SeedBlink Blog

Today, it is a technology that is driving the fitness experience and allowing companies to compete in such a crowded market. Lockdowns and restrictions have had a massive impact on the way people exercise. As new exercise habits have been adopted, there has been a massive increase in-home fitness and digital fitness. There has also been a huge increase in demand for online content. Streaming platforms, on-demand fitness, and virtual personal training are on the rise. Digital fitness is a complement to personal training, not a replacement for it.

Amid a fragile industry recovery and a tide of upheaval, 2022 promises to be a pivotal year for the fitness industry. At-home fitness was one of the fastest-growing fitness trends of 2021, while gym memberships declined dramatically. Traditional gyms, health clubs, and fitness studios continue to rely on a hybrid model with on-site and online fitness solutions. Many gyms and companies offered online fitness "add-on" services and bundled them with an ongoing subscription.

• In 2021, the global online fitness industry was worth $10.71 billion, growing by 77.33% since its estimated value of $6.04 billion in 2019
• The online fitness industry is projected to be worth more than $59 billion by 2027, growing at a rate of 30.0% to 33.1% per year
• Since 2017, on-demand fitness spending is up 128% while traditional gyms grew just 6%

Opportunities abound for operators who can appeal to these groups and understand what they want from a fitness experience, as well as the unique barriers to exercise they face. There were major changes in users' behavior when it comes to live streaming vs on-demand fitness:

• Pre-recorded, on-demand video usage grew 311% (from 17% pre-covid to 70% post-covid)
• Since the pandemic, 75% of active adults in US have used live streaming workouts and 70% used on-demand videos to support their exercise regimen (as of 2021)

Fitness, Wellness and Subscriptions Merger Together

After chronically underestimating the importance of providing digital content to consumers for the better part of a decade, the gym market was flooded with digital content to keep members active and engaged while trapped at home.

Processes such as digital content creation that were otherwise tedious and repetitive for humans are now being replaced by AI technology that streamlines processes for users and businesses alike.

Active Fitness AI Opportunity: Hyperhuman

Hyperhuman's AI-powered content platform is designed specifically for this industry to reduce the production and distribution process to minutes, compared to what takes weeks today. The company's proprietary video technology extracts key insights and metadata from fitness videos and turns them into reusable content blocks.

The startup has now close to 3000 health & fitness professionals on 3 continents, predominantly from North America, UK, and Australia after only a few months since launch (Aug 2021), planning to roll out soon the Hyperhuman Business Platform.

"Hyperhuman has an excellent founding team, with both entrepreneurial and multinational experience (e.g. Fitbit) with very strong insights in an industry with very strong tailwinds.

The development of the B2B pillar has strong potential to grow, as many fitness and physiotherapy chains, fitness hardware producers, etc are looking to blend in their strategic initiatives new ways for omnichannel digital content creation and distribution."

Explore Hyperhuman's Opportunity

Every year, new startups pull to the forefront of their industry through exciting innovation and industry-disrupting business models. StartupSavant rounded up the most exciting fitness startups of 2022 that startup-lovers, investors, and aspiring entrepreneurs should follow. Hyperhuman got featured along with a very selected group with names like Whoop, Tempo, or Virtuagym. These companies raised a total of $816,5M in funding. Learn more.