Gyms are becoming startup launchpads, and celebrities are betting on non-alcoholic beer.
Life Time opens its platform to startups
The company launched an Innovation Hub, turning select clubs into live testing environments for emerging products across wearables, recovery, nutrition, and AI-powered solutions.
- Startups gain access to real members and real-world conditions, with potential for long-term collaboration.
- Life Time positions itself at the forefront of innovation — sourcing, validating, and scaling external products while strengthening its ecosystem.
As wellness fragments into point solutions, brands that control distribution and attention can build vertically integrated platforms — and extract more value at every stage.
Racket sports scale up
Pickleball Inc. raised $225M at a $750M valuation, combining pro leagues, media, and infrastructure into a unified platform.
- Pickleball now has more than 24M US players, tennis reached a record 27.3M, and padel has grown to over 35M globally.
- Participation is fueling consolidation, while new formats and social-first concepts are lowering barriers to entry.
As demand grows, operators are scaling leagues, venues, and experiences — turning recreation into an organized, monetizable ecosystem.
NA beer attracts capital
Crazy Mountain, a new brand founded by George Clooney and the partners behind tequila company Casamigos, raised $15M in seed funding to expand distribution across the US.
- CAVU venture partners led the round, betting on celebrity status to shape behavior.
- With alcohol consumption declining across key demographics, non-alcoholic alternatives are gaining traction as consumers seek moderation without giving up ritual.
- The category is a small share of total beverage sales,but other celebrity-backed brands like Tom Holland’s Bero are scaling up.
As wellness reshapes consumption, categories once defined by indulgence are being rebuilt around function and lifestyle.
