SA company behind move-to-earn StepN app tops the list of Australia’s best start-ups

An Adelaide company behind an app that combines outdoor exercise with cryptocurrency earnings has topped the list of the nation’s best start-ups – and its profits are insane.

An Adelaide company creating an app that combines outdoor exercise with cryptocurrency earnings has topped the list of Australia’s best start-ups.

StepN, which lets players buy virtual sneakers and earn money by logging their walks and runs, won the title after attracting more than $5 million in seed funding following its launch in December 2021.

But the company recently revealed it made more than $122 million in profit between April and June this year after attracting millions of users to its platform.

The crypto company, which has been described as Pokemon Go meets Strava, is the creation of Yawn Rong and Jerry Huang who entered and won recognition for their concept in the worldwide Solana Ignition Hackathon.

StepN co-founder Yawn Rong.

StepN co-founder Jerry Huang.

Sequoia India vice-president Aakash Kapoor, who invested in the South Australian firm, called StepN a “category-defining Web3 app and NFT platform”.

“It marries the real world with a fun and accessible move-to-earn gameplay that is built on digital asset ownership,” he said.

“We are excited by the game’s potential to create fitness habits while introducing users into the crypto world at the same time.”

The StepN app lets its users buy virtual running shoes in the app, with different strengths and earning capacities. Players can then earn in-game currency, called Green Satoshi Tokens, with outdoor runs and walks they track with GPS. The tokans can be used to upgrade their sneakers, or they can rent their old models to other players or sell them for hundreds of dollars.

Adelaide crypto company StepN recently revealed it made more than $122 million in profit between May and June this year after attracting millions of users to its platform.

The company’s recent profit will be spent on securing its platform from online attacks, introducing more “anti-cheat” features, and expanding its current workforce.

“Due to the tremendous growth in total users and platform activity that StepN has experienced since our launch, we have decided to expand the StepN team, which will allow us to better serve our dedicated users, both new and old,” the founders said.

The South Australian start-up leads a list of impressive Australian ventures, created since 2019, privately owned and with fewer than 100 employees.

The 50 start-ups in our list were ranked by leading business platform Crunchbase, which uses an algorithm to determine a company’s influence based on factors like funding, acquisitions, current trends, connections, media buzz and community engagement.

It also comes after a record year for Australian firms, which attracted more than $10 billion in investments in 2021, according to research by Folklore Ventures.

Originally published as SA company behind move-to-earn StepN app tops the list of Australia’s best start-ups