The fitness industry keeps on booming worldwide. While many consumers are determined to pull themselves away from the “standard” fitness training of getting a gym membership, and spending a few hours a day on the treadmill and lifting weights to get in shape, more and more people are using technology and apps that promise to get you in shape in under 30 minutes of personal training per day. Online coaches don’t only tell you how to workout according to your body type, but also give you a complete nutrition plan. Other fitness startups offer smart devices or materials which track your body’s motion and movements to then give you feedback on how to maximise your results.
These innovative ways of fitness are booming more than ever since they don’t only save you money, but also give you the freedom to workout more precise, quicker and specified on your daily moods and feelings. Today’s fitness apps often come with challenges or gamification features that let you compete with other users – which can be quite motivating.
This week we took a look at the fitness tech industry to provide you with a list of 10 exciting fitness startups from Europe and North America that are continuously growing their community and customer base:
Asana Rebel “The gentle way to get in shape” – A Berlin-based startup founded by Pascal Klein and Robin Pratap in 2015, is a yoga combined with fitness app that promises to get their users in shape in a more gentle way than used to. It is available in six languages and has been featured multiple times by Apple and Google and rated one of the top fitness apps currently on the market. Besides the great idea of linking yoga and fitness, the app’s interface is beautiful and contemporary with an easily navigational interface and perfectly harmonising colours.
Fitwell: Founded in 2014 by Baris Ozaydinli in London, Fitwell is your smart fitness and nutrition coach that combines state of the art fitness technology with sports science to help you achieve your goal faster and easier. Fitwell is a 24/7 personal fitness coach and expert nutritionist. Eating healthy and staying in shape should be easy and fun – whether one is at home, at work or in the gym. Fitwell’s personalised meal and workout plans are a simple way to build better habits and reach your health and fitness goals. And just like a personal trainer, Fitwell tracks the progresses, keeps the users motivated and helps to achieve a healthy lifestyle on a daily basis.
8fit makes healthy living fun and simple by providing guidance and support – including tailored workouts and meal plans – in one easy to use app. Founded by Pablo Villalba and Pedro Solá in 2014, 8fit supports more than 10 million users worldwide on their individual journeys to healthier, happier lives. We push for progress over perfection, choose the best solution over the quick fix, and enjoy the journey to your healthiest mind and body yet. The company is based in Berlin and has more than 50 employees worldwide, and has raised $10M in funding to-date.
Antelope.Club: Founded in 2014 in Frankfurt am Main, Antelope aims to change the way how people do their workout and keep themselves in shape. It’s all about your time. Antelope gives you the opportunity to workout in the most effective and time efficient manner. The startup has developed the revolutionary full-body mobile ANTELOPE SUIT based on the Electro Muscle Stimulation technology. 20 minutes of “Antelope” EMS training equal up to 3 hours of conventional exercises and one session per week is all it takes to a healthier, stronger, you. Till date, Antelope raised about $2.1 million in funding.
MoveWith: A better, more motivating way to workout by giving users instant access to guided audio workouts from the best instructors on the planet whenever and wherever – on the road, in their living room, or at a gym. Each class brings the motivational guidance of a top instructor alongside a popular playlist to push, inspire and challenge the users as much as possible. MoveWith is a modern-day gym, totally personal and totally digital. Founded in 2015 by the duo Holly Shelton and Tricia Choi in San Francisco, MoveWith now grows over 100% each month and continues to expand more than ever before.
Racefully: Founded in 2014 in London, the vision of the Racefully founders is to enable everyone in the world to enjoy exercising together, socially and competitively, wherever and whenever they want, unlimited by geography. Racefully enables businesses to increase employee engagement and lower health costs through a compelling virtual team-based fitness solution. The Racefully web and smartphone platform helps corporates, insurers, charities and brands to build and nurture healthy communities. So far, the fitness startup raised about €500K in funding.
Aaptiv offers immediate and an on-demand subscription for audio-based fitness classes. For $9.99 a month, users can access hundreds of different workout classes from strength training to yoga to running training programs and more. Audio trainers guide the workout via a synced playlist. Aaptiv, is now a leading provider of premium digital health and wellness content with a fast-growing community of more than 200,000 members taking 30,000 of Aaptiv’s exclusive classes each day. Aaptiv aims to transform the way people exercise and train through its innovative use of sound. Every class combines the guiding voice of an expert Aaptiv trainer with motivating music by top artists in every genre. This audio-based format eliminates distractions, allowing members to focus on their fitness goals, when and where it suits them. Launched in 2015 by founder and CEO Ethan Agarwal, Aaptiv has over 80 employees in its New York office and continues to grow rapidly.
GymCraft: Founded in 2016 in Malaga, Spain, by three entrepreneurs and masterminds, GymCraft is a next generation fitness startup that is bringing together the worlds of fitness and gaming to create virtual reality workouts. The company’s “exergaming” software is compatible with technologies including various VR goggles, creating fully interactive exercise experiences.
GymCraft users can connect their equipment to games via a USB, upon which they can enter virtual worlds to begin a game and compete with friends. The company is providing virtual reality fitness solutions for homes, gyms, and corporates.
Fortë is a startup that revolutionises the fitness industry by providing access to avant-garde boutique studio classes coached by leading fitness experts. Both a technology and subscription based streaming platform, FORTË installs hardware and software into boutique studios, which enable the classes to be streamed live to FORTË’s platform. In order to connect the remote users to the in-studio participants we will be curating all wearables (heart rate monitors, Apple watches, FitBit, etc.) on the market to create a live leaderboard. Users can track their performance in real-time, as well as monitor their personal and overall achievements on our social, interactive, and fully immersive platform. The subscription gives you access to this curated, cutting-edge, fully immersive, social, data-driven, interactive, real time, unedited, and unparalleled fitness experience with unlimited content. Users have the opportunity to experience their classes live or through their on-demand library. Fortë was founded in 2015 in the thriving city of New York.
BurnAlong:
Launched in 2016 by Daniel Freedman and Mike Kott, BurnAlong seeks to make group exercise convenient by providing a online platform that complements in-person workouts at gyms or fitness studios. Local fitness instructors can record classes or host them live on the BurnAlong site, and users can log in with friends to work out together, with social accountability being a driving force of the platform. This US-based health and fitness startup has raised a solid $2.5 million in funding and is thriving more than ever before.
By the way: If you’re a corporate or investor looking for exciting startups in a specific market for a potential investment or acquisition, check out our Startup Sourcing Service!
