French health wearables firm Withings today announced that it has acquired 8fit, makers of the workout/meal planning app of the same name. The news comes as hardware makers ranging from Apple and Samsung to Peloton and Mirror are taking an increasingly content-forward approach to the fitness space.
Berlin-based 8fit launched in 2014, growing into a full-service offering for fitness that includes everything from workouts like HIIT and boxing to yoga and meditation to recipes. The firm has raised $10 million to date, including a $7 million Series A in 2017. When we last checked in with the company back then, we reported noted they were already generating more than $1 million in monthly revenue, courtesy of subscription plans.
The play is a pretty obvious one for Withings, which has been building out a health hardware suite with a range of products from smartwatches to scales to fitness trackers. With 8fit, the company adds an important layer of content to its offerings, while building out an additional revenue stream that exists well beyond the initial hardware purchase.
“We now feel it’s key to enter the era of the ‘product-service-data,’ combining personal health data with personalized wellness plans, and further deliver on our mission to empower anyone to be healthier in the long-run,” Withings CEO Mathieu Letombe said in a release. “With the acquisition of 8fit, we are well placed to deliver a strategy that combines elegantly designed health devices, enhanced health data and experienced advice that is simple to adopt and designed specifically for our customers.”
The acquisition will find the company integrating 8fit’s offerings into its existing software suite, offering actionable insights based on the wealth of data the company’s devices collect. The company said it plans to invest an additional $30 million into building out its connected fitness offerings.
