Trainiac, a provider of one-on-one personal fitness training programs through its app, closed $2.2 million in a Seed funding round, according to GeekWire. Trainiac expects to raise another $800,000 in Q1 2020.
The investors participating so far include veteran Seattle technology executive Andrew Wright, Pioneer Square Labs Co-founder Geoff Entress, ex-Socrata CEO Kevin Merritt, and Bluemoon Ventures President Edward Yim.
“We’ve put in a tremendous amount of resources and focus in training the trainers in being fitness coaches online and what it means to make a client successful in this new world,” said Akshay Ahooja, co-founder of Trainiac, in a press release.
According to Grand View Research, the digital fitness app market size is estimated to reach $10.9 billion by 2026, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 21.1%. The growth of this market attributed to the growing number of people seeking a health-conscious lifestyle.
Trainaic has 50 trainers on its platform and says it has witnessed 600% customer growth year-over-year.
“There is this assumption out there that if you give trainers technology, it will all work out, or if you replace that trainer with AI, it will all work out,” said Akshay Ahooja, in a press release. “For a client to really build a long-term habit of fitness, it’s not about just throwing more and more options at them. It’s all about helping them build out something that works for their lifestyle and their own personal struggle.”
Fitness apps raised a total of $1.5 billion in VC funding since 2012, according to Mercom data.
Similar technologies that received funding include:
TrueCoach, a personalized coaching app that delivers workouts remotely, raised $2 million.
Vida Health, a developer of a fitness app that tracks vitals such as exercise, diet, sleep, and weight, raised $30 million.
Lifesum (formerly known as ShapeUp Club) – a Swedish digital health company that provides health and fitness apps that let users track the food they eat and count calories – secured $5 million.
