Issue No. 315: Year-End Review
Strength training is here to stay.
Hey, gang! 👋
Quick heads up: We’re off next Tuesday and back the following week to share what we’re planning for 2025. Regular newsletters resume January 7th. Have a wonderful holiday season!
Anthony & the Fitt team
In 2024, the health and fitness industry evolved in unexpected ways.
Taking stock of seismic shifts, today we’re recapping the year’s biggest developments.
Glucose Goes Mainstream
Pursuing holistic health, consumers connected the dots between blood sugar and well-being. Fast-tracking adoption, the FDA approved over-the-counter CGMs.
Unlocking insights, Oura acquired metabolic health startup Veri and partnered with Dexcom. Meanwhile, Apple’s expected entrance looms large.
Wellness Eats Real Estate
As demand surges, builders are thinking beyond clubs. The WELL opened condos, The Estate debuted longevity hotels, and GURNER Group broke ground on an anti-aging utopia.
Upgrading homes, Kohler added saunas and collabed with Remedy Place, while Plunge scaled B2B sales.
GLP-1s Alter Industries
Countering Big Pharma, Big Food added protein to everything. Preserving muscle mass, gyms are selling strength training and body scans.
Expanding telehealth empires, Hims bought a compounding pharmacy, Ro integrated with Eli Lilly, and Noom expanded off-brand options.
Everything is Longevity
Bundling recovery, strength, and mindful movement, fitness operators leaned into longevity — adding ice baths, Pilates, and blood diagnostics.
Rebranding healthspan optimization as the new anti-aging spawned science-backed beauty, supps, and concierge medicine.
Employers Perk Up
Linking productivity to health, employers explored new benefits. Filling gaps, enterprise MSK, menopause, fertility, and weight loss solutions are scaling.
Capturing market share, Wellhub, EGYM, and Urban Sports Club are assembling B2B wellness aggregators, spurring mega-rounds and acquisitions.
Activewear Keeps Moving
Losing a step, Nike ceded running share to On, Brooks, and HOKA. Going global, Alo and Vuori entered new territory as lululemon courts China.
Indie brands made marathons their runway, while established labels capitalized on celebrity and luxury collabs — solidifying the convergence of high fashion and sportswear.
Community Remains King
Forging human connection, run crews, racquet clubs, and group workouts offered an escape from screens.
Hosting IRL hangs, sweat x social spaces and sports eatertainment concepts expanded. Linking up, brands leveraged partnerships and activations to build bonds.
Punchline: The health and wellness industry is constantly evolving, but we know one thing for sure: consumers can’t get enough. Ignoring fads, operators focused on defining the future will thrive.
🎙 On the Podcast
IRONMAN CEO Scott DeRue discusses leading the world’s largest endurance sports platform.
Already the largest mass-participation sports operator in the world, Scott shares his vision to elevate the athlete experience through IRONMAN’s next stage of growth.
We also cover: Scott’s experience as president of Equinox, expanding access to triathlon, and growing the sport globally
Listen to today’s episode here.
📈 CrossFit’s founder plots comeback
Greg Glassman is readying MetFix, a nutrition-focused program for curbing chronic disease.
CrossFit 2.0. Following a familiar playbook, MetFix will promote metabolic health through invite-only seminars, coaching certifications, and gym affiliates.
After a controversial exit from CrossFit in 2020, Glassman is renewing a crusade against Big Food and reactive healthcare as his non-compete expires.
Before his ouster, Glassman tried recruiting doctors to prescribe CrossFit. Later, the company debuted and shuttered a telehealth service “for CrossFitters, by CrossFitters.” More recently, CrossFit Medical Society launched to bridge fitness and health.
Rallying support from CrossFit circles without competing head-to-head, Glassman sees nutrition education as the missing link.
Looking ahead: Details are sparse, but seminars are set to start in 2025. As it gets off the ground, the firebrand tactics that helped build CrossFit could make or break MetFix’s healthcare ambitions.
💪 The Future is Strong
Strength training isn’t just for athletes or bodybuilders.
Benefitting healthspan, metabolism, joint health, and more, resistance workouts are a priority for everyday exercisers — but developing an effective program takes time.
Stepping up, Technogym has the answer… three next-gen strength training solutions:
- Biostrength. Patented AI automatically adapts to your body for 30% faster results.
- Universe. Mixes weights, calisthenics, suspension, and more for functional performance.
