Ergatta, Gaming Row Machine Maker, Valued at $200M
With a valuation of $200 million, the interest of frequent investors and big plans, Ergatta hopes to do for rowing what Peloton did for cycling.
Ergatta, the maker of an eponymous rowing machine that uses video games to keep users paddling in their living rooms, raised $30 million in its first series of capital investment. Bolstered by COVID-19-era workout-from-home trends, the young company is valued at $200 million.
Advance Venture Partners lead the series A round that also included frequent fitness tech investors Greycroft, Fifth Wall and Gaingels.
Ergatta chief executive officer Tom Aulet told Bloomberg, “Connected fitness was already growing quickly, then COVID really accelerated adoption tailwinds.”
With a price tag of $2,199, Ergatta is yet another high-ticket piece of equipment that adds a connected element to the home gym. The machine uses games on its monitor, including virtual boat races. The Ergatta does not have the video instruction experience that has been the hallmark of Tonal and Peloton, but the company said that is in the works. Reviewers have been impressed by its games, design, ease of storage and the look of its stained wood body.
According to records on Crunchbase, Ergatta was formed in 2019. Aulet says on the company website he sought a workout that would not irritate his knees. That year, it received an undisclosed amount of seed money. Greycroft kicked in another $5 million in 2020. It began selling machines in March of 2020, as the pandemic popularized all of the preexisting newfangled workout-from-home options.
Ergatta told Bloomberg it has around 10,000 active users and can project $35 million in annual revenue based on prior months. The company said it will use the investor cash to develop new games, create that crucial live competition component, grow its user base, scale its operation and possibly double its workforce. It also dangled the possibility that it might utilize its game-based approach on other exercise techniques, like cardio.
The interest of investors is this rather niche smart machine is another sign that financiers expect that, even as the pandemic abets and crowds become more comfortable with places like gyms and fitness studios, interest in high-tech home exercise solutions to continue.
