eGym partners with Highland Capital Partners Europe to fuel growth with a $15m financing round

The German-based connected fitness company eGym is accelerating its international expansion and product development by raising $15 million from new investor Highland Capital Partners Europe. Existing investors Bayern Kapital and High-Tech Gründerfonds also participated in the round.

eGym provides connected fitness solutions to gym operators and gym members alike. The eGym product portfolio is a true mixture of hardware and software providing gym operators with granular information about their members, and enabling gym members to have a personalised, evolving training plan that is right for them.

eGym CEO & co-founder Philipp Roesch-Schlanderer: “Our product strategy is unique in the global fitness market. eGym combines the latest electrical and machine technology, powered by German engineering, with the advantages of mobile online applications. eGym stands for quick, sustainable fitness training success and more fun in the fitness studio! We are enormously pleased to share our enthusiasm with Highland Capital, gaining a terrific investor for our young company.”

Irena Goldenberg, a partner with Highland Capital Partners Europe, has joined the eGym board of directors and chairs the board as part of the financing. Irena said, “eGym’s growth dynamics and capital efficiency are exceptional in our experience. The eGym product suite is unique for an industry that has not been disrupted by the digital revolution.  Led by a terrific entrepreneur, eGym is best positioned to help fitness club owners and members.”

In its first full financial year eGym experienced explosive sales growth and achieved profitability. Within 18 months, the team has grown from ten to over 100 employees leading to the opening of a new office in Munich and expanding to Berlin.  “Focusing on finding the best talent has been a key to our success”, says Philipp Roesch-Schlanderer

eGym offers a full range of 18 strength training machines for all major muscle groups. All machines are connected to the internet giving huge benefits to both users and gym owners. Fitness club members are able to follow a customized training program enabled by eGym’s unique training software. Personal training programs are automatically synchronised to each machine as soon as the user occupies the equipment.

Training programmes use the latest sports science expertise and have four different training methods. Together with gym trainers, it’s possible to analyse and plan a workout on every internet-capable device or via the app on the smartphone. Via the eGym Cloud, all exercise results are stored allowing for progress to be monitored closely.

The introduction of the eGym Trainer App at the FIBO industry fair in April 2014 marks a new milestone for member support in the studio: it provides fitness studios and personal trainers with a complete overview of the membership that is currently active in the gym.

In addition, eGym supports fitness studios in attracting new members through targeted on- and offline marketing activities.

“We want to support studio operators on every level of their value chain and make them more successful”, said Philipp Roesch-Schlanderer. “This applies for the three major areas – customer acquisition, customer support as well as up- and cross-selling to existing members. The eGym Cloud, which brings together all relevant information, plays an essential role in making this possible.”

In addition to Germany, Switzerland and Austria, eGym also had significant success in the Netherlands and will soon enter new markets.

About eGym
eGym develops, builds and sells the most modern high-tech products for the fitness market, including fully-electronic fitness equipment, equipment software eGym PREMIUM for even better and more effective training, the eGym Trainer App and eGym.de – the contact point for online personal fitness. eGym enables a fitness experience that is more diverse, more effective and healthier, while also increasing the fun of exercising. In this way, eGym is driving the paradigm shift from the necessity of keeping fit to actually looking forward to the next workout.

Press Contact:
eGym GmbH
Dr. Hans Jürgen Croissant
Company Spokesman
hans-juergen.croissant@egym.de
Phone: +49 89 / 9 21 31 05-19
Nymphenburger Strasse 12
80335 München

About Highland Capital Partners Europe
Through a dedicated European growth equity technology fund, Highland Europe embraces Highland Capital Partners’ global mission of helping great people build great companies. Founded in 1988, Highland has raised over $3 billion in committed capital and invested in more than 225 companies, resulting in category-defining businesses across consumer and enterprise technology. Investments include, Ask Jeeves, Bromium, Gigamon, Lululemon, LevelUp, Lycos, MapQuest, Nebula, NewVoiceMedia, PhotoBox, Privalia, Smart Things, Qihoo 360, Quattro Wireless, Rent the Runway, Starent Networks, Sybase, VistaPrint and wooga. For more information, visit www.hcp.com.

About High-Tech Gruenderfonds:
High-Tech Gruenderfonds invests in young, high potential high-tech start-ups. The seed financing provided is designed to enable start-ups to take an idea through prototyping and to market launch. Typically, High-Tech Gruenderfonds invests EUR 500,000 in the seed stage, with the potential for up to a total of EUR 2 million per portfolio company in follow-on financing. Investors in this public/private partnership include the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, the KfW Banking Group, as well as strategic corporate investors including ALTANA, BASF, Bayer, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE, Daimler, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, Evonik, Lanxess, media + more venture Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, METRO, Qiagen, RWE Innogy, SAP, Tengelmann and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gruenderfonds has about EUR 576 million under management in two funds (EUR 272 million HTGF I, EUR 304 million HTGF II).

Contact:
High-Tech Gruenderfonds Management GmbH
Schlegelstrasse 2
D-53113 Bonn
Phone: +49 228 823001-00
Fax: +49 228 823000-50
info@htgf.de
www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de