4Aces GC captain Dustin Johnson hits a shot from the second tee during the semifinals of the LIV … (+) Golf Team Championship Dallas at Marido Golf Club in Carrollton, Texas, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (Photo by Caitlin Mulcahy/LIV Golf via The Associated Press)
Associated Press
OxeFit, a maker of premium fitness training systems, has secured $17.5 million in its latest funding round.
Entrepreneurs Dave Asprey and Ann Marlam were among the first investors to invest equity in the round, which brings the company’s total funding to more than $70 million since Rav Chanabre and Peter Newhouse founded it in 2020. Chanabre did not disclose the company’s current valuation but said Oxyfit has “never had a down round” and that its valuation has increased with each round of funding.
Malam is the founder of fitness company Solid Core, which has studios in 25 states and Washington, D.C., and sold his stake in the company last year to private equity firm Kohlberg & Co. for $88 million. Asprey, meanwhile, owns Upgrade Lab fitness centers in Idaho, Texas, Utah, Washington and Canada. He plans to set up OxFit gyms in Upgrade Lab facilities.
Several professional athletes have invested in OxyFit so far, including golfer Dustin Johnson, football player Harry Kane, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and former ice hockey player Wayne Gretzky. While other startups often pay celebrities or athletes to endorse their products or offer them equity in the company, Chanabre argues that OxyFit doesn’t follow that model and doesn’t offer preferential terms for investment.
“We haven’t given any celebrities a cent,” Chanabre says. “They’re all investing in the company as an immediate validation of this technology. They really believe in this technology. They believe in this mission. They know what this technology is about.”
OxeFit plans to use the additional funding primarily to enhance its software, which powers its two fitness equipment products — the XP1 and XS1 — and incorporates artificial intelligence and other technologies to track people’s data and progress toward reaching their goals.
The XP1 is designed for fitness centers, rehabilitation facilities, sports training facilities, apartments, hotels and other commercial facilities, while the XS1 is smaller and for home use. People who use the system have access to more than 280 strength exercises, six cardio exercises and Pilates. They pay thousands of dollars for the equipment and a monthly fee to access the software, including apps and gaming systems. About 35% of OxeFit’s users are business customers and the remaining 65% are individuals.
“Right now it’s about software, that’s what this funding round is about,” Chanabre said. “I think people are tired of buying treadmills instead of treadmills, cable machines instead of cable machines, strength machines instead of strength machines. It’s like a race to zero. Instead, why not go up the chain and work on software and improve what you have? That’s been our mission since day one. We’ve always spent time making sure our hardware is future-proof, and right now most of the money we spend on R&D is going into software.”
Chanableh wouldn’t disclose OxyFit sales figures, but said they have doubled in the past year, and he expects sales to grow 50% to 100% over the next few years as more people learn about the XS1 and XP1, which are sold only online through the company’s website and not in stores.
Chanableh said Oxfit plans to raise another $20 million in the coming months, and that the company has previously raised funding from individuals and family offices. But for the first time, Chanableh said Oxfit is open to funding from traditional venture capital firms.
“We’re going to explore that,” he said. “It’s not gym equipment. Of course you can use it as gym equipment, but if you’re interested in sports, health management, data, AI, that’s OxeFit. So we have to find the right partners in the venture capital community that want to make that happen… Ultimately, we want to find the right people that are supportive of the company’s mission, because we still have a long way to go on the investment side and on the (research and development) side.”
