$24M in new funding, a new symbol, and a chance to change the world.
Three years ago, we started Future with the simple belief that partnership is the key to progress. That is, we’re each at our best when we’re supported, seen, and challenged by others. We believed that enabling high-touch 1-on-1 coaching at scale could unlock massive — and lasting — improvements in consumer health and wellbeing.
What started as a small experiment in a San Francisco basement has grown rapidly, as a secret—primarily shared from member to member—into one of the most sophisticated and effective fitness services in existence.
Series B
Today, we’re thrilled to share that Future has raised $24M from Trustbridge Partners, Kleiner Perkins, Caffeinated Capital, some incredible athletes and founders, as well as existing investors. We’re excited to welcome the Trustbridge team, who share our unique and expansive vision for improving the quality of life of one hundred million people in ten years.
The future is already here. It’s just not evenly distributed.
– William Gibson
Modern life is busy and in constant disruption. Today, the average American has a job (often two), a partner or family to care for, social obligations, community events, bills to pay, and more. In this age, having a single, set routine is a fallacy. We know our health is important, but self-managing our exercise, food, sleep, and stress is impractical at best and impossible at worst.
Which has sweeping consequences: 80% of Americans don’t exercise enough or at all, though the majority of us pick up a new workout routine every year. 7 out of every 10 of us are obese or overweight. The majority live with chronic conditions. Quality of life is low and deteriorating. Everything suffers: our health, happiness, productivity, our sense of adventure.
But there’s a secret: coaching works.
For decades, professional athletes, execs, and celebs have faithfully relied on personal trainers. The magic of having a dedicated coach is that it lightens your load, freeing you to focus on your life. A coach provides all of the expertise, accountability, and flexibility you need to stay on track. But historically, it has been hard to find a quality coach locally, inconvenient to schedule time, and insanely expensive.
This is why we built Future.
The most personal fitness experience, ever.
Future is designed to allow the busiest of people to maintain healthy lives. Each member is paired 1:1 with a world-class coach, who:
- Designs a new bespoke weekly training plan each Sunday,
- Constantly tracks progress via an Apple Watch (which is included, for free, with membership),
- Holds them accountable to the plan, and
- Is in constant contact via text message. We aren’t passively ‘available’ to our members, but rather proactively involved
And it works. On average, our members complete 15 monthly workouts, and trade 4 text messages with their coach every single day. These are unparalleled results. And whereas our members typically discuss their health with a doctor 1-3 times per year, they talk to their coach 1,500 times per year, often making Future the front door to their daily health needs, writ large. This opens up a world of possibilities.
A new look.
We are optimists by nature and we strive to build a world where people are able to realize their personal potential because their day-to-day health needs are well cared for. So we’re also excited to share our updated look and a new symbol that captures our essence. It’s a mark that embodies the partnership between each member of Future and their coach. Two equal entities, supporting one another, rising upward to meet their potential.
What’s Next
It takes an unimaginable effort across our Product, Engineering, Marketing, Operations, and Coaching teams to make Future scalable and consistently delightful. If you’re interested in helping us achieve our vision, we’re hiring— please take a look at our careers page.
We’re excited to continue scaling and evolving Future. In the coming year, we will double down on our sophisticated tools and tech that help our coaches be, both, highly productive and profoundly helpful to each of our members. We’re pushing the boundaries on real-time exercise rep counting using wearable sensors to further drive accountability. For the first time, Future will introduce novel ways to work out with friends, both near and far. And in 2021, we will unveil some exciting new ways for our members to improve performance, beyond fitness.
Together with our new identity, additional capital, and latest investors we are thrilled to kick off a new chapter of this journey.
– Rishi Mandal & Justin Santamaria, Cofounders
