2020 has ushered an at-home fitness revolution. And while fitness aficionados are saving money on gym memberships, a handful of companies have seen people redirect that money toward home workout equipment and services.
One company that has taken note of this trend is LA-based Shred. On Friday, the company announced that it raised $4 million in seed funding from an anonymous list of Silicon Valley and celebrity investors. Shred plans to use this new funding to add more features to its product and grow amid increasing demand.
Shred has created a fitness app that provides personalized training programs, coaching and tracking. Although the app provides programs for both at-home and gym-based workouts, the company has seen a jump in demand during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company also noticed that the number of home workouts versus gym workouts completed has doubled.
Shred reports that over one million people have used its app since its launch in 2018. As of now, its users have collectively completed over three million workouts and 76 million exercises.
One of the draws of Shred is its social features. The app has a social feed that lets people share the workouts they are doing, as well as a buddy feature that allows people to workout together in real-time. Shred has also built other features to make the app feel like a community, including the ability to follow people and trainers for updates and give “cheers” — similar to giving people likes on other social media platforms.
The new funding will help bolster Shred as it gears up to launching its new video streaming platform, which will allow users to share videos and work out with their friends. That feature is rolling out later this year with a waitlist currently open.
“When we started Shred, we wanted to build a way for our friends to exercise with each other, despite being separated by hundreds of miles and having very different, very busy schedules. It’s amazing to see our passion turn into something that’s changing so many lives for the better. Shred embodies what tech-for-good means and I'm proud to build Shred every day,” co-founder and head of product Charlie Hale said in a statement.
Shred is available on the Apple App Store. The company’s Unlimited Training subscription costs $100 per year.
