Personal Wellness

A New Chapter For Gympass: By Co-Founder & CEO Cesar Carvalho

Jun 29, 2021
Last Updated Jun 1, 2023

Since our founding in 2012, we have built a sustainable ecosystem made up of more than 3,000 corporate clients, 50,000 gyms and studios, 60 wellness apps, thousands of personal trainers, and hundreds of thousands of members. Some of our current clients include Santander, Accenture, Unilever, KPMG, and McDonald’s. Today, we are in multiple markets across North America, Latin America, and Europe.

We have grown and evolved, turning Gympass into the world’s largest and most complete corporate wellbeing platform. Now, we’re more inclusive, engaging, and accessible than ever for our members, partners, and clients. We continue to expand, seeking to reinvent new wellbeing experiences and categories such as mental health, nutrition, and therapy, the same way we did with physical activity. This is a big step towards our goal of making wellbeing universal.

As we continue this journey, I want to share some extraordinary news that will help us to continue fulfilling our mission of making all forms of wellbeing accessible.

I am proud to say we have raised $220 million in a new round of investment to fuel further growth in the US, improve the product experience to our corporate clients, users and partners, and continue to expand into new categories such as digital fitness, mental health, and nutrition. The round includes Softbank, General Atlantic, Moore Strategic Ventures, Kaszek, and Valor Capital Group as investors. The financing reflects the acceleration of Gympass’s growth, as people are flocking back to the gyms and studios they love.

So, what does this mean for Gympass?

Companies and employees recognize the importance of wellbeing 

Companies understand (now more than ever) that investing in the wellbeing of their employees leads to a healthier, more collaborative, and inclusive work environment but also provides higher talent retention rates, lower health costs, and lower levels of absenteeism. Many companies started to adapt their budgets to boost wellness programs during the pandemic, during which we welcomed more than 1,000 new corporate clients, as corporate wellness programs looked for holistic, flexible, and equitable solutions.

Wellbeing is a growing priority for almost everybody. A recent McKinsey study found that 79% of respondents believe wellness is important, and 42% consider it a ‘top priority.’ Consumers in every market McKinsey researched reported a substantial increase in the prioritization of wellness over the past two to three years.

The future of work and wellbeing is hybrid

The nature of work has changed and splitting time between the office and home is one certainty we can expect in a post-COVID-19 world. Recent research from LiveCareer found that nearly 66% say they would prefer to work only for companies that offer some options for remote work. 

In the same way people are expecting flexible work solutions, they also want the freedom of both digital and physical activities. When their calendar allows, employees want to head to a gym close to work or home, perhaps with family members. When time is limited, they want to click on a live class or an at-home meditation app.

This is sparking change in how companies look into wellness to reflect this reality. According to the Emerging from the Pandemic Report from February 2021, twice as many employers report developing a strategy for benefits in a post-pandemic environment as a top priority over the next six months, to support flexible work policies. Companies are looking for flexible wellness solutions that can sustain their hybrid work model. 

Our platform for companies and their employees was great – now it is even better

The same research also revealed how people view wellness, typically considering six dimensions: better health, fitness, nutrition, appearance, sleep, and mindfulness. Of these, physical health accounts for ~85%+ of consumer’s self-care time. Gympass is perfectly positioned to help people on their wellbeing journey with the most complete network (gyms, boutique studios, personal trainers, live classes, on-demand fitness, wellbeing coaches), and an innovative model to reinvent the way people and companies engage with their physical health and wellbeing. 

What was great became even better: in the past 2 years, Gympass added more than 60 wellness apps, thousands of personal trainers from the most diverse segments, and individual therapy solutions.

We have also signed new deals with major partners in the US including Barry’s, SoulCycle, F45, and Strava for fitness, and, to fuel our rapid expansion into holistic wellbeing, Calm, LifeSum, and Fabulous, and more. And, we expect even greater growth in the coming years.

What’s next for Gympass?

Looking at Gympass data, we have already seen the accelerated growth of in-person activities post-lockdown and also on the use of digital products. In May alone, we saw a record of 4 million monthly check-ins across our network of 50k global partners. We expect this demand to be bigger in the coming months.

To keep fueling this demand, we will use the resources to: 

  1. Keep growing in the US.
  2. Invest in our people and our culture.
  3. Improve the product experience.
  4. Continue to expand into new categories such as mental health, nutrition, and personal training.

As always, we remain committed to making wellbeing universal. We will continue inspiring people to cultivate healthy habits so they feel good in all aspects of their health ‒ physical, mental, emotional, and nutritional. If you also believe in this mission, join us on our journey.

Questions? Please reach out to press@gympass.com.


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Cesar Carvalho

Cesar Carvalho is the CEO & co-founder of Gympass. Based out of Gympass’ headquarters in New York, Carvalho oversees worldwide operations implementing the company’s overall strategy. He has previously worked at CVC, McKinsey & Company and AC Nielsen.


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