fellow startups betting on the remote gym concept. That group includes Zwift and Aaptiv, which bills itself as the “Netflix of fitness” and raised $22 million from investors in June.
Switching from in-person exercise classes to virtual ones, of course, usually requires providing your own equipment. For an activity like yoga, that doesn’t involve much more than buying a mat, if you don’t already own one.
But workouts such as indoor cycling, which FitOn does not appear to be focusing on initially, require more equipment. One popular model of a stationary bike sold by New York-based Peloton can cost more than $2,000 to buy and have installed.
Indeed, a recent survey by Alpha, a consumer research firm based in New York, reportedly found that 54 percent of people in the U.S. who exercise at least once per month have interest in purchasing a “fitness system” that would allow them to work out at home. However, many survey respondents said they have concerns about the high cost of equipment, and their lack of space for storing it.
If exercising at home ultimately becomes one of this era’s breakout consumer technology trends, Peloton will likely get some of the credit. In August, the company raised a $550 million funding round that reportedly valued Peloton at $4 billion.
FitOn has a long way to go to reach similar “unicorn” status, but part of the startup’s strategy for differentiating itself out of the gate appears to involve collaborating with well-known fitness instructors. Two of the trainers FitOn features on its website, Cassey Ho and Katie Dunlop, have 1.4 million and 310,000 followers on Instagram, respectively.
