ClassPass
IndustryPhysical fitness
FoundedJune 1, 2013 (2013-06-01)
FoundersPayal Kadakia
Mary Biggins
HeadquartersNew York City, New York, U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Fritz Lanman, CEO
Payal Kadakia, Chairwoman
ParentMindbody Inc.
Websiteclasspass.com
Footnotes / references
[1]

ClassPass is a monthly fitness and wellness membership that provides users with access to thousands of fitness studios, gyms, salons and spas around the globe. With 66,000+ businesses across 29 countries, ClassPass is home to the world’s largest collection of classes and appointments. Members can book a variety of workouts and salon and spa appointments like pilates, yoga, massages and manicures. ClassPass is a subsidiary of Mindbody Inc.

History

In 2011, after spending over an hour searching online for an open ballet class in New York City, 28-year old Payal Kadakia, an Indian American graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and employee of Warner Music Group, realized she was tired of corporate life and allocated herself fourteen days to come up with an idea for her own company. During this time, she had the idea to create a search engine and reservation system for fitness classes.[2][3][4] In September 2012, Mary Biggins was hired.[5] In June 2012, Kadakia and Sanjiv Sanghavi released Classtivity to the public.[5][6] In January 2014, Classtivity was rebranded as ClassPass.[7] Sanghavi left in January 2014.[8]

An earlier version of the company's product was intended to sell a better registration system to fitness studios but this did not receive much interest.[9] After participating in the TechStars accelerator, the company switched to offering a package deal where users could pay $49 for 10 classes in a year, a model that Kadakia likened to Groupon. However, users of the service wanted to take more than 10 classes per year, so the company switched to offering a 10-class subscription service for $99 per month.[10] The company enforces a cancellation fee of $20 for missing classes.[11]

By April 2016, the company had booked over 17 million fitness reservations. The company also added additional pricing tiers such as 3 or 5 classes per month.[12]

In March 2017, Payal Kadakia swapped roles with Fritz Lanman, with Lanman becoming CEO and Kadakia becoming Executive Chairman.[13]

By June 2017, the company had booked 35 million reservations [14] and by December 2017, the company had booked 45 million reservations.[15][16]

In August 2017, the company announced its expansion to New Orleans, Pittsburgh, San Antonio, Cincinnati, Calgary, Honolulu, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Riverside, California, and Salt Lake City.[17][18]

In 2017, the company was ranked #2 on the Deloitte Fast 500 North America list.[19]

In March 2018, ClassPass launched live-streamed fitness classes for $15 per month.[20][21][22]

In October 2018, ClassPass was launched in Thailand.[23]

In January 2019, Classpass acquired Guavapass.[24]

In April 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the company laid off 53% of its 700 employees.[25]

Financing

ClassPass received seed funding of $2 million in March 2014, then attracted $12 million in Series A round funding from entrepreneur Fritz Lanman in September 2014. In 2015, it received $40 million of Series B funding from General Catalyst and Thrive Capital.[5] The company was valued as over $200 million.[26] Classpass received an additional $30 million of funding in November 2015 led by Google Ventures.[27] ClassPass announced a $70 million Series C led by Temasek Holdings in May 2017 that valued the company at $470 million.[14][28] In July 2018, it raised US$85M in financing led by Temasek to expand into Asia.[29] In January 2020, it raised $285 million in funding at a $1 billion valuation.[30] In October 2021, the company was acquired by Mindbody Inc.[31]

