Whoop, the Boston-based fitness wearable company popular with professional athletes, raised $200 million in funding on Monday, becoming the most valuable standalone fitness performance startup in the world, the company said.
The deal, which values the firm at $3.6 billion, was led by Japan’s SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and triples Whoop’s valuation from its previous financing round in October 2020. The company has raised roughly $400 million to date.
The investment comes as the market for fitness wearables has grown, and caught the attention of tech titans. Google closed its acquisition of Fitbit for $2.1 billion this year. Apple is invested heavily in making the Apple Watch one of its marquee products, its chief executive Tim Cook said this year.
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Will Ahmed, the founder and chief executive of Whoop, said his company has room to expand much more. “While we have experienced amazing growth in the past year,” he said in a statement, “the potential of our technology and the vast market for health monitoring remains largely untapped.”
Whoop was founded in 2012 by Ahmed — a former captain of Harvard University’s squash team looking to improve his workouts — and two classmates. The company sells a wrist strap that allows users to track their sleep and exercise habits through an app — allowing athletes to maximize their performance.
Over the years, the product has become popular with professional athletes including LeBron James, Michael Phelps, Patrick Mahomes, and Justin Thomas, the golfer. (The strap is an official fitness wearable product for the NFL Players Association, Crossfit, and the Professional Golf Association.)
With its latest funding, Whoop plans to enhance its product offerings, expand internationally, and strengthen its partnership with professional sports leagues, the company said. In 2022, the company plans to move its global headquarters to Kenmore Square, where it can house 1,000 employees. Currently, Whoop employs roughly 500 people.
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