A smart ecosystem transforming healthcare through exercise.
👋 Quick note: Building on our H1 recap, we’re back with another long-form report this week.
You’ll find a preview below, and our full insights here. It’s 100% free to read, with no email sign-up or download required.
As we outlined last week, wellness spending is surging, consumer focus on personal health is peaking, and there has never been a better time to build in this space.
But the wellness economy is increasingly out of touch.
What’s happening: Brands inflate benefits, conflate wants with needs, set unrealistic ideals, and instill lack to sell the fix. Wellness has become overly self-centered and soulless, drawing criticism for adding more stress than it relieves.
Why it matters: Beyond our industry, the world is evolving rapidly, and transparency has never been more needed. As institutions crumble, brands have a massive opportunity to bring people together, fill cultural voids, and prove a healthier collective future is possible.
What it means: To stay relevant, wellness needs a new narrative. Hype, hate, and elitism are out. Hands-on help, a lived sense of purpose, and healthy long-term vision are in. More than magical thinking, Wellness 2.0 roots in grounded optimism.
Looking ahead: There’s still white space and room for innovation, but a unique POV is crucial. Preaching routines without wisdom, wellness 1.0 is played out. Future-proof solutions will symbolize new values, not just send push notifications.
Architecting Wellness 2.0, we’ve identified five core insights for brands playing the long game — provocations to restrategize, reach new audiences, and make a real impact.
Read the full report → here.
🎙 On the Podcast
Mira co-founder and CEO Sylvia Kang discusses revolutionizing women’s health management.
Enabling at-home hormone tracking, Mira combines hardware with app-based data analysis, AI assistance, and coaching to help women navigate all stages of life.
We also cover: Breaking taboos, building the largest continuous hormone dataset, and expanding from fertility to comprehensive wellness.
Listen to today’s episode here
🏆 Volo Sports rolls up rec leagues
Expanding its reach, the category-leading adult sports platform acquired rival ZogSports.
Tag team. Volo counts 500K+ players in cities like New York, San Francisco, and Boston. Adding 120K+ participants and boosting key markets, Zog brings the combined footprint to 11 major metros, with co-ed leagues for soccer, volleyball, basketball, softball, kickball, and more.
Moneyball. After investing $21M in Volo last year, Bluestone Equity Partners backed the Zog deal to consolidate a fragmented sector. Gaining traction with consumers and employers, Volo is positioning rec sports as a more social, scalable, and inclusive take on the modern gym.
Game on. Only a quarter of adults still play organized sports despite 73% having participated in their youth. Combating inactivity and loneliness, Volo and Bluestone see an overlooked opportunity to promote movement, mental health, and corporate wellness.
Takeaway: Reframing social fitness as infrastructure, Volo is turning casual play into a nationwide movement for connection, community, and well-being.
🏋️ Reimagining the gym
EGYM is bringing intelligence to every fitness floor.
Cutting-edge. EGYM’s Genius AI integrates data across smart machines, apps, and services from 200+ partners to create hyper-personalized training plans for every exerciser.
Adaptable. Adjusting to individual goals, fitness levels, and available equipment, its unique ecosystem meets gym-goers and operators where they are.
Effective. Ushering in a new era of workouts, EGYM’s tech makes trainers more efficient, analog machines smarter, fitness more fun, and members more motivated to come back.
It’s AI for the entire gym. It’s the future of fitness. And it’s available now.
Learn more at EGYM.com.
🍸 Gen Z mixes alcohol and wellness
According to IWSR, 70% of US Gen Z adults drank alcohol in the past six months, up from 46% in 2023.
Soberish. As wellness spending climbs, Gen Z is more likely than older cohorts to visit bars, try new drinks, and treat alcohol as part of a balanced lifestyle, not a vice to eliminate.
Top shelf. US alcohol spending is falling amid inflation. But while total volume declines, younger and higher-income consumers are driving demand for premium spirits and RTD cocktails. In search of social connection, Gen Z is leading the return to on-premises drinking.
Chaser. Despite 20% growth in 2023, nonalcoholic drinks represent just ~0.5% of the US market. With hype outpacing habit, NA brands face headwinds, making it harder to scale beyond niche appeal.
Takeaway: Less about abstinence and more about balance, drinking is finding its place in Gen Z’s wellness lifestyle.
📰 News & Notes
- Top health & wellness deals of H1’25.
- Wellness brands back women’s sports.
- Levels adds blood testing, dietitian coaching.
- Rêve Health taps Flex for HSA/FSA payments.
- GymNation opens 77K-sq-ft flagship in Riyadh.
- Fitstop fuels the rise of social strength training.
- Study: Exercise extends life for cancer survivors.
- Amazon launches at-home blood testing across India.
- Novo Nordisk, WeightWatchers link for Wegovy access.
- CONNEQT Health launches on-demand cardiovascular assessment.
- The Assembly gathers top wellness leaders for inaugural event, Oct. 13–16.
- Hiring? Access Fitt Talent’s network of leaders advancing preventative health, human performance, and personal well-being.
💰 Money Moves
US 🇺🇸 / Canada 🇨🇦
Movemint, an athletic events platform, secured seed funding led by Underscore VC.
Adult rec sports league Volo Sports acquired social sports platform ZogSports with support from Bluestone Equity Partners.
Prenetics, maker of longevity supplement brand IM8, secured equity funding from tennis star Aryna Sabalenka.
Circulate Health, provider of therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) services for longevity, landed $12M in a seed round led by Khosla Ventures.
Canadian preventative health platform NiaHealth closed a CA$5.75M ($4.2M) seed round led by Golden Ventures.
Youth mental health provider Handspring Health raised $12M in a Series A led by Cobalt Ventures.
At-home fitness platform MACROFIT acquired smart Pilates reformer maker Flexia.
More from Fitt Insider: Our conversation with Flexia founder Kaleen Canevari
Psychedelic therapy developer atai Life Sciences secured a $50M private placement.
Elfie, a gamified chronic disease management app, raised $12M in a Series A led by White Star Capital.
IVF testing startup Juniper Genomics raised $4.6M in seed funding to launch its whole-genome embryo screening platform.
Consumer-focused growth equity firm Aria Growth Partners closed a $152M fund to back emerging wellness, food, and beauty brands.
Medication optimization platform Arine landed $20M in a Series C round led by Town Hall Ventures.
Pro Athlete Community (PAC), a community platform supporting athletes beyond playing careers, secured $7.6M in a Series A.
Retailer Best Buy sold care-at-home platform Current Health back to its former CEO.
Epicutis, maker of skin health products, raised $10M in a Series B.
Waterless hydration product maker Electrolyte Boost closed a seed round.
Europe 🇪🇺
Swedish epigenetic testing startup Epigenica closed an SEK 21.5M ($2.2M) round led by Voima Ventures.
UK-based nootropic beverage maker Neutonic raised £2.7M ($3.7M) in funding.
Dutch budget gym chain Basic-Fit secured €150M ($177M) in financing from ING Bank.
Asia 🌏
Singapore-based MSK pain management platform Rebee raised $1.18M in seed funding.
Today’s newsletter was brought to you by Anthony Vennare, Joe Vennare, Ryan Deer, and Jasmina Breen.
