A connected home fitness studio has raised £7.7 million Series A investment to propel its UK launch.
Founded by British entrepreneur Stephen Owusu, who is now based in the United States, JAXJOX’s InteractiveStudio includes connected free-weight equipment which creates personalised data points based on the user’s performance.
It is expected to hit the UK market in early 2021 following the new investment from Dowgate Capital and entrepreneur Nigel Wray, which takes total funding raised to £13m.
In 2019, JAXJOX debuted the KettlebellConnect, the first smart kettlebell with adjustable weights, at CES.
The company then rolled out its second product, the Foam RollerConnect, and announced a heavyweight worldwide distribution partnership with Apple, which has accelerated the company’s global expansion in EMEA and APAC regions.
“When we created JAXJOX, we set out to reimagine free-weight equipment like dumbbells and kettlebells and create technology that was built into the products to track a user’s performance during a workout, giving them the freedom to work out anywhere,” Owusu said.
“We believe that, for users, tracking power generated while lifting will become as important as tracking your heart rate while running.
“The funding will ensure that we’re able to meet the demand for those working out from home in a way that helps them achieve wellness goals with leading-edge technology that doesn’t take up too much physical space in the home and tracks performance to help make targets attainable.
“Beyond fitness-tech products, our vision is to close the gap between fitness and health. By monitoring performance metrics and using AI, we can give users a more holistic view of their health and provide recommendations on improving their wellbeing.
“We know working out is only one aspect of wellness and will continue to enhance our platform to provide an unparalleled experience.”
The InteractiveStudio is a compact gym fitted with a 43” capacitive touchscreen TV that rotates horizontally, vertically and tilts for floor exercises, as well as four smart connected products with automatic adjustability, replacing the need of six kettlebells and 15 dumbbells.
It includes 145 lbs of adjustable weight, a smart push up device and a digital, vibrating foam roller. Real-time data including repetitions, power and a proprietary Fitness IQ score to give users an understanding of their overall wellness.
Wray said: “After investing in the angel round, we were delighted to increase our stake in JAXJOX because we believe they are going to transform the home fitness market.
“The KettlebellConnect was such a success we can’t wait to see how they shake up the space with the InteractiveStudio.”
The global fitness company has seen 10x growth year over year and tripled the number of employees.
In August, it moved headquarters to a 10,000 sq ft studio in the US to expand its workout content offering for live and on-demand classes covering a wide variety of categories including strength, cardio, functional-training and recovery.
JAXJOX uses a proprietary machine learning algorithm to calculate the user’s Fitness IQ score. The score keeps them informed on overall progress toward fitness goals and can also provide personal workout recommendations.
It uses peak and average power, heart rate, workout consistency, steps, body weight, and chosen fitness level in the calculation.
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