business

GoJoe Building The World’s First Influencer & NFT-powered Fitness App

Alistair Brownlee

Fitness entrepreneurs and Leeds University graduates, Will Turner and Phil Steele, are celebrating investment by double gold Olympic medalist Alistair Brownlee in their start-up, GoJoe. The co-founders have set out their ambitious expansion plans to deliver innovation and motivation to the multi-billion pound fitness market globally, as they embark upon their second investment round in Q1 2022.

The pair met at Leeds University in 2003, and lived in a University house with eight other ‘ordinary joes’. They were average sportspeople who – like most people – struggle to stay fit, but their love for competition and sport drove them to create an annual team-based sporting event between friends involving an athletics stadium and a fair amount of friendly social rivalry. The results were documented, winners were rewarded, and ultimately, an idea was born.

Will and Phil took the essence behind this physical event and created a digital product to help ‘ordinary Joes’ like them to get motivated and help exercise become enjoyable. Through GoJoe, the co-founders are bringing their vision to life. While combining modern incentives for participants through things like NFT rewards and the unique ability for people to participate in virtual fitness alongside celebrities and sportspeople they follow, the app encourages everyday virtual fitness through both individual and corporates challenges.

The app has grown rapidly, with global users joining the GoJoe community including ambassador and investor, Alistair Brownlee, as they look to change the way that people view exercise, bringing a fun, yet competitive edge to everyday fitness. People can even join a team captained by Alistair himself in a special event to mark his backing of GoJoe.

Even before formally ‘launching’, GoJoe secured a raft of global clients on the B2B side, running innovative staff engagement challenges for the likes of Diageo, PwC and Capita, as well as running mass participation consumer events alongside charities and brands.

Additionally, as a result of its innovation during the COVID-19 pandemic, GoJoe is one of 22 companies to secure a grant from the Future Innovation Fund.

Demonstrating its digital innovation, GoJoe announced its first event to feature NFTs, while also securing land in the metaverse where they will begin construction work on a virtual pavilion.

Will Turner, co-founder of GoJoe commented: “We’re ‘ordinary joes’ ourselves, and like many others, we have always struggled to get and stay motivated to exercise. To combat that we’re building GoJoe and a community of likeminded ‘joes’. It’s all about transforming boring solo exercise into social virtual experiences with people you know in order to supercharge motivation levels.

“Our focus on personalisation and innovation has enabled us to grow much faster than expected, and is why we’re now looking to open another investment round this quarter. Very early on we secured global clients such as Diageo, PwC, Capita and others, who have used GoJoe to connect, engage and incentivise their workforces, many of whom have been dispersed because of COVID-19.

Through NFTs, we will be able to offer rewards which will be redeemable for those completing challenges, and readily available in-app content will be offered to NFT holders. Designed to provide our users with an authentic user experience, the use of NFTs is placing us at the forefront the digital revolution, while encouraging people to enhance their physical fitness.

“Our goal is to get people enjoying exercise, and while there are data-led fitness apps that help fitness enthusiasts develop as an individual in their fitness journey, we have always felt that an added social element will not only help people start but will encourage people to continue to exercise.

“To have the backing of a sporting legend like Alistair Brownlee is fantastic for us. Even though he’s an elite, double gold Olympic medalist, he’s super passionate about motivation and participation at all levels of sport and is really interested in technology and innovation. He also knows a thing or two about what it takes to get people moving, regardless of fitness level.”

Commenting on his investment into GoJoe, Alistair Brownlee said: “I invested in GoJoe because I am absolutely passionate about the role technology can play in inspiring and motivating us all to be healthier and fitter and live more active lifestyles.

“I think that GoJoe is a novel way of encouraging people to live a healthier life. The social aspect of motivation is important for everyone. It’s crucial for elite athletes, but I would say it’s even more important to help keep everyday people motivated, and GoJoe’s app has been created in a way to engage people on a daily basis, and ultimately help them become fitter, healthier, and happier.”

https://www.gojoe.com/