Choys wants to be the ‘chief well-being officer’ for employees

(From left) Choys co-founders Vanessa Chen and Sharon Li, and chief technology officer Abzal Ameer / Photo credit: Choys

About 80% of our lives are spent at work. Pandemic-induced movements like quiet quitting have served as a wake-up call for employers to take better care of their staff.

But does that require a lot of resources from employees? Vanessa Chen, co-founder of Choys, doesn’t think so.

“The ‘good stories’ of employee well-being have always come from Google, Meta, etc., but that shouldn’t be the case,” she tells Tech in Asia in an interview. “We believe everyone deserves well-being at workplaces.”

In 2022, Sharon Li and Chen co-founded the Singapore-based insurtech startup. It offers what it calls a “digital chief well-being officer,” which is a B2B software-as-a-service platform providing personalized benefits, insurance, and other well-being support for employees. 

Choys has raised US$1.1 million in its seed round to expand across Southeast Asia and develop its product. Last year, it secured an undisclosed amount in its pre-seed round from Antler.

Funding details

• Funding amount: US$1,100,000
• Other investors: Wing Vasiksiri, Foremast, Antler, Fintech Nation Fund
• Stage: Seed
• Source

On the product side, Choys offer three modules: Choys Benefits personalizes insurance, while Choys Belong connects an employee with their colleagues to build habits, and Choys Impact converts an employee’s actions into social impact.

On its website, Choys said its platform has helped boost employee productivity by 4x.

According to Chen, Choys’ revenue comes from subscription fees charged per employee on a monthly or annual basis, along with additional commission from its partners.

“In five years, we want to become the go-to employee well-being platform in Asia,” she adds. “The expectations for the workalike of the next-generation workforce have evolved massively – employees are attracted by organizations who fulfill from bottom to the top of their Maslow’s hierarchy.”

See also: Vibe Check: Mental health in the startup world

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