Wellness and fitness brands took center stage during the last year thanks to the pandemic that locked people indoors and closed the doors to gyms.
With workout opportunities being restricted, people worldwide started looking for ways to feel healthier, happier, less stressed, and more in shape during these uncertain times. For many people, the answer was a fitness app or service that would allow them to remain active in their own homes.
Gym-goers from before the pandemic are now more curious than ever to explore the most innovative ways that can help them maintain their fitness routines and overall wellbeing even when fitness studios are closed. Turning to technology for improved workout experiences is a shift in consumer mindset. Instead of keeping these aspects limited to their gym sessions, workout enthusiasts want to know everything about their wellness, including how to keep working out, maintain a healthy diet, practice mindfulness, and get quality sleep, all using wellness and fitness technology.
From wearables to intelligent exercising equipment, fitness and diet training apps, virtual workout experiences, yoga apps, and personalized home gym experiences, all these things from the fitness tech sector were in great demand since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the growing popularity of fitness startups and their products and services, we’ve examined the seven best fitness tech startups that are getting it right.
1. Tempo, USA
Valued at $250 million, Tempo is a fitness tech startup for which the lockdown restrictions were a gamechanger. The company’s promise is that using its AI-powered home gym feels just like having a personal trainer in your own home.
The company’s product is a $1995 machine that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to bring full-body workouts to your own home. More precisely, the device allows users to attend one of the seven live classes daily or use the other hundreds of prerecorded classes to work out at home.
Using the latest movement sensor technology, AI, and machine learning, the machine also counts your reps, recommends the correct weights, scans your moves, and helps you correct your posture, calculates your burnt calories, and tracks your heart rate.
2. Peloton, USA
Peloton Interactive is a USA-based exercise equipment and media company. The company has a funding of $994.7 million, and it is enjoying a lot of popularity since the beginning of lockdown restrictions globally. The most famous products sold by this fitness tech startup are stationary bicycles and treadmills that both allow users to subscribe to remote classes via streaming media.
However, despite enjoying the most popularity from all the tech startups on our list, Peloton is no stranger to controversy either. Recently, the company was subject to a dispute with the American Consumer Commission that sent the company a warning about safety risks on its treadmills following various incidents and even the death of a child caused by the company’s equipment.
As the experts from UKLaw explain: “Similar to how a personal trainer may be found responsible for an injury suffered at the gym, consumers may have the right to claim compensation if they suffer an injury that resulted from using a defective fitness product.”
3. Tonal, USA
The USA-based fitness tech startup Tonal is another company worth our attention in 2021 as it has successfully raised over $200 million from venture capitalists.
The company’s machine uses intelligent tech solutions, expert coaching, and personal guidance to bring the gym into your home. Tonal’s $2,995 wall-mounted machine basically helps you have the traditional gym experience in the comfort of your own home. Using AI, machine learning, and the weight equipment attached to it, the machine helps you learn how to use it, how to work out and personalizes all your moves for your body and goals.
4. Gympass, Brazil
Brazil-based company Gympass is helping companies around the world to offer the best fitness perks to their employees. More precisely, Gympass hosts a fitness discovery platform where companies, specifically their employees, can connect to the best online fitness and wellness partners who are part of the network.
With a plan starting at 7,49€/month, people can access live classes from their favorite gyms, instructors, and fitness facilities from around the world. The company’s product is another revolutionary idea that solves the problem of gyms being closed globally. Employees can access fitness classes from the comfort of their own home or their office’s bathroom or recharge room.
5. Whoop, USA
Whoop is a Boston-based fitness tech startup that sells wearable tools designed to provide personal coaching based on a multitude of data it collects, such as sleep, fitness, and recovery. The wearable strap is connected to an app that users can then access on their smartphones to learn more about their training and recovery. Fitness wearables like the ones sold by Whoop have been in great demand since the pandemic started.
Whoop has also recently seen some controversy when the company’s founder, Will Ahmed, criticized Amazon for imitating the industrial design of the wearable. What’s more, at that time, Ahmed also warned consumers about Amazon’s real intentions with the data the retail giant will collect.
6. Strava, USA
The American fitness tech startup Strava is a social network that has been designed to connect athletes in the same surroundings. More precisely, the app is mainly used for cycling and running using GPS data to record an athlete’s activity which is then posted on the user’s feed. Starva users can also use the feed to see their friends’ and followers’ races and connect with them.
Back in November 2017, Starva was reportedky also subject to controversy regarding some privacy issues associated with fitness services and other location-aware apps like it.
7. Mirror, USA
Do you work out in front of the mirror to see your moves and positions? Well, what if the mirror would show you what to do to stay fit? That’s exactly what Mirror’s product does.
The USA-based in-home fitness startup Mirror sells a connected fitness system that has a sleek, responsive display that looks much like, you’ve guessed it, a mirror. Using the device, users can bring the gym inside their homes by accessing live streams and on-demand classes anytime they want.