­ƒôà  FitX Programming Updates

Happy November! Thank you to all our members who joined us in the last two weeks for the  Recruiting Success Stories in the Wellness Industry event as well as the event with the Ross Private Equity Club on Investing in the Wellness Industry.  We’ve got some exciting event partnerships coming up during Tech Week, with the Healthcare Club, and with Barry’s so stay tuned for more.  

Survey Alert: MBA2s Anna Sheehy and Lucy Coyle are working to create a more personal and community based at-home work platform. Help them understand what you think of working out with your friends virtually, your personal workout interests, and how your workouts have changed during COVID-19 by taking this 3min survey! HomeFit Survey
 

­ƒæÅ    FitX Feature - Whoop There It Is - The Wearables War Gets Even Hotter

A few weeks ago we did a deep dive on the Apple Fitness+ Ecosystem. At the core of their strategy was the Apple Watch and improved health monitoring capabilities including measuring blood-oxygen level. Apple has dominated the wearable market in recent years and withstood challenges from FitBit and others including Garmin and recent upstart, Whoop. Whoop just raised another $100M for a valuation of $1.2B. This comes after raising $55M in November of 2019. With this capital, they could conquer a market well beyond the world of sports athletes....

Whoop has taken a slightly different strategy to the market than the expensive Apple Watch, leveraging a SAAS type of model where they charge $30 a month for their lightweight monitoring band. It’s not a watch or a communication device like the Apple Watch, but it continually monitors metrics like strain and recovery. This unique approach has drawn the attention of high profile athletes who have invested in it like Kevin Durant and Rory McIlroy or seen wearing it like Tiger Woods and Patrick Mahomes. Whoop earned some notoriety this summer when PGA golfers were wearing Whoop bands to track for signs of COVID-19.

One of the more notable features of the Whoop is recovery tracking because the band is worn while you sleep. Whoop reports that users get an extra 41 minutes of sleep after 4 months of wearing the band. Whoop argues that data is their differentiator, when asked about why they give the band away, CEO Will Ahmed commented “the phenomenon is the data. It’s not the hardware.”

Whoop still has an uphill battle as the wearable market has been in full swing for several years and many notable brands have tried and failed to win the market. Jawbone and Fitbit were two of the first movers into the space, and while FitBit found a happy ending in their sale to Google, Jawbone ended up folding. Nike had their FuelBand, but opted to move toward software with their Nike Running and Training apps. 

Right now the main focus of wearables is around the wrist, but new brands are entering the marketing introducing innovative wearable clothing. Hexoskin, is a light undershirt that tracks cardiac and respiratory activity. Sensoria offers a bra, undershirt and socks that track cadence and foot landing technique to help reduce strain and prevent injury. Research suggests that 22 million “smart clothing” garments will be sold by 2021. 

Whoop now has the capital to compete with Google and Apple, but this market will remain incredibly competitive and we’re excited to see the innovation that stems from wearable technology.

To learn more about Whoop, check out this podcast featuring their CEO. To ask a classmate about their Whoop experience, hit up FitX VP Elise Gordon!

ÔÅ®  Industry Highlights
 

Dara Treseder joins Peloton as Head of Global Marketing and Communications: Treseder emphasizes the responsibility that brands have to discuss who they are and what they stand for, ‘2020 has given us 20/20 vision; we now see more clearly that the communities we serve require this of us.’ Under her leadership, Peloton launched the We All Have Our Reasons campaign which spotlights the different communities within the One Peloton community, such as the Black Girl Magic squad, to essential workers such as nurses and teachers. This widely successful campaign is the first to emphasize community engagement rather than the specific products Peloton offers. Many FitXers can attest, even without an in-person studio, the community Peloton has created is palpable.

Amid the racial reckoning the concept of reparations has resurfaced:

After the murder of George Floyd in May, the wellness industry has been involved in reparation conversations. The wellness industry has recently come under fire for appropriating cultural practices (ie. the popular yoga studio, Y3, read their statement here) and selling goods that serve white people and whiteness alike. Nicole Cardoza argues the cost of reparations can easily be quantified when looking at the health disparities between Black and white communities. To learn more about systemic racism in the wellness industry we’ve linked related articles here, here, and here.

