Beyoncé, Jay-Z Invest in the Fitness Industry with Separate Deals with Peloton and CLMBR

Beyoncé, entered into a broad, multi-year partnership with Peloton that celebrates music and creates pro-social initiatives, the company announced recently.

"Peloton and I both believe that the power of music can help uplift, motivate and inspire those on their fitness journeys," Beyoncé said in a media release. "I've been a Peloton member for several years, and I'm excited to partner with a company that helps people, young and old, be the best versions of themselves, in an innovative and adaptable way.

Singer and entertainer Beyoncé is the most requested artist by Peloton's global community of more than 3.6 million members, according to Peloton.

The partnership between Beyoncé and Peloton commemorates homecoming season for students at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Although most of this year's homecoming festivities shifted to virtual celebrations due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, Beyoncé and Peloton created a series of themed workout experiences to help extend homecoming to Peloton members via classes across multiple fitness categories, including indoor cycling, running, strength, bootcamp, yoga and meditation.

They are also gifting two-year Peloton digital memberships to students at 10 HBCUs, providing access to a full library of fitness classes through the Peloton app that can be used with or without equipment. The digital memberships will go to students at Bennett College, Clark Atlanta University, Grambling State University, Hampton University, Howard University, Morehouse College and Morehouse School of Medicine, Spelman College, Texas Southern University, and Wilberforce University, by the end of November. Additionally, Peloton will build on its relationships with each of these schools to pursue long-term recruiting partnerships at both the internship and undergraduate levels.

“I'm proud to celebrate the students at HBCUs with this donation, to encourage them to find and embrace their own wellness regimens," Beyoncé said.

This special content is accessible on the Peloton app, which anyone can try for free via a 30-day trial period, as well as through the Peloton Bike, Bike+ and Tread+. In the coming months, Beyoncé will continue to work with Peloton on various forms of class curation across all workout disciplines, touching on areas of importance to her, including music, movement, fitness and wellness.

In the meantime, Beyoncé’s husband, Jay-Z, who is a Grammy Award-winning artist and co-founder of Marcy Venture Partners (MVP), invested in connected fitness company CLMBR, the company announced. In addition, No. 1 men’s tennis player Novak Djokovic also invested in the company. The investments will support the 2021 launch of CLMBR Connected and CLMBR Pure vertical climbing machines. 

Jay-Z and Djokovic join venture capital and private equity firm KBW-Ventures as well as Marco Borges, who is an exercise physiologist and CEO and founder of 22 Days Nutrition, and Chad Hurley, co-founder and former CEO of YouTube, as members of CLMBR's investment team.

"We are excited to work with Jay-Z and Novak to bring the best modality in fitness to consumers," Avrum Elmakis, founder and CEO of CLMBR, said in the media release. "Unlike bikes, treadmills, and rowers, CLMBR has less impact on the joints while providing the most efficient calorie burn per minute of any machine in the marketplace. CLMBR disrupts the way that people work out and offers something new in a segment that has not seen a lot of meaningful innovation, and I'm excited to share the machine with consumers around the world as we become the leader in the connected fitness market." 

CLMBR is an ergonomic vertical climbing machine. It is the first vertical climber to feature a large-format touch display with on-demand, instructor-led classes. The patent-pending design requires minimal level of required maintenance and features an integrated audio system that can fill an entire room with sound, according to the company. It also offers a companion app to display key metrics, including vertical feet climbed and workout targets reached.