Future, a digital fitness coaching service, has raised $75 million in Series C funding, bringing its total funding to date to more than $110 million, the company announced on Feb. 3.
The round was led by SC.Holdings and Trustbridge Partners, with participation from existing investor Kleiner Perkins; actress and Fabletics co-founder Kate Hudson; actor and podcast host Oliver Hudson; five-time Pro Bowler J.J. Watt; four-time golf major champion Rory McIlroy and Symphony Ventures; Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman's Thirty Five Ventures; Optum Ventures; Endeavor; and Harris Blitzer Entertainment, owner of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils.
This new round of capital will allow Future to accelerate its marketing efforts and product development, expand into other categories of health coaching, and surpass $100 million ARR by early 2023, the company said. Future will continue growing its team of full-time fitness trainers, the majority of whom have trained professional athletes or Olympians.
Members of Future have unlimited access to their coach, trading an average of four text messages per day. This constant support and guidance have helped Future garner a net promoter score of 90.
As part of the funding round, Future will partner with Kate and Oliver Hudson — who created and host the podcast Sibling Revelry — to produce, co-host and distribute a six-episode series for Future across major podcast platforms.
“Fitness and wellness have been passions of mine for years and are at the heart of everything I’m doing with my businesses,” Kate Hudson said in the announcement. “This relationship is a natural extension for me and for what Oliver and I have built with Sibling Revelry.”
Watt said that quality coaching and consistency are the two keys to success in fitness.
“The day has finally come where professional athletes aren’t the only ones with access to quality coaching,” said Watt, who will also act as an advisor to CEO Rishi Mandal.
The $149-per-month service matches each member with a fitness coach who creates interactive workout programs using the Future app, tracks the member's progress via an Apple Watch and communicates daily via text message to keep them on track. Future’s coaches manage each member's fitness across all of their fitness activities, at home or on-the-go, building a regimen that can incorporate a wide mix of at-home equipment, outdoor activities, gyms, group fitness classes and more.
Future was co-founded by Google and NASA alum Rishi Mandal and former Apple engineer Justin Santamaria, who led engineering on FaceTime and iMessage.
“Future puts a real human expert into your life every single day, who takes care of the planning and accountability that keeps you consistently active," Mandal said. "The average American only talks to their doctor maybe three or four times each year, but the average Future member talks to an expert four times every day. This is the highest-touch consumer health product on the planet, and we plan to expand our coaching beyond fitness, into more domains."