by Eric Peckham | Jun 25, 2015 | Startup Stories |
When Raj Kapoor - already a successful tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist - founded Fitmob in 2013, he wanted to free people from the restrictions and boredom of traditional gym memberships. Why should we accept being locked into one gym for a year at a time, with enrollment fees and a limited schedule of classes? The Fitmob team created a marketplace where anyone could find classes that matched their interests and schedule, hosted by a wide range of fitness instructors around their city. As it grew, it evolved to offer unlimited monthly access to classes within a network of independent gyms and studios so that people can work out wherever they want and try all sorts of new fitness trends. Yoga on Monday, Crossfit on Tuesday, aerial fitness (yes, it’s a thing) on Wednesday? No problem. In April, Fitmob joined forces with competitor ClassPass to take on the fitness market together. The united team is rapidly expanding to new cities and strengthening the existing network of fitness partners. For $99 per month, members get to participate in unlimited classes, including up to three at the same studio. It’s caught on like wildfire among many in the active lifestyle community and is a win for gym and studio owners who can tap into a large new stream customers. Fitmob was one of Arena’s first investments, so last week I caught up with Raj post-merger to get his perspective from the founder’s seat: EP: What do you see as wrong with fitness that Fitmob and ClassPass are making right? RK: On the consumer side, two-thirds of the world’s population is obese or inactive...
