S.Korean walking app Cashwalk debuts in Spain, Italy

Nudge Healthcare, a South Korean startup that operates the health management app Cashwalk, has added Italy and Spain to the list of overseas markets for its monetary reward walking app, which incentivizes good health habits, in a bold move to speed up its global push.

“Our company has expanded its business territory across non-English speaking markets,” Nudge Healthcare co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Na Seung-kyun said on Thursday. “We will strive to make (Cashwalk) a global app that can be enjoyed by anyone in the world regardless of their nationality or ethnicity.”

Korea’s homegrown walking app has already forayed into other foreign markets such as the US and Canada, as well as the UK, France and Germany. Its penetration into Europe is expected to gain traction with the inclusion of Italy and Spain.

Cashwalk rewards its users with coins or electric gift vouchers for their walking steps.

It will offer its foreign users country-specific perks like gift cards issued by local retailers or multinational companies such as Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. for cross-border use.

It allows its users in different European countries to record their steps even during their visits to neighboring countries, with a simple change of a country in the app. Users' cash rewards remain intact even after a country change, the company explains.

The same function is already available in North America, between the US and Canada. 

The Korean startup announced earlier this month that it attracted 30 billion won ($22.4 million) in a Series A funding round from Korean venture capitalists, including Korea Investment Partners Co., Shinhan Capital Ltd. and Shinhan Securities Co.

The company was founded in 2016 as Cashwalk and then changed its name to Nudge Healthcare in March 2021.

Its operating profit increased 12.7% to 10 billion won in 2022 from 2021 on revenue of 79 billion won, up 39% over the same period thanks to the growing popularity of the Cashwalk app at home and abroad, the company disclosed on April 3 in a regulatory filing.  

Its overseas sales last year more than tripled from the previous year, according to the company.

Write to Eun-Yi Ko at koko@hankyung.com

Sookyung Seo edited this article.