New York-based health tech startup, ClassPass has announced a $285 million Series E funding round, bringing the company’s valuation to $1 billion.
The round was led by L Catterton and Apax Digital with additional participation by existing investor Temasek. This brings the company’s total funding since its inception in 2013 to $549 million. As part of the investment, Marc Magliacano, managing partner at L Catterton’s Flagship Fund, and Daniel O’Keefe, managing partner at Apax Digital will join the ClassPass Board of Directors.
“We are motivated by the impact we’ve had on members and partners, including 100 million hours of workouts that have already been booked,” says Founder and Executive Chairman Payal Kadakia. ”This investment is a significant milestone that will further our mission to help people stay active and spend their time meaningfully.”
Over the last seven years, ClassPass has partnered with over 30,000 boutique fitness studios, gyms and wellness providers in 28 countries. Though, what makes ClassPass such an innovative health and wellness solution is its flexibility. Traditional memberships are often restrictive and expensive with a limited number of classes. ClassPass circumvents these issues by offering a ‘pass’ to a variety of classes, gyms, and facilities around the world, starting at just $19 a month. Inspired by Payal’s own struggles with trying to book herself a dance class in 2010, ClassPass hopes to remove the hassle, awkward phone calls, and rigamarole of getting fit and healthy.
It’s a modern solution that doesn’t just simplify the discovery processes but encourages people to try new things. The innovative use of machine learning also recommends new classes while helping people cut down costs.
The newly minted unicorn has also introduced a new corporate program, where organizations subsidize employees using the app. Through this endeavour, ClassPass currently works with over 1,000 employers including Google, Facebook, Morgan Stanley, Southwest Airlines, Glossier and others.
Marc Magliacano, managing partner at L Catterton’s flagship fund, said they’ve been impressed with how ClassPass “has continuously evolved its model to meet the changing needs of both partners and users.” Especially how when combined with AI tools, the startup has helped studios generate more revenue “than any other aggregator.”
