Corporate Wellness Giant Gympass Changes Name to ‘Wellhub’
The platform, valued at $2.4 billion, is expanding beyond just fitness and into the broader category of holistic wellness
After reaching 2.6 million subscribers in January, corporate wellness giant Gympass is changing its name to “Wellhub,” a rebrand that signals the company’s ambitions to expand beyond just fitness and into areas encompassing mindfulness, therapy, nutrition and sleep. Wellhub is also updating its app experience and offering team-based challenges.
The move comes as the global wellness economy hit a record $5.6 trillion in 2023; Wellhub CEO and co-founder Cesar Carvalho says that $55 billion of that is spent directly on workplace wellness.
“The shift to Wellhub reflects that we’re pursuing a much bigger market – not just fitness, but delivering a corporate wellness platform that connects employees to the best partners across all the verticals of wellness – fitness, mindfulness, therapy, nutrition and sleep,” Carvalho tells Athletech News. “These are all included in one subscription designed to cost less than each individual partner.”
“The rebrand aligns our name with the magnitude of our mission: to make every company a wellness company,” adds Carvalho, who founded Wellhub, then Gympass, in Brazil in 2012.
The Corporate Wellness Era Is Here
The springtime rebrand comes during a season when consumers are committed to wellness practices and a comprehensive approach to whole health is on-trend. This interest has extended into the workplace, with employees (especially Gen Z and Millennials) all but demanding that their employers support their health and well-being.
Wellhub says it’s seen “tremendous growth” beyond its origins as a “pass for gyms,” with Carvalho sharing that healthy habits (up 111%) and mental health (up 74%) were two of the platform’s fastest-growing categories in 2023.
Charting a new direction is a big undertaking, especially for a company that hit a $2.4 billion valuation last summer as demand for corporate wellness surges. But Carvalho says the feedback from HR leaders, wellness partners and employee subscribers has been “very positive.”
“All of our key stakeholders understand that Wellhub better reflects what we already deliver,” he says. “They understand and share our commitment to supporting holistic employee well-being, no matter what that journey looks like for each individual employee.”
Wellhub’s services figure to be in higher demand than ever considering elevated rates of employee burnout, leading to absenteeism, illness and lack of productivity, all of which are costly for firms.
“Our mission has never been more important: employee stress is at an all-time high and 93% of workers consider their well-being to be equally important to salary – up 10 points from 83% in 2023,” Carvalho points out. “Employees are a company’s biggest investment and expense. Investing in employees is being prioritized for its direct impact on company performance.”
Fitness, Wellness & More
Wellhub boasts a network of over 55,000-plus partner brands spanning fitness, wellness and health. Over 15,000 companies subscribe to the platform, giving over two million employees access to gym memberships, boutique fitness classes and wellness services including nutrition, sleep and meditation,
“Our subscriptions are priced up to 50% lower than market rates, offering affordability without compromising on quality or selection,” Carvalho says. “The result for companies is better productivity, higher retention and lower healthcare costs. Our most recent research surveyed thousands of HR leaders, and 90% said they saw a positive return on well-being investments.”
The platform might be changing its name, but company formerly known as Gympass isn’t forgetting its fitness roots. The platform has added a new fitness category with Xponential Fitness brands Pure Barre, Club Pilates and Rumble, along with Barry’s, Orangetheory Fitness, SoulCycle, Les Mills, Life Time and Apple Fitness+.
In the mindfulness category, Wellhub features mental well-being partners Headspace, Meditopia, Asana Rebel and CorePower Yoga. A new therapy category links members to licensed therapists, while Wellhub’s nutrition services provide members with registered dietitians and nutritionists through partners Lifesum, MyFitnessPal, Nutrium and StrongerU.
To improve sleep quality for members, Wellhub offers sleep apps Rise Science, SleepCycle and SleepScore and has also implemented a new women’s health category with Clue, a period-tracking app. For members looking for exclusive, 1-on-1 well-being assistance, Wellhub offers wellness coaching for all employees.
The newly rebranded Wellhub is also launching challenges so employers can create fun and engaging gamified group competitions for staff, a feature that is expected to become available in the second half of the year.
