13. Peppy

Founders: Mridula Pore, Evan Harris, Max Landry
Founded: 2018
Website: peppy.health

The Coronavirus pandemic has shifted the landscape for many industries. With an increased awareness over mental and physical health concerns, COVID made many employers realise that they need to do more than just say that they care about their employees’ wellbeing – they had to actually start showing it.

This is where Peppy comes in. It’s effectively pioneering an entirely new category of specialist digital healthcare as an employee benefit.

The Peppy platform offers on-demand resources for employees seeking health advice and services. As well as its vast database of videos, articles, courses and audio support, Peppy offers one-to-one chat or virtual consultation with health experts in specialist fields. Eligible employees can even receive home fertility or hormone test kits, then be connected with a qualified expert to talk through the results. It’s a huge benefit for employees in times of concern.

We think what we do at Peppy is really special,” says cofounder Mridula Pore. “We're helping employers to support their employees during life's most difficult health challenges.

“We think what we do at Peppy is really special,” says cofounder Mridula Pore. “We’re helping employers to support their employees during life’s most difficult health challenges.”

The lightbulb moment came when cofounder Max Landry heard from six HR directors in the space of a week, all saying that they’d love to be able to support their staff better through menopause.

The need for a solution was clearly there, and Landry and his cofounders set about creating a platform that could exceed the hopes of HR and People teams seeking to offer genuinely impactful health benefits to their staff.

Google, Adobe, JP Morgan, Barclays, Santander, Disney, Accenture, PwC, Aviva and SAP are among the businesses that trust Peppy to provide healthcare advice to their employees

Peppy’s current focus is on offering advice and health services tailored towards menopause, fertility, baby, men’s health and women’s health areas. It has a keen eye on expanding this remit, with ambitions to launch services for neurodiversity and LGBTQ+ health in the near future.

Peppy targets its services at enterprise companies with 1,000 or more employees. And, it’s found a footing with some global giants already.

Indeed, if you can judge a business by the company it keeps, then Peppy has a jaw-dropping circle. The founders are particularly proud to count some truly huge names such as Google, Adobe, JP Morgan, Barclays, Santander, Disney, Accenture, PwC, Aviva and SAP among the businesses that trust Peppy to provide healthcare advice to their employees. Peppy has also set up key partnerships with health insurance giants such as Axa and Vitality.

“US expansion has already begun for us, so we’ll soon be a global business, able to bring our support to an even greater number of people around the world,” explains Pore.

On top of all of its growth success, Peppy is also one of only a handful of UK venture capital backed startups to become B Corp certified. “It’s great to be recognised for the positive impact we’re having on the world,” enthuses Pore. “It’s a testament to the hard work of our team over the past few years.”

With modern employers increasingly engaging with the need to offer mental and physical health support to their teams, Peppy has a fantastic opportunity to grow the reach of its product worldwide. It’s a brand to watch closely, and one we see as being on a tremendous growth trajectory.