51.1 F
Laguna Hills
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024
-Advertisement-

FightCamp Moves Up in Weight: Strikes $90M Deal

FightCamp is plotting a knockout.

The Costa Mesa fitness experience company equips fighters with all the gear—a punching bag, gloves and punch counters—and the technical training needed to dive into boxing at home.

Last week, the 7-year-old firm said it raised $90 million in a round of financing, in a bid to become the boxing and mixed martial arts communities’ version of $37 billion-valued at-home cycling phenomenon Peloton (Nasdaq: PTON).

The new funding’s aim is to bring FightCamp’s product to more users, boost its technology, and forge stronger ties between fitness and boxing communities.

“Our vision is to make everything a fighter touches connected through interactive and immersive technology,” Chief Executive Khalil Zahar told the Business Journal.

Menlo Park venture capital giant New Enterprise Associates and Connect Ventures—a collaboration between New Enterprise and Hollywood talent service Creative Artists Agency—led the funding round.

The venture firms were joined by notable boxing and MMA fighters Mike Tyson, Floyd Mayweather, Georges St-Pierre and Francis Ngannou, in addition to singer Usher, who all contributed their own money to the round, Zahar said.

Home Experience 

FightCamp is a pay-to-play experience.

The best deal for a newcomer starts at $1,219 and includes a free-standing bag, workout mat, boxing gloves, punch trackers and quick wraps. A more affordable option for those with a bag and boxing gloves at home is $439.

The monthly membership for on-demand workouts and tutorials is $39.

While some might prefer to join a local gym, “we believe home fitness is the future, and we’re focused on innovation in that space,” Zahar said.

“People are working out more and (are) older, and the technology keeps getting better. It’s gotten to a point where we can provide an experience that you can’t recreate at every boutique gym.”

Zahar pointed to the company’s video content—all filmed at its Costa Mesa studio—as an example. It offers over 200 videos with exercises and lessons on how to throw the perfect jab or compete a three-punch combo.

The high-intensity interval training workouts encompass 3-minute rounds followed by 1-minute recovery. The powerful combination of boxing and bodyweight training builds cardio and strength simultaneously, the company says.

Its trainers all have fighting experience and include MMA pro Shanie “Smash” Rusth, and FightCamp co-founder Tommy Duquette, who previously made the U.S. National Team and qualified for the Olympic Trials in 2012.

The company hasn’t disclosed its user base or revenue figures. It says FightCamp’s members have thrown over 90 million punches since the product’s launch in 2018, and the company has seen its sales increase 30 times over from 2018 to the end of 2020.

The company’s famous new backers vouch for the product.

FightCamp “takes me back to the basics with a heavy cardio focused regimen. It was a cool way to introduce boxing to my kids,” Tyson said in a statement last week.

Perfecting Performance 

There’s more to come for FightCamp’s technology stack, and it plans to grow from about 64 employees to 100 by the end of the year to support these efforts.

The company’s punch trackers, or smart sensors, measure punch count and speed over time, which are used to provide real-time statistics and post-workout summaries so that users can see progress over time.

The smart sensors also have the ability, though not yet launched, to detect the user’s type of punch.

“If you can recognize the type of punch, the idea is that you’re rewarded for overall performance. The experience becomes technical and demanding physically,” Zahar said.

In addition, FightCamp continues to build interactive community features into its platform, allowing users to participate in friendly competitions and track their status on a leaderboard.

FightCamp, currently available on Apple devices, plans to bring even more users into the community with Android compatibility by the end of 2021, Zahar said.

The Beginning

Zahar grew up in Montreal and started fighting at the age of 21. Though he describes himself as late to the game, he instantly fell in love with the sport.

“It felt like the Matrix was being uploaded to my brain as I learned how to spar,” he recalled.

FightCamp formed under Hykso Inc. in 2014 as Zahar and CTO Alex Marcotte began developing the company’s punch trackers.

In 2016, FightCamp moved from Montreal to Silicon Valley and participated in startup accelerators Founder Institute and Y Combinator. It raised about $8 million in funds from various startup programs.

Shortly after Y Combinator, the founders realized they were driving down to Orange County several times a month, and decided to relocate the company headquarters, Zahar said.

“Orange County is a hub for fight sports. Huntington Beach has a huge MMA community and the UFC headquarters is in Orange County,” he said.

Along with Newport Beach’s UFC, the area is home to Xponential Fitness, whose umbrella of boutique fitness offerings includes boxing-focused Rumble (see story, page 1).

While Xponential brands offer a digital platform for at-home fitness enthusiasts, alongside brick-and-mortar locations, FightClub sees the future of fitness classes as strictly a virtual one.

“The growth we saw during our first two years before the pandemic started proves that the connected fitness industry is here to stay long after the pandemic is over,” Zahar said.

Want more from the best local business newspaper in the country?

Sign-up for our FREE Daily eNews update to get the latest Orange County news delivered right to your inbox!

Previous article
Next article
-Advertisement-

Featured Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-

Related Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-