Fitness & wellness
Fitness and wellness covers the consumer side of digital health - connected fitness hardware, fitness and activity tracking apps, gym and studio software, wearables, and the broader wellness app stack across nutrition, sleep and recovery. The category went through an extreme COVID-era boom and bust. Peloton's market capitalisation collapsed from above $50B in early 2021 to under $3B by 2024 after demand reverted and inventory write-downs piled up; Lululemon shut down its Mirror connected fitness product in 2023; Beachbody (now BODi) and Tonal both had to restructure. The structural winners since 2022 have been wearables (Apple Watch, Garmin, Whoop, Oura) and platform-based fitness aggregators like ClassPass, where unit economics held up through the rebound.
The sector spans connected fitness hardware (bikes, rowers, strength systems), fitness and workout apps, wearables and rings for activity, sleep and recovery, gym and studio management software, fitness aggregators and class marketplaces, and nutrition and weight management apps.
Revenue comes from hardware sales priced at material gross margin, recurring app and content subscriptions paid by individual users, monthly device subscriptions stacked on top of hardware, marketplace take rates on third-party gym and studio sessions, B2B SaaS sold to fitness operators and studios, and employer wellness contracts paid PMPM.
Fitness & wellness is part of Digital health.
$22B
Global market size
18
Public companies
Key VC investors
Key strategic buyers
How fitness & wellness companies monetize?
Fitness and wellness companies monetize through hardware plus connected subscription, consumer app subscriptions and marketplace take rates.
Hardware + connected subscription
One-time bike, treadmill or rower sale at hardware margin, paired with a $40-$60 per month all-access subscription. The model Peloton, Hydrow and Tonal use; the subscription is the durable revenue line.
Consumer app subscriptions
Monthly or annual fees for content libraries, training plans and tracking apps. MyFitnessPal Premium, Strava subscription and Apple Fitness+ run this model.
Wearables hardware + ongoing service
Device sales plus, in some cases, a recurring membership for premium insights. Whoop sells the band for free and charges $30 per month; Oura charges for the ring and adds a $5.99 per month membership.
Marketplace take rate
Aggregators charge studios and gyms a take rate per session booked through the platform. The ClassPass and Mindbody marketplace model.
B2B SaaS for operators
Studio and gym management software priced per location or per active member. Mindbody and Mariana Tek run this model alongside or instead of marketplace revenue.
Employer wellness contracts
Per-member-per-month fees from employers and health plans for wellness benefits. Calm, Headspace, Wellhub (Gympass) and ClassPass all run dedicated B2B sales motions on this model.
Fitness & wellness valuations in May 2026
Public fitness & wellness comps trade at 1.2x EV/Revenue. Median revenue multiple across fitness & wellness M&A deals was 9.4x in the last 12 months. Median revenue multiple across fitness & wellness VC rounds was 9.3x in the last 12 months.
1.2x
Median EV/Revenue as of May 2026 for public fitness & wellness companies
6.0x
Garmin is the highest valued public fitness & wellness company based on EV/Revenue (excluding outliers)
9.4x
Median EV/Revenue across fitness & wellness M&A deals in the last 12 months
9.3x
Median EV/Revenue across fitness & wellness VC rounds in the last 12 months
Fitness & wellness market segments
Fitness and wellness spans connected fitness hardware, wearables for activity and recovery and fitness marketplaces and aggregators.
Connected fitness hardware
Smart bikes, rowers, treadmills and strength systems sold with a paired content subscription. Demand reset hard from 2022 peaks. Key players: Peloton (NASDAQ: PTON), Hydrow, Tonal and BODi (formerly Beachbody).
Activity & training apps
GPS workout tracking, training plans and community features for runners, cyclists and gym-goers. Cleanest unit economics in the category. Key players: Strava, Garmin Connect, Nike Training Club and Polar Flow.
Wearables for activity, sleep & recovery
Wrist-, finger- and chest-worn devices that track health and fitness biomarkers. The most resilient corner of the category through the downturn. Key players: Apple Watch, Garmin, Whoop and Oura.
Gym & studio management software
Booking, payments, scheduling and member management software for boutique studios and gym chains. Key players: Mindbody, Mariana Tek (Xplor), Glofox (ABC Fitness) and Zen Planner.
Fitness marketplaces & aggregators
Multi-studio passes and corporate wellness benefits that aggregate gym, studio and wellness inventory. Key players: ClassPass (Mindbody), Wellhub (formerly Gympass; NYSE: GYM), Peerfit (Inclusively) and FitOn.
Nutrition & weight management apps
Food logging, calorie tracking and weight-management programs sold to consumers and employers. Reshaped by GLP-1 medication adoption. Key players: MyFitnessPal (Francisco Partners), Noom, Lose It! and WeightWatchers (WW International).
