Big COVID Gains For Home Fitness

Home fitness companies are attracting plenty of capital during COVID-19, with two of them – Zwift and Tonal – recently raising a combined $650 million USD.

Zwift specialises in “gamifying” exercise through 3D computer-generated virtual worlds that allow users to compete against one another in immersive settings through an app that pairs with existing equipment like bike trainers or treadmills. It has just completed a $450 million USD capital raise led by global investment firm KKR, which Zwift CEO Eric Min says will allow it to compete on a larger scale and design its own hardware.

“With this investment, Zwift is primed to operate in a broader fitness market and deliver on our ambition to provide gamified fitness through integrated software and hardware, to anyone who wants to have fun while getting fit at home.

“We will be accelerating our investment in the core business, improving the overall product experience, and bringing forward new features, more content and Zwift-designed hardware,” he said.

Tonal, another home virtual fitness company, combines a patented digital weight system with artificial intelligence technology that learns from its users. It has brought its total funding to $200 million with a new $110 million USD cash injection from a returning investor, private equity firm L Catterton, combined with new investments from Delta-v Capital, the Amazon Alexa Fund, and Mousse Partners.

Aly Orady, CEO of Tonal, said the new funding will allow the company to meet unprecedented demand for its products.

“This new capital will allow us to accelerate our marketing initiatives while scaling our supply chain so that we can change even more people’s lives through the power of strength training.

“We’ll also be rolling out innovative new software features and a wider breadth of workout categories that we are excited to share more on in the coming months,” he said.

Smart fitness equipment manufacturer Peloton also recently posted its first quarterly profit, fuelled by a boom in home workout demand.