Whoop, the US-based maker of a wearable fitness tracker, received $200m yesterday in a series F led by telecommunications and internet group SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2.
Venture capital firms IVP, Thursday Ventures, Accomplice, Animal Capital and NextView Ventures also featured in the round, as did investment and advisory firm GP Bullhound.
Founded in 2011, Whoop has developed a wearable device that monitors a user’s activity, sleep and recovery along with health indicators like heartbeat and respiratory rate. It also offers a personalised health coach through a subscription membership service.
The round valued Whoop at $3.6bn and it claims it is now the most valuable standalone human performance company in the world, having raised a total of $400m from investors.
Capital will go toward research and development, the acquisition of technology companies and the expansion of the company’s team and product offering. It also aims to have a larger presence in professional sports through Whoop Live, a system that visualises biometric data for audiences.
SoftBank led Whoop’s $100m series E in October 2020 through its Vision Fund 1. The round included IVP, Two Sigma Ventures, Thursday Ventures, NextView Ventures, Accomplice, Promus Ventures, Cavu Ventures, Collaborative Fund and D20 Capital.
A host of individual investors and professional athletes also participated in the October round, including Mike Novogratz, Larry Fitzgerald, Eli Manning, Justin Thomas, Patrick Mahomes, Rory McIlroy and Kevin Durant, the latter through his investment vehicle, Thirty Five Ventures.
The company’s $55m series D round was led by Foundry Group in late 2019 and also featured Accomplice, Two Sigma Ventures, Thursday Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank, Promus Ventures and numerous angel investors.
NFL Players Association, the labour group representing National Football League athletes, participated in a $25m series C round in 2018 that was led by UAE71 Capital and which included Thursday Ventures, Two Sigma Ventures, Accomplice, Mousse Partners, Durant Company, NextView Ventures, Promus Venture and several private investors.
Will Ahmed, founder and chief executive of Whoop, said: “We are thrilled to deepen our partnership with SoftBank as we grow internationally.
“While we have experienced amazing growth in the past year, the potential of our technology and the vast market for health monitoring remains largely untapped.”