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Key fitness & wellness KPIs to track
Connected fitness subscribers, ARPU, monthly active users and churn rate are the metrics investors track in fitness and wellness.
| KPI | Definition |
|---|---|
| Connected fitness subscribers | Active paid memberships tied to a device or app. The headline scale metric for Peloton, Hydrow, Tonal and the wearable subscription businesses. |
| ARPU | Average revenue per user, blended across hardware and subscription. For wearables, separate hardware ASP and ongoing membership ARPU are usually disclosed. |
| Monthly active users | Logged-in or workout-active users in a month. The DAU/MAU ratio and workout frequency tell you the engagement health of free and freemium products. |
| Churn rate | Monthly subscription cancellation rate. Peloton's connected fitness subscriber churn (now 1.2-1.5% per month) is the most-watched figure in the category. |
| Hardware unit sales | Devices shipped in a period. The capital-intensive top line for connected fitness and wearables. |
| Gross margin | Hardware gross margin in connected fitness sits at 5-20% during normal cycles; subscription gross margin sits at 65-75%. The blend swings hard with inventory cycles. |
| B2B covered lives | Employer-sponsored members at Wellhub, Calm, Headspace and corporate wellness players. The metric replacing 'paying users' for the B2B side of wellness. |
| Sessions booked | Classes or workouts booked through the marketplace. The headline activity metric at ClassPass and Wellhub. |
Main fitness & wellness players globally
The most active fitness and wellness companies and category leaders globally.
| Company | HQ | Overview |
|---|---|---|
Peloton onepeloton.com |  New York | Listed connected fitness platform (NASDAQ: PTON) covering bikes, treadmills, rowers and the all-access app. Multiple cost-out programs since 2022; CEO change to Peter Stern in early 2025. Subscriber base above 6M. |
Strava strava.com | San Francisco | Activity tracking and social network for runners and cyclists, with over 135M registered users. Private; majority-owned by TCV after its 2020 round. Continues to run a hybrid free + Premium subscription model. |
Garmin garmin.com |  Schaffhausen | Listed maker of premium GPS sports watches, cycling computers and Garmin Connect software (NYSE: GRMN). Fitness segment crossed $2B annual revenue in 2024. Reference scale player in non-Apple wearables. |
Whoop whoop.com | Boston | Subscription-based wearable for strain, recovery and sleep tracking. Raised $200M Series F at $3.6B valuation in 2021; Whoop 5.0 launched May 2025. Strong tilt toward elite athletes and high-performers. |
Oura ouraring.com |  Oulu | Smart ring for sleep, recovery and women's health tracking. Hit $500M annualised revenue and 5M+ rings sold by 2024 according to public disclosures; latest round valued the company at $5.2B. |
Apple Fitness+ apple.com | Cupertino | Apple's content subscription bundled with Apple One and integrated with the Apple Watch. The combination of Watch, Fitness+ and Health represents the largest installed base in consumer fitness. |
MyFitnessPal myfitnesspal.com | Baltimore | Nutrition tracking app with over 200M registered users. Sold by Under Armour to Francisco Partners for $345M in 2020. Subscription Premium tier drives the majority of revenue. |
Mindbody mindbodyonline.com | San Luis Obispo | Largest gym and studio management SaaS platform; merged with ClassPass in 2021 under Vista Equity Partners ownership. Now operates a combined operator-SaaS plus consumer-marketplace business. |
Wellhub (formerly Gympass) wellhub.com |  Sao Paulo | Corporate wellness aggregator giving employees access to gyms, studios and wellness apps for one PMPM. IPO'd on the NYSE in July 2024 (NYSE: GYM); over 15,000 employer customers. |
Hydrow hydrow.com | Boston | Connected rowing machine with a $44 per month subscription. Reorganised in 2023 after Peloton-style demand reset; latest extension round in 2024 led by existing investors. |
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Key fitness & wellness market trends
GLP-1 medication, the connected fitness hardware reset and wearables entering medical territory are reshaping fitness and wellness right now.
GLP-1 medication reshaping weight management
WeightWatchers (acquired Sequence/Weekend Health in 2023) filed for Chapter 11 in May 2025 after struggling to compete with GLP-1 drug adoption. Noom, Lose It! and MyFitnessPal all launched GLP-1 companion offerings through 2024-25; the diet-content business model is being repriced.
Connected fitness hardware reset is over
Peloton, Hydrow, Tonal and BODi all completed restructurings by mid-2025. Inventory has cleared, subscription cohorts are stable and churn has settled. Hardware unit sales remain well below 2021 peaks; investors are valuing subscription tails rather than fresh hardware growth.
Apple Watch and Oura entering medical territory
Apple's FDA-cleared AFib history feature (2024) and sleep apnoea detection (rolled out late 2024 on Watch Series 10 and Ultra 2) are pushing consumer wearables into regulated medical use cases. Oura's 2024 FDA-cleared heart-rhythm features signal the same direction.
Corporate wellness consolidation
Wellhub IPO (July 2024), Virgin Pulse + HealthComp merger to form Personify Health (2023) and ClassPass + Mindbody integration have left three scale platforms in corporate wellness. Standalone wellness point solutions are losing access to the largest employer accounts.
Strength training and longevity push
Longevity-focused content and protocols (Peter Attia, Andrew Huberman audience) are driving strength training and recovery tooling. Tonal, Whoop and Oura aimed product roadmaps at this audience through 2024-25; brand pricing has held even as broad fitness app pricing has compressed.
Lululemon Mirror shutdown and partner reality check
Lululemon discontinued its Mirror connected-fitness product in 2023, four years after the $500M acquisition. Beachbody renamed to BODi and pivoted off connected hardware in 2023. The lesson - content-first acquirers have not made connected fitness work as a side bet.
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