Digital Fitness Company Future Raises $75M to Advertise, Add Trainers

Digital fitness company Future has raised $75 million in funding and will use it on advertising and on hiring more fitness trainers, Bloomberg reported Thursday (Feb. 3), adding that management is looking at expanding the company’s service into stress management and nutrition.

The funding round comes as the fitness industry is adapting to changes, such as consumers returning to gyms after using equipment at home earlier in the pandemic, according to the report.

“The idea of having one single set routine is a fallacy at this point,” Future CEO Rishi Mandal told Bloomberg. “There’s dynamism to our life.”

Several celebrities participated in the funding round, including Fabletics Co-Founder Kate Hudson and her brother and actor, Oliver Hudson, who will together produce and host a podcast that will feature the brand, the report stated.

Consumers who subscribe to the Future service for $149 a month are paired with coaches who communicate with them every day and track their workouts through an Apple Watch, according to the report.

Connected fitness company Peloton has had to contend with the pandemic, too, as well as other conflicting trends seeming to have delivered a mix of both headwinds and tailwinds.

Read more: Plagued by Problems, Peloton’s Latest Crisis Clouds Broader Health and Fitness Trend

For industry watchers and connected fitness gurus, such as PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster, the string of strife for Peloton is concerning — but inconclusive.

“The big questions in my mind are whether consumers are giving up on Peloton, giving up on [in-home] fitness now that there are other ways for them to spend their free time, or going back to the gym,” Webster said. “The answer is probably ‘all of the above,’” she added, noting the need for more time to assess what the long-term impacts on Peloton — and the entire connected fitness sector — will be.