ClassPass is an American company operating a subscription platform for fitness. Founded in 2013, it was acquired by Mindbody Inc in 2021.
History
The company was founded by Payal Kadakia and Sanjiv Sanghavi as Classivity in 2010.[2][3][4][5] In 2012, the company launched Passport, allowing users to try one fitness class at a new studio.[6] The company expanded its product to a subscription.[6][7][8] The company brought on Mary Biggins to help build the new company, and ClassPass was developed in June 2013.[6][9][10][7] In January 2014, Classtivity was rebranded as ClassPass.[4]
Sanghavi left in January 2014.[2][11][12] The same year, ClassPass acquired FitMob.[13] An earlier version of the company's product was intended to sell a better registration system to fitness studios but this did not receive much interest.[14]
In January 2019, ClassPass acquired Guavapass.[22] Later that year, in October, Classpass acquired Swedish competitor Fitness Collection.[23] Chilean-based MuvPass and ClickyPass, based in Argentina, were acquired in early 2020.[24]
In 2024, the company added food and beverage partners, allowing users to spend credits at participating cafes.[26]
Financing
ClassPass received seed funding of $2 million in March 2014, then attracted $12 million in Series A round funding from entrepreneur Fritz Lanman in September 2014. In 2015, it received $40 million of Series B funding from General Catalyst and Thrive Capital.[7] The company was valued as over $200 million.[27] Classpass received an additional $30 million of funding in November 2015 led by Google Ventures.[28] ClassPass announced a $70 million Series C led by Temasek Holdings in May 2017 that valued the company at $470 million.[29][30] In July 2018, it raised US$85M in financing led by Temasek to expand into Asia.[31] In January 2020, it raised $285 million in funding at a $1 billion valuation.[32] In October 2021, the company was acquired by Mindbody Inc.[33]
Criticism
ClassPass has been criticized for undercutting the business model of the health clubs that it relies on, with a 2015 article in The New York Times describing it as a "middleman" between consumers and health clubs, and arguing that a "power imbalance" exists between the health clubs' owners and ClassPass which mirrors the relationship with other digital intermediary services such as Amazon.com and Uber.[34] The service has accounted for lower margins at some gyms where owners limit the number of members "to prevent being cannibalized".[35]
