ClassPass is an American company operating a subscription platform for fitness. Founded in 2013, it was acquired by Mindbody Inc in 2021. Just completed a company wide layoff consisting of their domestic sales team, April 2025

History

The company was founded by Payal Kadakia and Sanjiv Sanghavi as Classivity in 2010. In 2012, the company launched Passport, allowing users to try one fitness class at a new studio. The company expanded its product to a subscription. The company brought on Mary Biggins to help build the new company, and ClassPass was developed in June 2013. In January 2014, Classtivity was rebranded as ClassPass. Sanghavi left in January 2014. The same year, ClassPass acquired FitMob. 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. In March 2017, Payal Kadakia swapped roles with Fritz Lanman, with Lanman becoming CEO and Kadakia becoming Executive Chairman. In August 2017, the company announced an expansion to

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, and

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. In March 2018, ClassPass began offering

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fitness classes. In January 2019, ClassPass acquired Guavapass. Later that year, in October, Classpass acquired Swedish competitor Fitness Collection. Chilean-based MuvPass and ClickyPass, based in Argentina, were acquired in early 2020. ClassPass was acquired by Mindbody Inc in 2021. In 2024, the company added food and beverage partners, allowing users to spend credits at participating cafes.

Financing

ClassPass received seed funding of $2 million in March 2014, then attracted $12 million in

Series A round A series A is the name typically given to a company's first significant round of venture capital financing. It can be followed by the word round, investment or financing. The name refers to the class of preferred stock sold to investors in excha ...

funding from entrepreneur

Fritz Lanman Fritz Lanman (born August 6, 1981) is an American entrepreneur and investor in early-stage technology companies. He led the venture capital financing, seed and Series A financings in ClassPass in 2014 and became CEO in 2017. In 2021, ClassPass wa ...

in September 2014. In 2015, it received $40 million of Series B funding from General Catalyst and

Thrive Capital Thrive Capital Management, LLC, commonly Thrive Capital, is an American venture capital firm based in New York City. It focuses on software and internet investments. The firm was founded by Joshua Kushner who is also co-founder of Oscar Health ...

. The company was valued as over $200 million. Classpass received an additional $30 million of funding in November 2015 led by

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. ClassPass announced a $70 million Series C led by

Temasek Holdings Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited ( ) is a Singaporean State ownership, state-owned multinational investment firm. Incorporated on 25 June 1974, Temasek has a net portfolio of US$288 billion (S$389 billion) as of 2024. Headquartered at Orchard ...

in May 2017 that valued the company at $470 million. In July 2018, it raised US$85M in financing led by Temasek to expand into Asia. In January 2020, it raised $285 million in funding at a $1 billion valuation. In October 2021, the company was acquired by Mindbody Inc.

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 ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' 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

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and

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. The service has accounted for lower margins at some gyms where owners limit the number of members "to prevent being cannibalized".

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://classpass.com/ 2013 establishments in New York City Companies based in New York City Health clubs Online companies of the United States Privately held companies of the United States Subscription services

History

Financing

Criticism

See also

References

External links