Looking for a way to use your leftover ClassPass Credits?

ClassPass has teamed up with on-demand beauty providers Priv and Blow.The beauty salons now offer users the option to book services such as on-demand mani/pedis, haircuts, and blowouts with credits. Beauty services are rebounding faster than fitness services amid the coronavirus pandemic and this partnership is the latest strategy used by the fitness giant to retain a portion of its pre-pandemic revenue. Both companies hope this partnership creates an indirect network effect to boost dwindling sales.

When the pandemic disrupted the weekly grocery routine, Thrive Market filled the void:

It is no surprise that Thrive Market, an online grocery company that sells healthy and sustainable products, has seen an uptick in revenue. The self-proclaimed ‘Costco meets Whole Foods’ company charges members an annual membership fee and then offers natural and organic food at a 25-50% discount. Thrive perfectly combines popular trends such as healthy eating, online grocery, subscriptions, and personalized shopping, all of which have increased post-pandemic. This combination has propelled the company to double its predicted YoY growth from 40% to 90%. You could say they’re thrive-ing.

­ƒÄÖ Listen In: New Podcasts To Check Out (on your Winter Walks?)

Learn more about the founding story of Oura. The Oura Ring is the leading sleep and activity tracker on the market. This podcast features Harpreet Rai, the CEO of Oura, and dives deeper into his upbringing and childhood. He also discusses how users can use their product to predict illnesses - a useful tool during a pandemic!

Have you heard of the term Conspirituality? Re-watch this panel on politics and propaganda in wellness from Dive In Well to learn about the rapidly growing web movement expressing an ideology fulfilled by political disillusionment, and the popularity of alternative worldviews also known as New Age "thinking." The panelists discuss the harmful narratives in the wellness industry, as well as how to avoid spiritual bypassing and do your part to demonize racism within the wellness industry. (Password: zH^1uDOZ)

Fitt Insider podcast launches the first episode of it’s Startup Spotlight. Anthony Vennare sits down with Cam Porter, the Founder and CEO of Core. Core aids fitness instructors in launching and scaling their business. In this week’s episode, Cam and Anthony discuss the current state of digital fitness and the disconnect between fitness and health.
 

­ƒôê  Financial Highlights 

• The future is here: digital coaching app Future raised a $24M Series B round. This app brings the knowledge and motivation of a personal trainer into each user’s home

• Playbook, a digital platform for fitness creators, added $9.3M to its Series A round- they are able to differentiate from competitors by focusing on the creator side of the business rather than the end user.

• Nautilus, the innovation leader in at-home fitness equipment for more than 30 years, has been acquired by TRUE Fitness Technology for $25M

• The plant-based food market continues to grow: The LiveKindly Co. raises $135M in new funding round

• Investors such as KKR and The Carlyle group are looking to capitalize on renewed enthusiasm for outdoor cycling - both firms are showing interest in pursuing a sale of Canyon Bicycles for upward of $592M

­ƒÆ╗   Job Postings 

Sr.Product Manager, Health @ FitBit

Product Manager, Inclusion @ Peloton

Brand Strategy Manager @ Peloton

Sr. Product Manager, Health & Wellness @ Walmart

Data Insights @ Equinox

Growth Marketing @ ClassPass

Product Analytics Intern @ Strava

Product Manager @ Whoop

Strategic Planning Intern @ Nike

Product Management Intern @ Nike

Sr. Product Manager @ Thrive Market

­ƒÿ£. FitX Fun Facts

Do you find yourself craving a little something sweet, but wanting to avoid high sugar consumption? Well you’re not alone - SmartSweets, creators of low-sugar candy, generated about $100M in sales this year. SmartSweets look and taste like your favorite candy (think Starbursts and Swedish Fish) but only contain 3g of sugar per serving. Now investors are taking notice, with TPG Growth acquiring the company for $360M earlier this month. SmartSweets growth continues to trend upward as it is one of the fastest growing brands in the non-chocolate category across Canada and the U.S.

Feedback, thoughts, or partnership ideas for us? Send a note to Sonja.