Press release -
Discovery Vitality announces new partnership with Strava, the social platform for athletes
JOHANNESBURG, 11 December 2020 | Discovery Vitality today announced an exciting new partnership with Strava, the leading digital community for cyclists and runners, with over 73 million athletes on the platform. As of today, in a collaboration that is the first of its kind globally, Strava becomes the new home of the Team Vitality community.
“We’re very pleased to partner with Vitality to help provide motivation and camaraderie for their members,” says Michael Horvath, CEO and Co-founder at Strava. “We welcome Vitality to the Strava partner ecosystem and look forward to seeing them grow a thriving community on the platform.”
“Discovery Vitality has always embraced technology as a tool for changing behaviour for good. It’s helped us make over a million South African members and 20 million global members healthier,” says Dinesh Govender, Vitality SA CEO.
Vitality members will now be able to connect, compete and get rewarded with Strava, earning up to 100 Vitality points for each activity. As a part of this pioneering digital community, members will have wider access to running and cycling opportunities, enjoy a sense of community that attracts more people into the culture of fitness and exchange accounts of their experiences to get themselves and their teammates enthused about running and cycling.
He adds, “Our mission is to reward our members for activity tracked by Strava and to offer compelling member engagement and challenges that drive community growth for Team Vitality. This will result in increased physical activity and more rewards for members, and ultimately translate into better health outcomes.”
To date, Strava has had more than 4 billion activities uploaded from every country on earth and seen an average of 2 million athletes join every 30 days. Strava turns members’ smartphone device into a running and cycling computer, so they can track and analyse every aspect of their physical activity. The platform also allows members to connect with friends across the globe. It is also home to the world's largest route and trail resources for runners and cyclists, allowing members to explore new routes and compete with a global community.
Govender says: “We have set the ambitious target to become the most loved running and cycling community on Strava. Combing our existing strong membership base with the dynamic partnership we’ve entered with Strava, we are confident this goal can be achieved.”
Vitality Head of Wellness Dr Mosima Mabunda reflects: “This collaboration with Strava is testament to our deep commitment to give our members greater reasons to get healthy. Despite the challenges we have collectively faced in 2020, we look to 2021 with renewed hope, energy and excitement about what this partnership with Strava will mean for our members and society alike.”
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Vitality CEO, Dinesh Govender and Vitality Head of Wellness, Dr Mosima Mabunda are available for interviews. To schedule, please email Vitality Senior Reputation Manager, Munene Khoza on munenek@discovery.co.za.
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About Discovery
Discovery Limited is a South African-founded financial services organisation that operates in the healthcare, life assurance, short-term insurance, savings and investment and wellness markets. Since inception in 1992, Discovery has been guided by a clear core purpose – to make people healthier and to enhance and protect their lives. This has manifested in its globally recognised Vitality Shared-Value insurance model, active in 24 markets with over 20 million members. The model is exported and scaled through the Global Vitality Network, an alliance of some of the largest insurers across key markets including AIA (Asia), Ping An (China), Generali (Europe), Sumitomo (Japan), John Hancock (US), Manulife (Canada) and Vitality Life & Health (UK, wholly owned). Discovery trades on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange as DSY. Follow us on Twitter @Discovery_SA
About Vitality
Vitality is the largest platform for behaviour change globally, underpinning the insurance products of 14 leading global insurers, with more than 20 million members in 24 countries. It is a leading behaviour-change programme that underpins insurance and financial services, creating shared value by combining behavioural economics and clinical science to encourage and reward members for exercising more, eating healthier, managing stress, looking after and improving their health. For more information, please visit the Vitality Website or media_relations_team@discovery.co.za
About Strava
Strava is the leading social platform for athletes and the largest sports community in the world, with over 70 million athletes in 195 countries. If you sweat you’re an athlete, and Strava’s mobile apps and website connect millions of active people every day. Strava gives athletes simple, fun ways to stay motivated and compete against themselves and others without having to be in the same place at the same time. All athletes belong on Strava no matter where they live, which sport they love or what device they use. Join the community and make the most of your sport with a Strava subscription.
Our favorite stats:
- More than four billion activities have been shared on Strava
- Athletes in every country on earth
- More than 2 million new athletes join per month
- Over 19 million Segments
- 190 employees, most in San Francisco with more in Denver, CO, Hanover, NH and Bristol, UK
- 1,100+ professional athletes are on Strava
- 4.9 billion Kudos given between athletes last year
- Over 4 million photos shared per week
- 300+ communities making commuting better with Strava Metro
