US-based Katalyst Fitness Raised Series A Funding By its New Fitness Style

A US-based at home workout startup, Katalyst Fitness, has raised $5.6 million USD in series A funding. Katalyst’s full-body electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) currently has FDA approval for the studio version of its EMS system and is awaiting approval on the home version. The company hopes to start accepting orders in the next month and to ship in early 2020.

In recent year, using EMS for fitness and workout comes as popular training technique in countries like Germany, Japan and Brazil. Now, Katalyst is going to promote this digital workout experience in the United States. In fact, EMS training works by sending electrical signals through the skin to stimulating your muscles — the same basic mechanisms that your brain uses to move your body. Katalyst says the sensation starts out like a massage and that the pressure builds gradually until the muscles fully contract. Even CEO Bjoern Woltermann from Katalyst was deeply in love with EMS training as a way to reduce his back pain. Moreover, it is said that 20-minute personalized EMS effect is equal to the traditional 120-mins workout training session. For those who are interested in this new technique, Woltermann said the system would cost roughly $2,000 and that the monthly workout subscription would be priced at around $39 per month.

Here comes an interesting story from CEO, Bjoern Woltermann who initially wants to build a fitness studio where people would come for short workouts. But the company pivoted to the at-home version after customers badgered the company for an easier, more convenient experience. In the Katalyst’s future to-do list, it aims to sell high-end hardware and a subscription to on-demand virtual workouts, competing with its potential rivals, Peloton and Mirror.

The latest round financing was led by Octopus Ventures, a European venture capital firm that’s part of Octopus Group. It’s carving out a niche for itself in healthcare investments in the US, UK and Asia. In this April, it has launched an £83 million growth fund to further invest in its most promising portfolio companies. The new growth fund coincides with a new strategy for Octopus Ventures more broadly, and will see the VC focus on three key areas: fintech, health tech, and industry 4.0.

X Body正火熱！美國Katalyst Fitness完成A輪融資

美國智慧健身新創公司Katalyst Fitness近日完成560萬美元的A輪融資，Katalyst的肌肉電療（EMS）系統的工作室版本已獲得FDA的核可，目前正在等待家用版的批准，希望12月就可以開始接單，並於2020年初發貨。

近年以電療（Electrical Muscle Stimulation，EMS）來健身減脂大受歡迎，目前在德國、日本和巴西等地都已高度關注這項智慧健身體驗。EMS主要是從外部透過皮膚發送電訊號來刺激肌肉，模擬身體在運動時，大腦經由神經系統傳遞給肌肉的電流，讓肌肉直接收縮，EMS不僅可以刺激到更深層的肌肉，更能在同一時間對全身的肌肉纖維產生刺激，Katalyst創始人兼執行長Björn Woltermann指出，20分鐘的EMS訓練相當於傳統健身訓練的120分鐘，每月只要花39美元，就可以達到更好的運動效果。

德籍的Woltermann本身也是電療的愛好者，他在2015年成立Katalyst時，本來是想打造一個健身房，但鑒於美國健身市場潛力和智能健身開始風行，便將經營方向轉向了便利性更高的居家健身系統，未來也將販售高端建身硬體設備和虛擬線上課程，希望可以跟美國Peloton、Mirror等互別苗頭。

Katalyst這次的融資是由八達通集團旗下的Octopus Ventures領投，Octopus聚焦美國、英國和亞洲的利基市場，並在今年4月啟動了一波基金募集，根據Octopus表示，新一輪資金將聚焦金融科技、醫療保健和科技4.0技術如AI、機器人與IoT。