The FUTURE of Fitness
Future is a digital fitness and training service platform focused on the power of coaching
The fitness industry is booming, and many people opt for personal coaching to help keep them on track, gain expert advice, and hold themselves accountable. However, it can be challenging to find a quality local coach, sessions can be expensive, and schedules difficult to coordinate.
Alumni Ventures invested in digital fitness and training services platform Future alongside Kleiner Perkins’ Mamoon Hamid — ranked four times on Forbes’ Midas List of the world’s best VCs. Future’s fundamental solution is based on the fact that coaching works. For decades, busy professional athletes, executives, and celebrities have faithfully relied on personal trainers to help them build a disciplined approach to fitness and keep them accountable. Future is now making this luxury available to everyone! The company’s platform also addresses trainer needs as it makes client management easier and more efficient for coaches.
250%
Revenue growth
5x
Customer growth
80%
Customer retention
Someone Cheering You On!
Beginning a fitness journey is hard, but going it alone is even more challenging due to the lack of guidance and outside accountability. Future addresses this fitness pain point through a subscription-based app with real-life personal coaches and a company-provided Apple watch to track exercise metrics, so there is always someone there to guide you.
All Future coaches are highly qualified, with 85% coming from professional sports teams or Division I college athletics. Coaches are empowered by a robust back-end tech platform, using machine learning to help them manage 60+ clients. The company is also positioned to expand into adjacent revenue streams in diet, mental health, sleep management, and more.
SPECIAL OFFER
Exclusively for Members of the Alumni Ventures Community
For a limited time, Future is offering a free month of access so you can enjoy the power of its world-class personal fitness coaching experience. Click here to access this exclusive promo code.
What We Liked About the Deal
Strong Syndicate: Kleiner Perkins, Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, and Caffeinated Capital are all investors.
Tremendous Growth: Future’s revenue grew ~250% from 2019 to 2020. It expects to increase topline revenue by ~18x in 2021. The customer base grew 5x in 2020 with no formal marketing organization. Future projects 11x customer growth in 2021.
Excellent Early Metrics: Future has 80% customer retention after 90 days, a Net Promoter Score of 80, and 70% of customer acquisitions come from referrals.
Highly Accomplished Team: Future CEO Rishi Mandal has had two exits including Sosh — which he co-founded and led — which was acquired by Postmates. CTO Justin Santamaria led teams at Apple that built iMessage and Facetime. COO Cathy Vigrass held leading roles at companies Square and Sosh, and CMO Ray Elias is the former CMO at StubHub and HotelTonight (acquired by Airbnb).
Downside Protection, Upside Potential: Building a scalable coaching network is hard to do, but having access to personal coaches is valuable and offers downside protection as there are many buyers for the service. Additionally, fitness coaching represents a huge market and can capture adjacent revenue streams with potential for generational appeal.
How We Are Involved
Spike Ventures (Alumni Ventures’ fund for the Stanford community) deployed capital in Future’s Series B funding round led by Kleiner Perkins. Sibling fund Congress Avenue Ventures (for the UTexas community) also invested in the round. The company is also part of Alumni Ventures’ Post-COVID Fund and was a Syndication opportunity.