Derval O’Rourke’s workplace wellbeing platform Saol raises €200,000 from Enterprise Ireland

A new workplace wellbeing platform cofounded by Irish Olympian Derval O’Rourke has raised €200,000 in funding from Enterprise Ireland as part of a seed funding round to help bring the business to an international market.

Saol, which was founded by Ms O’Rourke and business partner Greg O’Gorman, is aiming to create 26 jobs by 2026.

Focusing on small and medium-sized enterprises, the platform helps employers to support wellbeing in the workplace, creating a supportive community and offering classes and events, expert coaches, on-demand programmes and live talks across areas including physical, mental and financial wellbeing, fitness and nutrition. It officially launched last month after 18 months of development.

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“Saol is a platform to enable employers to do something really positive for their employees to help support their overall wellbeing,” said Ms O’Rourke. “There is significant evidence that employee wellbeing programmes have a cascading positive effect, resulting in boosted morale, positivity, enthusiasm, increased engagement, reduced stress and anxiety, enhanced problem-solving skills and even controlling chronic disease. We have been receiving really positive feedback from employers and employees so far and we hope that we can bring Saol to a wider audience thanks to the Enterprise Ireland investment.”

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The Enterprise Ireland funding represents half the seed round. The round will fund the cost of the business plan and internationalisation.

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“Research by Cork University Business School titled Healthy Workplace Ireland undertaken in 2023 clearly identified that businesses in Ireland are under-serviced when it comes to providing wellbeing support to employees,” said Donnchadh Cullinan, manager of ICT high potential start-ups with Enterprise Ireland. “We are proud to back the Saol platform created by Derval and Greg and we are confident that it will help to tackle some of the challenges faced by businesses in particular with burnout and increased levels of stress among employees. We look forward to working with the Saol team to realise their global ambition.”

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The new platform follows on from the Derval.ie website, an online fitness and wellbeing subscription platform that has grown a community of 15,000.

The news was welcomed by Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Simon Coveney. “[Ms O’Rourke and Mr O’Gorman] have already helped hundreds of businesses and employees through Derval.ie and it’s great to see the ambition behind their new platform backed with significant funding from Enterprise Ireland.”