- Pure Strength. Traditional plate-loaded training for maximum muscle activation.
Thanks to Technogym’s signature equipment, building muscle is simple, safe, and efficient — with enough variety to keep workouts interesting.
Experience the future of strength today.
⛺️ Marriott explores outdoor hospitality
The hotelier acquired Postcard Cabins (fka Getaway) and partnered with adventure lodging brand Trailborn.
Check out. Enabling outdoor escapes, Postcard offers 29 outposts near major cities, while Trailborn operates five boutique hotels in iconic destinations.
New frontiers. Active camping households jumped 68% in the last decade, but newcomers aren’t always willing to rough it.
Hipcamp—which acquired BookOutdoors in October—saw searches for amenity-rich campgrounds spike 87% this summer, and demand for WiFi-equipped sites jumped 110% YoY.
A happy medium, adventure lodges are catching on. Hyatt partnered with glamping company Under Canvas, Hilton aligned with Airstream outfit AutoCamp, and Field & Stream announced its flagship in Bozeman.
Takeaway: More than luxe spas, wellness travel means carving out time to reconnect. With lower costs and wider reach, outdoor hospitality benefits operators and consumers alike.
📰 News & Notes
- Eight Sleep enters supplements.
- Therabody unveils airport vending machine.
- Cristiano Ronaldo launches recovery tech brand.
- Polar debuts purpose-built B2B wearable platform.
- City of Seattle contracts Talkspace for youth therapy.
- Represent 247, PUMA collab on performance apparel.
- HYROX eclipses 5K affiliates, launches training centers.
- Hims & Hers reveals 83% of Americans unhappy with weight.
- WeightWatchers debuts AI nutrition features, dietitian access.
- Feed.fm survey finds 94% believe music is crucial for exercise motivation.
- WellTheory launches women’s hormonal health protocols for autoimmune disease.
- Featured Role: Fitt Talent is recruiting a Head of Operations for a leading psychedelic therapy provider.
💰 Money Moves
US 🇺🇸 / Canada 🇨🇦
Hotel giant Marriott acquired outdoor hospitality brand Postcard Cabins (fka Getaway).
Venture builder Redesign Health closed $175M to fund healthcare innovation.
Naboso, maker of insoles for movement health, closed a $3M funding round and struck a strategic partnership with wellness company Protea Japan.
Corporate wellness platform Wellhub (fka Gympass) acquired Italian competitor Fitprime.
Women’s 3v3 basketball league Unrivaled closed an oversubscribed $28M Series A.
Players Health, a risk management and insurance platform for professional athletes, raised $60M in a Series C.
LIVV Audio, maker of noise-cancelling headphones designed for athletes, raised $1M in funding.
Fertility tech platform Lushi secured over $5M in an oversubscribed pre-seed round.
Padel club operator Epic Padel landed undisclosed funding from Off Court Ventures.
INTENNSE, a forthcoming team-based tennis league, added $4M from Triple B.
CoachIQ, a business management platform for sports coaching, raised $1.3M in a pre-seed round led by Startup Ignition Ventures.
Europe 🇪🇺
Austrian wellness real estate developer Therme Group raised €320M ($336M) and acquired Munich’s Therme Erding, a thermal bath and well-being destination.
Paris-based boutique studio management platform bsport raised €30M ($31.5) in Series B.
Colruyt Group, owner of Benelux region fitness chain Jims, acquired Belgian gym operator NRG.
UK-based 6v6 soccer organization Baller League secured $25M in a Series A led by EQT Ventures and will enter the US.
Asia 🌏
Japanese AI mental health platform Awarefy raised ¥400M ($2.6M) in Series A to open brick-and-mortar clinics.
Better, a Dubai-based men’s wellness app, secured $550K in a pre-seed round.
Indian nutraceuticals maker Power Gummies landed Rs 10 Cr ($1.2M) in a funding round.
The UAE’s Arada, operator of Wellfit gyms, acquired FitnGlam, The Platform Studios, and FITCODE fitness brands.
Australia 🇦🇺 / New Zealand 🇳🇿
PLASMAIDE, maker of adaptogenic supplements for endurance sports, secured an undisclosed investment from Olympic triathlete Kristian Blummenfelt.
Australian team jersey and apparel maker ISC SPORT landed a strategic investment from sportswear company Under Armour.
Today’s newsletter was brought to you by Anthony Vennare, Joe Vennare, Ryan Deer, and Jasmina Breen.
