Fitt Insider Issue 4 — Your Weekly Rundown of Fitness & Wellness News

Fitt Insider is a curated look at the news and ideas redefining the fitness and wellness industries. It’s designed for entrepreneurs, executives, and investors interested in boutique fitness, natural foods, fitness tech, and emerging wellness trends.

Today’s Fitt Insider Briefing

Tech.

A few years ago, wearables seemed poised to transform health and fitness. Since then, major players like Fitbit and Apple have struggled to make an impact. At the same time, Jawbone folded and Under Armour’s HealthBox bombed. So much for that wearables revolution, huh?

But now, a new breed of fitness technology is trying to transform the space. Recent developments point toward growth in at-home, digitally-enabled products and voice-lead workouts.

Earlier this year, Mirror—an at-home workout device that looks like a mirror but allows you to stream fitness classes—raised $13 million in funding. Mirror’s product and pricing hasn’t been released, but expect them to follow in Peloton’s footsteps — emphasizing original content and charging a premium price.

Speaking of Peloton, the company best known for their high-tech stationary bikes recently rolled out Peloton Digital — a new app featuring live and recorded video and audio workouts that include walking, yoga, strength training, and cycling. The play here seems obvious: at about $20 per month, the app is an opportunity to engage consumers who are priced out of Peloton’s core products. Their bikes sell for $1,995, treadmills cost $4,000, and on top of that, there’s the $39 subscription for monthly classes.

While most classes in Peloton’s app are slated to include video to help guide the workout, Aaptiv CEO Ethan Agarwal seems to have found a little bit of whitespace in audio. If you’re not familiar, Aaptiv is the category leader in audio-guided fitness classes with some 200,000 paying members. And with the announcement of their $22 million Series C—bringing their total funding to $52 million—Aaptiv seems well-positioned to continue their dominance.

Lastly, we’ll round out our discussion of at-home and voice-led workouts with a bit of a dark horse. Superstar fitness instructor Kayla Itsines’s Sweat app is on track to do $77 million in revenue this year. This is all without venture capital or a Silicon Valley office — just a fanatical following on Instagram that has made Itsines the epitome of fitness instructor stardom.

IPO.

Both Aaptiv and Peloton have floated the idea of going public in the near future, the former as early as 2020 and the latter later this year. But as these tech-enabled companies speed toward a public offering, SoulCycle is backpedaling from the public market.

As more boutique studios flood the fitness space and competition in the cycling sphere heats up, SoulCycle has opted to pull their SEC registration form citing “market conditions.” While this move doesn’t preclude them from going public in the future, it does raise some questions. For example, on numbers alone, SoulCycle is falling behind other boutique studios. As I pointed out in last week’s insider briefing, Orangetheory and F45 are closing in on 1,500 studios, respectively. Meanwhile, SoulCycle currently operates 87 locations across 15 markets in the US and Canada.

Though, this could be the sign of a pivot. The IPO didn’t play out, but SoulCycle is pressing forward in new avenues. Last week, the company announced they have tapped talent from Vox Media, Glamour, and Mashable to launch their own digital media division. With a focus on “creating programming and experiences using a variety of mediums, including music, video, audio and experiential events,” SoulCycle is hoping to advance the brand outside the four walls of the studio.

Still, a couple questions remain: Is this move intended to help them recruit more riders willing to pay $35 per class or is this the first indication that they plan to follow in the footsteps of Peloton or Aaptiv who are proving at-home workouts and original content have much better economics than opening more boutique studios.

Stay tuned for the next Fitt Insider briefing. In the meantime, let me know what you think or if you come across anything that should be included.

About Fitt

Fitt is a content-driven marketplace where people to discover, share, and sign up for health and fitness activities. With contributors on the ground in more than 25 cities, Fitt is a fast and easy way to find a fitness studio, healthy place to eat, outdoor adventure, or upcoming event nearby. Find your city at Fitt.co.

Our Mission

We're making a healthy, active lifestyle more accessible by connecting people to their local fitness community.

Combining storytelling with activity, event, and class registration, we’re building an all-in-one platform that unifies the health and fitness journey from discovery to sign-up and participation.

Our Work 

Through Fitt Labs, our in-house creative shop, we produce and distribute innovative marketing campaigns for brands who want to reach and engage health-minded millennials.

For job seekers and employers alike, Fitt Jobs is the go-to source for finding or filling a job in the health and fitness industry.

Utilizing Fitt Events, we work with event partners big and small to connect them with the Fitt community to increase sign-ups.

Fitt Creators is a growing community of visual storytellers creating inspiring content for people passionate about living an active lifestyle.