SanomaVentures invests in fitness platform VirtuaGym

Leading online fitness app provider experiences fast international growth

VirtuaGym, a provider of workout apps for home and gym, has announced it closed an investment round with Sanoma Ventures. The money will be used to finance the company’s ongoing strong international growth. Besides its end-user solutions VirtuaGym offers tools for health clubs and lifestyle coaches as well, allowing them to use their apps for efficient online coaching. The website and apps for iOS and Android have over 2.5 million users worldwide.

VirtuaGym offers users of all fitness levels tailor-made nutrition and workout plans. The exercises are instructed by virtual trainer Brad Fit and can be accessed and tracked anywhere using the mobile apps. Besides nutrition and exercise tracking VirtuaGym offers progress tracking of values like weight, BMI, fat percentage and provides motivation through over 250 badges, which can be earned. VirtuaGym is an open platform, which supports third party products like body weight scales and activity monitors.

Over the last four years VirtuaGym has become one of the leading providers in the fast-growing health and wellness app space with over 2.5 million users world-wide.

E-health
Herman Kienhuis, investment director SanomaVentures: “The health and wellness space is an important field of interest of Sanoma. Over the last couple of years VirtuaGym has built a leading position with its health and fitness solutions. We believe we can help leverage VirtuaGym’s potential and support product development to increase its user base.”

White-label
The basic version of VirtuaGym is completely free to use, so anyone can get started to make this year’s New Year’s resolutions a reality. Additionally, the framework is available as a white-label solution for health clubs and personal trainers to improve their efficiency and service level. This makes VirtuaGym a unique solution in the market.

Paul Braam, Co-founder VirtuaGym: “VirtuaGym offers great tools for both endusers as fitness professionals. The timing for this new investment round couldn’t be better since at the beginning of each year a lot of people decide to get active. It allows us to build out our leading position in this market at an increased pace.”

About Virtuagym:
VirtuaGym is an Amsterdam based company, which has been revolutionizing the health and fitness space since 2008. It offers a complete ecosystem of health and fitness applications, within a social environment. It got seed funding in 2008 from DCIF, a seed capital fund set up by four large media companies, including Sanoma. Since then the company has been self-funded. With over 2.5 million users worldwide and support for web, iOS and Android, VirtuaGym is one world’s leading solutions for health and fitness management.

About SanomaVentures:
SanomaVentures is an international investment fund and part of the European media group Sanoma Corporation [SAA1V]. Its goal is to support innovative companies in the field of digital publishing, entertainment and education with funding, media exposure and expertise. SanomaVentures focuses on early-stage startups in online consumer services, e-commerce, mobile, video, advertising and e-learning. It has offices in Amsterdam and Helsinki. The Amsterdam office started in 2012 and has invested in Vault79.com, Scoupy, Peerby and Truly Yours.