Criticism

ClassPass has been criticized for undercutting the business model of the health clubs that it relies on, with a 2015 article in The New York Times describing it as a "middleman" between consumers and health clubs, and arguing that a "power imbalance" exists between the health clubs' owners and ClassPass which mirrors the relationship with other digital intermediary services such as Amazon.com and Uber.[32] The service has accounted for lower margins at some gyms where owners limit the number of members "to prevent being cannibalized".[33]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "ClassPass: Meet the Team".
  2. ↑ Marikar, Sheila (November 3, 2014). "How one fitness entrepreneur raised $14 million". Fortune.
  3. ↑ Maltby, Anna (January 27, 2015). "This Company Will Get You Into Unlimited Fitness Classes". Fast Company.
  4. ↑ Arata, Emily (December 15, 2015). "I Want Your Job: Payal Kadakia, Cofounder And CEO Of ClassPass". Elite Daily.
  5. 1 2 3 Crook, Jordan (January 15, 2015). "Classpass Is In Session With $40 Million In Series B". TechCrunch.
  6. ↑ "Payal Kadakia: How to price your product to scale". Masters of Scale.
  7. ↑ Carson, Biz (October 20, 2015). "How this world-class dancer went from failing twice to a $30 dollar fitness empire". Business Insider.
  8. ↑ Sorvino, Chloe (June 17, 2016). "Why Failing Twice Helped ClassPass's Payal Kadakia Build A $50 Million (And Growing) Fortune". Forbes.
  9. ↑ Shontell, Alyson (July 31, 2014). "How Getting Mugged And Maced Helped A World-Class Dancer Save Her Struggling Startup". Business Insider.
  10. ↑ Altrogge, Stephen (17 November 2015). "Monthly Lifestyle Subscriptions Are a Thing With Companies Like Wonderush". Snapmunk.
  11. ↑ Plante, Stephie (January 20, 2015). "ClassPass: Is the Fitness World's Latest Obsession Worth $54 Million?". Racked.com.
  12. ↑ Crook, Jordan (April 13, 2016). "Classpass rolls out new pricing structure". TechCrunch.
  13. ↑ Crook, Jordan (March 17, 2017). "Fritz Lanman takes CEO role at ClassPass as founder Payal Kadakia steps in as Chairman". TechCrunch.
  14. 1 2 Crook, Jordan (June 16, 2017). "ClassPass secures $70 million Series C led by Temasek". TechCrunch.
  15. ↑ "ClassPass app opening office in Missoula, plans to hire 50 employees". Fox News. December 27, 2017.
  16. ↑ "Work It Out". The Estée Lauder Companies.
  17. ↑ "ClassPass Announces Plans for North America Expansion Leading into 2018" (Press release). Business Wire. August 22, 2017.
  18. ↑ Abrams, Margaret (August 24, 2017). "ClassPass Is Coming Soon to a City Near You". The New York Observer.
  19. ↑ "Top five 2017 North America Fast 500 winners". Deloitte.
  20. ↑ Crook, Jordan (March 14, 2018). "ClassPass Live launches on-demand workouts from home". TechCrunch.
  21. ↑ Sorkin, Andrew Ross (January 26, 2018). "Live-Streaming Fitness: ClassPass's New Product". CNBC.
  22. ↑ Carman, Ashley (December 6, 2017). "ClassPass will let you live stream fitness classes at home for $15 a month". The Verge.
  23. ↑ JITPLEECHEEP, PITSINEE (October 26, 2018). "ClassPass registers membership of 1,000". Bangkok Post.
  24. ↑ Crook, Jordan (January 7, 2019). "Fitness marketplace ClassPass acquires competitor GuavaPass". TechCrunch.
  25. ↑ Feiner, Lauren (April 2, 2020). "ClassPass reduces staff by more than half as social distancing drives fitness home". CNBC.
  26. ↑ Chernova, Yuliya (March 12, 2015). "ClassPass, Valued at More Than $200M, Taps Into Gym Craze". The Wall Street Journal.
  27. ↑ Crook, Jordan (11 November 2015). "Confirmed, ClassPass Raises $30 Million Series C From Google Ventures". TechCrunch.
  28. ↑ Chernova, Yuliya (June 16, 2017). "ClassPass Taps $70 Million in 'Down' Round". The Wall Street Journal.
  29. ↑ RAPHAEL, RINA (July 31, 2018). "ClassPass just raised $85 million, celebrates with new "audio fitness" app". Fast Company.
  30. ↑ O'Brien, Sara Ashley (January 8, 2020). "Fitness startup ClassPass is now a unicorn". CNN.
  31. ↑ Thomas, Lauren (October 14, 2021). "Mindbody acquires workout subscription platform ClassPass as fitness industry rebounds". CNBC.
  32. ↑ Wortham, Jenna (March 9, 2015). "ClassPass and the Joy and Guilt of the Digital Middleman Economy". The New York Times Magazine.
  33. ↑ BOUW, BRENDA (March 24, 2019). "Fitness subscription service ClassPass brings new business to studios, but at what cost?". The Globe and Mail.
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