Google Ventures Backs ClassPass With $30 Million Series C Funding

ClassPass has raised $30 million in a Series C round this week, led by Google Ventures, the corporate venture capital investment arm of Google Inc.

Operating since 2009, Google Ventures provides seed, venture, and growth stage funding to technology-based companies and has so far backed more than 300 companies, including Uber, Flatiron Health and One Medical Group.

Speaking about the ClassPass investment, Joe Kraus, General Partner at Google Ventures said: “The boutique studio fitness market has grown rapidly, and ClassPass offers consumers the best specialised workouts in a variety of disciplines. ClassPass excels at giving consumers greater choice – and the ability to work out at many different types of studios, anytime and anywhere.”

In addition to funding, Google Ventures provides its partner companies with support in areas such as design, engineering, recruiting and marketing as well as giving them access to some of the world’s best engineers, scientists, and technology. However, according to Business Insider, in recent months the company has faced criticism over its reliance on Google’s algorithm rather than the knowledge of its human staff in terms of pricing and executing deals.

For ClassPass, this latest round of investment brings the company’s total funding to $84 million. It’s Series B round, led by General Catalyst and Thrive Capital in January, raised $40 million.

ClassPass Founder and CEO Payal Kadakia said: “As we continue to rapidly grow, we have fundamentally changed the way people consume fitness activities.

“We’re now increasingly focused on improving and enhancing the ClassPass experience, providing our users a more personalised, robust membership and our studio partners tools and resources to better optimise and grow their businesses.”