ClassPass CEO on the Company's New $85 Million Funding
*By Bridgette Webb*
ClassPass is bulking up.
The subscription-based fitness platform raised $85 million in new funding led by Singapore investment firm Temasekーbringing its total financing to $255 million.
"We are really going to start hitting the gas," said ClassPass CEO Fritz Lanman in an interview with Cheddar on Friday. "We plan on going from 10,000 studio and gym partners to hopefully... more than that."
The New York start-up lets users book classes at a variety of gyms and fitness studios, and Lanman plans to launch in 10 more U.S. cities by the end of the year.
But the company isn't stopping there. Lanman also wants to enter an international market, and his sights are on Southeast Asia. But he also admitted the region is an entirely different challenge.
"I certainly think that Asia has cultural differences that I'm sure that we'll learn and might make it harder to address that market. However, we are not just doing studio fitness. We are trying to push hard into wellness. In Asia, that category of health is very popular."
The company first announced its wellness push in Februaryーallowing users a new option to book spa visits, massages, facials, cryotherapy, and acupuncture sessions.
Lanman says that ClassPass plans to test those offerings in New York City before extending the new features to the rest of its network.
The company has long-term ambitions to compete with on-demand exercise platforms like Daily Burn and Peloton with its recent launch of ClassPass Live, a live-streaming class option.
For full interview, [click here] (https://cms.cheddar.com/videos/VmlkZW8tMjEyOTA=).
Most members of the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate setting committee supported further reductions to its key interest rate this year, minutes from last month’s meeting showed.
Sinead O’Sullivan breaks down Taylor Swift’s genius marketing for The Life of a Showgirl, which just set the record for most albums sold in a single week.
Markets are emerging from a turbulent Q3. Horizon’s Mike Dickson shares insights on interest rates, small caps, and where investors should look in Q4 and beyond
Bambu Ventures's Kyle Pretsch dives into Lemonaid’s $10M buyout, down from 23andMe’s $400M price tag, and what’s next after Chrome Co.’s dramatic pivot.
Former Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers learned all about technology’s volatile highs and lows as a veteran of the internet’s early boom days during the late 1990s and the ensuing meltdown that followed the mania. And now he is seeing potential signs of the cycle repeating with another transformative technology in artificial intelligence. Chambers is trying take some of the lessons he learned while riding a wave that turned Cisco into the world's most valuable company in 2000 before a crash hammered its stock price and apply them as an investor in AI startups. He recently discussed AI's promise and perils during an interview with The Associated Press.
Grove Collaborative’s CEO shares how the company is reinventing everyday goods with sustainability at the core and working toward a plastic-free future.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens shares plans for affordable housing, community-led growth, and why private and public grocery stores could be key to food equity.
