Welltodo Today: Tonal Preps For IPO, What The Pandemic Taught Fitness Founders, Oatly’s $10bn Brand

Today’s key global wellness news articles from around the world, impacting the industry and influencing the business of wellness.

Tonal, the at-home fitness company backed by Amazon, hits $1.6 billion valuation on new funding round, readies for IPO

The at-home fitness start-up Tonal said Wednesday it has raised an additional $250 million in funding, valuing the business at $1.6 billion. That brings Tonal’s total funding to $450 million. Participants in the Series E round include the investment firm Dragoneer, which led the round, along with Cobalt Capital, L Catterton and Sapphire Ventures.

These cheese alternatives aren’t plant-based-they’re microbe-based

A sample of shredded mozzarella from a new company called Superbrewed Food tops a personal pizza, and it’s gooey and stretchy, with a slightly salty tang. The core protein of the cheese isn’t made with dairy, but neither is it plant-based. It’s made, instead, with microbes.

Should Astrology Be Part of Your Wellness Survival Kit?

From love-life quandaries to investigating a new career path, many of us look to astrology for daily insight and clarity in times of personal uncertainty-but can your astrological birth chart (that’s your very own personal map of the stars at the time you were born) offer an added layer of emotional self-care right now?

Whole Foods And Headspace Team Up In A Mindful Eating Series

When you’re feeling frazzled, a nourishing meal and a few deep breaths can make a world of difference. Whole Foods Market and Headspace meditation app have teamed up this spring to help consumers improve their wellbeing, eat more mindfully, and feel more connected to food-all things a recent Harris Poll survey conducted on behalf of Whole Foods revealed were especially important to consumers a year into the Covid-19 pandemic.

Here’s what it’s like when Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex invests in your startup

Hannah Mendoza, the CEO of Clevr Blends, says interest has exploded since the Duchess of Sussex backed her instant-latte startup in 2020.

Planet Fitness CFO Looks to Add Customers as Competitors Struggle During Pandemic

Low-cost gym operator Planet Fitness Inc. plans to open new locations and invest in advertising and digital offerings in a bid to grow its business as its competitors keep struggling. The Hampton, N.H.-based company known for its bright purple exercise equipment expects to open up to 100 gyms in the coming fiscal year, on top of the 2,124 it operated at the end of December.

Milk alternative Oatly on a quest to become a $10bn brand

The Swedish brand Oatly surprised Americans in February with an eccentric Super Bowl ad in which its chief executive lustily sang “wow, no cow” while playing an electric piano in a field. Later this year, the plant milk maker is expected to flash up on a different set of screens: it plans a New York listing that could value the group as high as $10bn.

Mexico’s Cannabis Legalization And The Potential Boom Of Wellness Travel: What It Means For Investors

By Emily Paxhia, co-founder and managing partner of Poseidon. Mexico has long been a beloved tourist destination; pre-Covid, it was the 7th most visited country with 49 million travelers stopping by annually. Now with the impending legalization of cannabis, Mexico is poised to pique the interest of even more travelers.

9 Fitness Founders On The Lessons They’ve Learned A Year Into The Pandemic

Last March, as businesses from coast to coast closed their doors and the country came to a collective pause, the fitness industry was forced to grapple with a devastating new reality: after years of consistent and monumental growth for the sector, everything had changed overnight.