (MyFitnessPal founder), Kyle Vogt (Twitch & Cruise founder), John Oringer (Shutterstock founder), and Kevin Hartz (Eventbrite founder) as well as others.

“The app platform for wellness communities,” says Ongo on their website. “Turn your wellness community into a global brand with Ongo — the simplest way to make an app and scale your business.”

Features of Ongo platform

Tapping into a growing creator economy that includes more than 50 million creators, Ongo was designed to support businesses of all sizes that specialize in health and wellness content, including disciplines like yoga, meditation, movement, strength training and running. Using the Ongo platform, creators get access to a custom iOS and Android white-label app to host their content which they can make available to subscribers through digital subscriptions. Creators can access analytics, CRM communication, payments, content management systems, support, security, content delivery and data management among other tools to maximize their probability of success.

The Run Experience. Image courtesy of Ongo.

During early testing, Ongo invited over a dozen health and wellness creators to try the platform to monetize their virtual wellness practices. The Run Experience, a running training club with over 400,000 YouTube subscribers, was the first creator to sign up with Ongo. The Run Experience launched their Ongo-powered app in 2020 and have already grown their revenue to six figures.

Other creators who have found success with the Ongo platform include TikTok star Thoren Bradley who launched a workout app, Ōhk, with body-part specific workouts; Dr. Thoma Gustin who created Dare to be Active, making movement more approachable regardless of a user’s fitness level; Michelle Barnes who launched Intention offering self care and mindset exercises; and Jack Hanrahan who created PRGRM to provide structured, guided training.

A health and wellness creator ecosystem

CEO and founder Dr. Rick Henrikson shared how the Ongo creator platform is unique and how it supports health and wellness.

“Health and fitness content has seen massive growth and is continuing to explode, especially with people looking for ways to stay physically and mentally well while at home. At the same time, more and more creators are seeking ways to turn their content creation into a viable career,” Dr. Henrikson said.

“Ongo is at the intersection of these two trends, empowering creators to easily launch digital health and fitness subscriptions, enhance community interactions, and build and grow their businesses. I’m thrilled to have built an ecosystem that reimagines how creators connect with fans and gives them a simple way to scale a sustainable business,” added Dr. Henrickson.

Creators are in control

With support from the Ongo platform, health and wellness creators are in control. They set their own subscription pricing and payment frequency for their apps, and the creators receive the majority of the revenue generated. Ongo charges a “competitive transaction fee,” but the company doesn’t state what the fee is. Each creator gets access to customization tools that helps them create experiences that match their brand, while Ongo keeps the platform running behind the scenes including regular updates.  

The Ongo team. Image courtesy of Ongo.

Insider Take

Every creator platform seems to have a niche whether it is short-form video, music, newsletters, podcasts or something else. We love the unique market that Ongo addresses, and this is such a great time to launch a product like this. The pandemic has made millions feel isolated and wanting to be more focused on our health. It has also made creators and entrepreneurs really question what they should be doing with their lives, how they can make a difference in the world, and make a living doing what they love. Ongo is a new platform that checks all those boxes.

If there is any doubt whether this idea will fly, all you have to do is look at the early investors. Many of them are founders of successful subscription companies themselves. If they believe in this platform, Ongo has a lot of support and expertise to tap into. We can’t wait to see Ongo make the most of this opportunity!

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