Fitbug (LON:FITB), the AIM-listed personal health and well-being business, has raised £770,000 in a share placing with new and existing institutional shareholders priced at 4p per share. The cash boost has been earmarked to support and accelerate the development of the company’s services in the US.

Fitbug’s services combine online health and wellness coaching with a device that allows users to track their achievements. The company is marketing the service through partnerships with major health insurers, corporate healthcare programmes and loyalty services, such as Nectar in the UK. It is particularly keen to make headway in the US, where efforts to slow the spiralling rates of healthcare costs are increasing the uptake of corporate wellness and incentive programmes to encourage employees to lead healthier lives.

Paul Landau, the chief executive of Fitbug Ltd, said the fundraising would help the company capitalise on growing demand for preventative care products and services in the US, which has been given added impetus from President Obama’s health reforms.

Landau said: “This plays strongly in favour of Fitbug’s core activity and lifestyle tracking capabilities which can lead to positive behaviour changes. Having already started to establish a solid presence in the American health and well-being sector over the last 18 months, we have a number of further US sales and strategic partnership discussions in hand, which we hope to conclude in the second half of 2011.”

In June, Fitbug announced the signing of four new agreements with new and existing customers that extended its customer base in the US, the Middle East and Europe. The deals were among the early successes of a strategy to bolster the company’s sales and marketing efforts following several years of product development. Two months earlier, Fitbug hired Fergus Kee as executive chairman to lead the strategy to expand in key territories, including the all-important US market. He was formerly managing director of Bupa’s £2.1 billion turnover UK and North American division.

Commenting today, Kee said: “I would like to take this opportunity to welcome new shareholders to the company and thank existing investors for their continued support. With the help of these funds and strong prospects in the US, I believe that Fitbug is now entering a very exciting period in its development.”

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