Cash Flow: Kayla Itsines’ Sweat App Acquired, Thrive Global Banks $80m, Meatless Farm Smashes Crowdfunding Target

The game-changing investment, acquisition and funding news impacting the industry and driving the business of wellness this week.

Arena secures $5.2m in funding to revolutionise strength training

Connected fitness company Arena Innovation Corp. secured $5.2m in seed financing to launch its premier product aimed at revolutionising strength training.

Several notable sports, fitness, and technology investors participated in the funding round, including major contributions from Courtside Ventures, Powerhouse Capital, and Wellness Holding — the investment office of the founders of Technogym. Angel investors among this group included Equinox Group co-founder Lavinia Errico, Anthony and Joe Vennare of Fitt Insider, New York Jets wide receiver Braxton Berrios, and Russ Angold, co-founder and former CTO of Ekso Bionics.

iFIT acquires Kayla Itsines’ Sweat app

iFIT, a global leader in connected fitness software, content and equipment, acquired Sweat — a leading fitness app from fitness influencer Kayla Itsines.

The acquisition of Sweat expands iFIT’s presence in the global digital fitness market, and accelerates the company’s delivery of best-in-class interactive fitness experiences for consumers worldwide. Sweat will remain a standalone brand as part of iFIT. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Rhône announces investment in Wahoo Fitness

Private equity firm Rhône made a significant equity investment in Wahoo Fitness — a leader in innovative fitness technology for indoor cycling and endurance training. As part of the transaction, Wahoo founder and Chairman Chip Hawkins and the company’s management team, including Chief Executive Officer Mike Saturnia, will make significant reinvestments alongside Rhône.

Rhône believes the investment will capitalise on secular macro trends such as increased emphasis on health and wellness, cycling’s growing popularity and increased adoption of digitally-driven home training tools.

iFIT acquires Kayla Itsines’ Sweat app
Image: Sweat App
Aleph Farms completes $105m Series B funding round

Cultivated meat company Aleph Farms completed a $105m Series B funding round led by the Growth Fund of L Catterton and DisruptAD.

The Company will use the funds to execute its plans for large scale global commercialisation of cultivated beef steaks and portfolio expansion. Near-term milestones include scaling up manufacturing, growing operations internationally, and expanding its product lines and technology platform ahead of its initial market launch in 2022.

Thrive Global raises $80m to boost mental resilience 

Arianna Huffington’s Thrive Global raised $80m in a Series C round co-led by Mamoon Hamid at Kleiner Perkins. Owl Ventures, a global leader in education technology investing, co-led the round and Ian Chiu, Managing Director at Owl, will also join the Thrive board.

The close of this round gives Thrive the resources to accelerate its growth and impact. Thrive will expand its product, engineering and design teams and invest in its data science, AI and machine learning capabilities to build an even more intelligent Microstep engine.

YuLife raises record $70m Series B Round to reinvent life insurance through a wellness lens

Tech-driven insurance company YuLife has raised $70m in a Series B funding round led by Target Global and supported by new investors Eurazeo and Latitude as well as existing investors Creandum, Notion Capital, Anthemis, MMC Ventures, and OurCrowd.

YuLife will use the capital to develop new products, expand its UK market penetration, and broaden its reach into new global markets.

Meatless Farm smashes through £2m initial crowdfunding target

Consumers and investors committed over £2.7m so far to plant-based brand Meatless Farm in the company’s crowdfunding debut — smashing the initial target for the campaign and already placing it into the top 6% of largest raises ever seen on crowdfunding platform Crowdcube.

The target was hit just six hours after the campaign opened to the public after a week-long private launch phase. Over 2000 investors have signed up so far and an extended campaign with increased funding has been confirmed to accommodate the extra demand.

Sign up to receive Welltodo weekly business insights for the wellness industry.