Obé Fitness Raises $15M From Glitzy Backers
Even as people return to the gym, digital fitness businesses like Obé think they can expand. Its Disney tie-ins help.
Obé Fitness, a digital-workout platform for short no-frills videos that has a taste for pop culture tie-ins, has raised $15 million, for a valuation of $190 million.
For $27 a month, Obé offers fitness classes of popular genres (yoga, Pilates, HIIT, barre, strength, cardio of various types) requiring little equipment. Most classes are less than 30 minutes and held inside what look like neon-lit cubes, creating a simple but warm and futuristic aesthetic.
Occasionally, one of the 20-odd classes uploaded each day promotes and thematically incorporates a new movie or series: a martial arts workout designed by the screenwriter-choreographer of Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon, a dance workout with cast members of Peacock’s pop industry comedy Girls5eva, an instructor dressed like Cruella de Vil for an entire workout for the release of Cruella.
Founded in 2018, Obé (pronounced “obey” and also an acronym for “our body electric,” a Walt Whitman reference) was aimed at frequent travelers. It was one of many promising digital fitness startups that gained traction during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The financial backing behind it has been a bit murky. Obé Fitness has had two rounds of fundraising, one in June of 2019 and another last March, both with undisclosed sums. The first round was financed by BDMI and the CASSIUS Family, both investors specializing in internet businesses. For the second, Wheelhouse 360 Partners, who often backs digital content producers, was the sole investor.
This new $15 million round includes many additional backers, some of them glitzy: WW International Inc., Cavu Venture Partners, Wheelhouse Entertainment, Harris Blitzer Sports Entertainment, affiliate companies of Samsung (Samsung Next) and the Gap (Athleta) and actress/comedian Tiffany Haddish.
Obé’s cofounders and co-Chief Executive Officers Mark Mullett and Ashley Mills told Bloomberg that the fundraising shows investors think digital workout-from-home routines are here to stay, even as the receding of the pandemic has allowed many people to return to gyms and fitness spaces.
