iFIT Health & Fitness Inc., Logan, Utah, has acquired Sweat, a platform for women's health and fitness, the company announced on July 13. The acquisition comes as the Wall Street Journal reports that iFIT is working toward an initial public offering (IPO) this fall.
iFIT declined to comment to Club Industry on the report of an IPO, but the Journal reported that some people familiar with the plans shared that the company had confidentially filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which companies must do for an IPO.
iFIT, known as ICON Health & Fitness until a renaming in June to iFIT Health & Fitness, owns Freemotion from iFIT, NordicTrack from iFIT and ProForm from iFIT.
In its most recent round of funding in late 2020, the company was valued at more than $7 billion, according to the Journal.
The Journal also reported that iFIT paid around $300 million for Sweat, although iFIT declined to disclose financial details.
Sweat, which was founded in 2015 by Kayla Itsines and CEO Tobi Pearce, will remain a standalone brand as part of iFIT. Itsines and Pearce will continue to lead the Sweat business in their existing roles, with the company remaining headquartered in Adelaide, Australia.
The Sweat platform offers more than 5,000 unique workouts across 26 exercise programs ranging from high-intensity interval training and strength to yoga, barre and Pilates.
iFIT plans to strengthen the Sweat member experience, build brand presence in key international markets, and grow and diversify content offerings, including the introduction of cardio-based and equipment workouts in the coming months.
The acquisition will also provide opportunities for iFIT and Sweat to collaborate on content development, resulting in an increased range of fitness experiences, according to the company. iFIT plans to support job growth in the Sweat business over the near- and long-term across product, engineering, marketing and content divisions.
“The addition of Sweat will allow iFIT to further expand our membership base as well as add new fitness genres and modalities to our fast-growing subscription business, giving our company a tremendous competitive advantage,” Scott Watterson, CEO and founder of iFIT, said in the announcement.
Itsines said the acquisition represented a new chapter in the company’s history.
“Sweat has had an incredible journey from our humble beginnings training women one-on-one in my Adelaide backyard to launching the Sweat App in 2015 to now joining the iFIT family,” Itsines said. “Sweat was founded on our simple belief that fitness can genuinely help women improve their confidence, health and quality of life. Through iFIT’s strategic leadership, we will be able to create new world class fitness content and product experiences to support more women on their fitness path forward.”