Incentifi closes £150k pre-seed to pilot workplace rewards app to reduce absenteeism
This article covers Incentifi, a healthtech startup, which has closed a £150,000 phase one pre-seed funding round and appointed James Hardy as an investor and strategic adviser. The funding will support pilot deployments of its workplace rewards app with employers, including independently run Specsavers branches, to test effects on employee wellbeing and absenteeism ahead of a larger £500,000 raise.
Incentifi, a healthtech startup, has closed a £150,000 phase one pre-seed funding round and appointed James Hardy as an investor and strategic adviser. The money will pay for pilot deployments of its workplace rewards app — including trials with independently run Specsavers branches — as the company prepares a larger £500,000 raise and seeks to demonstrate commercial impact on employee wellbeing and absenteeism.
Why it matters
UK employers face rising wellbeing-related costs: the company cites estimates that poor health and employee wellbeing cost the UK economy £150 billion a year, with 79% of employees reporting moderate to high stress, and average sick leave at 9.4 days per employee. For employers weighing the business case for wellbeing programmes, early pilots that link activity incentives to measurable outcomes could help shift those conversations from wellness spend to return on investment.
Inside the product
Incentifi’s app rewards everyday movement and exercise — steps, workouts and similar activity — with lifestyle benefits such as travel rewards. The platform is pitched at aligning individual wellbeing improvements with commercial outcomes for employers and partners: employers subsidise rewards and access aggregated data to track uptake and engagement.
The phase one pre-seed funding will finance pilot programmes with several businesses. Independently owned Specsavers practices are already signed up to explore whether rewarding movement and healthier habits can improve staff wellbeing and deliver tangible benefits for employees.
Who are the investors?
The announcement names James Hardy as an investor and strategic adviser. Hardy is the former senior finance executive at Deliveroo and is currently Co-Founder and COO at Bioniq, a supplements business that has scaled through venture rounds and counts investment from high-profile backers including Cristiano Ronaldo.
The company says SEIS assurance is in place as it prepares a larger £500,000 raise that will follow this closed pilot and soft launch. That next phase is intended for learning, iteration and employer feedback before broader commercial roll-out.
In the announcement, James Hardy, Investor and strategic advisor at incentifi, said:
What really stood out to me was the strength of the team and the clarity of the model. incentifi is built around improving healthier lives while delivering a clear return for employers and partners. Having seen first-hand at Bioniq how impactful it can be when wellbeing and business objectives truly align, incentifi delivers exactly that. I’m excited to be part of the journey ahead.
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Founder perspective
The co-founder frames the current phase as deliberately modest and learning-focused: the pilot is positioned as a way to iterate the product with employers and measure whether incentives translate into better wellbeing and clearer commercial outcomes.
In the announcement, Paul Kelbie, Co-Founder at incentifi, said:
From our own personal and professional experiences, we started incentifi with one mission and purpose in mind, to incentivise people to prioritise healthier choices through rewards they actually want. This funding and James joining us as an advisor validates both the mission and the model. Our focus now is learning. The pilot allows us to work closely with employers to understand how wellbeing incentives can support healthier, happier teams in a commercially sustainable way.
The bigger picture
This move sits within a broader wave of early-stage healthtech activity focused on workplace wellbeing and behaviour change. Employers are under pressure to tackle mental health and presenteeism, and tools that can show measurable engagement and ROI are likely to attract attention from healthtech investors and corporate HR teams alike.
The use of SEIS and phased pilots is a common route for UK startups to de-risk employer propositions before scaling. If Incentifi’s pilots with retail and service employers produce measurable reductions in absenteeism or improvements in productivity, the company will be better placed to justify the larger raise it is now seeking and to compete in a busy market for employee wellbeing solutions.
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