Huppa Raises €1 Million in Pre-Seed Funding to Modernise Class-Based Sports

Huppa, a software platform for gyms, CrossFit boxes and studios, has raised €1 million in pre-seed funding. The round was backed by a group of experienced entrepreneurs and investors, including the founders of Sentia, Keylane, TicketSwap, Moneybird and Revue, as well as NL SportTech Ventures. Co-founders Sharief Mohamed (37) and Gino Arendsz (35) will use the investment to accelerate product development and grow the team.

Software That Grows With Fitness Businesses

From CrossFit and HYROX to martial arts, yoga and Pilates, the group fitness sector is growing and becoming increasingly professional. Fitness businesses are managing more complex operations, including memberships, individual products, multiple locations and partnerships with platforms such as Urban Sports Club and ClassPass.

Yet many gyms, CrossFit boxes and studios still rely on software that struggles to keep up with these changing needs. Administration can be time-consuming, data is often spread across different systems, and business owners may lack the insights needed to identify opportunities for growth.

Huppa brings these processes together in one platform, combining member management, class bookings, payments, financial insights and automation. By connecting operational and financial data, the platform aims to help fitness business owners reduce administrative work, gain a clearer picture of their operations and make more informed decisions.

From Administration to Growth

Huppa was founded on the belief that gym management software should do more than handle administrative tasks. By connecting operational and financial processes, the platform aims to help business owners understand how their businesses are performing and identify opportunities to improve.

Through integrations with partners such as Mollie, Huppa brings together operational and financial information to provide a more complete view of each business. The company is also developing AI-powered insights and automation to help fitness business owners interpret their data, identify opportunities and determine their next steps.

These insights could help business owners understand which memberships perform best, which classes generate the strongest returns and where there may be opportunities to increase revenue.

Co-founder Sharief Mohamed sees this as an important step towards giving business owners greater control over their finances and operations. Rather than relying on disconnected reports and manual analysis, the goal is to help them understand what is happening in their business and what they can do about it.

More Freedom for Business Owners and Their Members

Running a fitness business involves more than managing operations and finances. Relationships between business owners, coaches and members are central to building a strong community.

Huppa enables members to manage more of their own experience, from booking classes and managing memberships to purchasing credits and bringing a friend along. By making these interactions more accessible, the platform reduces the need for staff to handle routine requests manually.

Automating repetitive tasks and giving members greater autonomy can free up time for business owners and their teams to focus on personal relationships, community building and the sporting experience itself.

Co-founder Gino Arendsz believes software should support these relationships rather than get in the way of them. By simplifying the customer journey, Huppa aims to help fitness businesses improve the member experience while creating more opportunities to grow.

A Transparent Business Model

Huppa offers access to its full platform without separate feature modules or additional upgrade fees. Its pricing is based on the number of active customers, meaning the cost of the software scales with the size of the business.

This approach aligns Huppa’s business model with the growth of its customers.

“Our success is directly tied to the success of the business owners we serve. When our customers grow, we grow with them,” says Arendsz.

Building for the European Fitness Market

Mohamed and Arendsz founded Huppa after experiencing the limitations of the software used by their own kickboxing gym and CrossFit box. What began as frustration with existing solutions as members led them to research the market and speak with fitness business owners across the Netherlands.

Their conclusion was that fitness businesses needed software that could support both day-to-day operations and long-term growth, rather than simply manage memberships and administration.

The €1 million pre-seed funding will enable Huppa to further develop its platform and expand its team. The company’s immediate focus is on the Netherlands and Belgium, where it aims to serve at least 150 fitness businesses by the end of 2027. Huppa has also attracted interest from France and Germany, although its current priority remains establishing a strong presence in its home markets before expanding further across Europe.