At-Home Fitness Bulking Up
The pandemic meant that fitness regimes involving crowded gym studios were no longer suitable for health purposes and had to be reimagined. According to the IHRSA, gyms and health centers lost out on an aggregate of $14B due to COVID-19. What has been the loss of the gym industry has been the gain of innovative fitness technology companies which are redefining the fitness industry by allowing fitness enthusiasts to get a great workout in the comfort of their home. The trend towards home fitness may be here to stay, with 59% of respondents in a survey saying they will not renew their gym membership even after the pandemic is over.
Interactive fitness platform Peloton has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of this trend towards home fitness. Sales of their exercise equipment and subscriptions have more than tripled to $758M in Q3 compared to $228M in the same quarter last year and are expected to hit revenue of $1B for the holiday quarter. We can see the rising interest in Peloton services and equipment from the rise in their website traffic of 52% in Nov ’20 over the past six months. The share price of Peloton has grown ~4x YTD to $120 in Dec ’20. There has also been significant growth in their employee strength of 59% YoY in Oct ’20. The number of app reviews they receive in a month on the Play Store has increased by 83% YTD in Oct ‘20.
Other players in the fitness technology sector have made significant investments to meet the changing fitness needs of consumers and seen significant growth. Peloton’s direct competitor Echelon has also seen sales grow by 700% during the pandemic. Echelon has seen a rise in website traffic of 62% in the last six months in Oct ’20. Smart Home Gym company Tempo raised a $60M Series B round led by Norwest Venture Partners and General Catalyst. This was after their main competitor Mirror was acquired for $500M by Lululemon. Both Tempo and Mirror have seen website traffic more than double over 6-months in Nov ’20 with a growth of 100% and 165% respectively. Tempo and Mirror have also significantly bolstered their workforce to manage their long-term growth and have added to their employee count by 352% and 73% respectively YoY in Oct ‘20.
Strength training technology company Tonal raised $110M in Sep ’20 to bring its total funding to $200M. Tonal has seen website traffic increase by 94% and has expanded its workforce by 19% in the last six months. German fitness tech company Vaha raised an undisclosed Series B led by Unbound Ventures. It has seen an incredible spurt of growth in the last six months as website traffic has increased by 175%. They have added to their employee base by 139% compared to last year in Oct ‘20.
The pandemic has merged technology and fitness like never before. Working out from home has proven to be less time-consuming and more convenient for millions of users looking to get in shape and stay fit. The decision to invest in their health has been made easier by exciting offerings that guide them every step of the way and that, in turn, has made the decision to invest in these fitness technology companies an easy one too.
