ShapeUp

About ShapeUp

ShapeUp was a digital health and corporate wellness company founded in 2006 by Dr. Rajiv Kumar and Dr. Brad Weinberg, who were medical students at Brown University at the time. The venture originated from Dr. Kumar's frustration as a first-year medical student with the limited tools available to help patients make sustainable lifestyle changes. He observed that patients with strong social support systems were more successful in achieving their health goals, which became the foundational concept for the company.

Initially started as a non-profit called ShapeUp RI with a $10,000 grant from Brown Medical School, the platform was designed to help Rhode Islanders improve their health. The turning point came when CVS Caremark expressed interest in using the platform for its 150,000 employees, prompting the transition to a for-profit business. Dr. Kumar and Dr. Weinberg took a leave of absence from medical school to focus on the company. Dr. Weinberg, a self-taught programmer, built the software platform.

The company's core business was providing a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform to corporate clients to run employee wellness programs. It operated in the corporate wellness market, serving over 800 customers, including many Fortune 500 companies, with a reach of two million users globally. ShapeUp's platform used social networking, team-based challenges, gamification, and evidence-based science to encourage behavior change and improve employee health. The technology was designed to be highly configurable, offering solutions like biometric screenings, health risk assessments, and programs for smoking cessation and stress management.

On February 24, 2016, ShapeUp was acquired by Virgin Pulse, a subsidiary of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, as part of a three-way merger with Australia's Global Corporate Challenge. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the combined entity became one of the world's largest providers of technology-enabled wellbeing software. Following the acquisition, Dr. Rajiv Kumar was appointed President and Chief Medical Officer of the newly formed Virgin Pulse Institute, overseeing the organization's analytics team.