Sue Bird is plenty busy these days, trying to guide the Seattle Storm to their fifth WNBA championship and getting set to chase her fifth Olympic gold medal as a member of Team USA. Along the way, the basketball great is throwing her support behind another tech gadget, making a pitch for smart home fitness trainer Tonal and investing in the startup. A new 30-second ad from the brand (above) is set to air before the opening of the Tokyo Olympics on Friday. Bird is shown working out on Tonal’s digital weight system and in a voiceover says, “I’ve redefined… Read More
Seattle startup Katalyst has raised $5.6 million for an at-home workout experience that uses full-body electrical muscle stimulation (EMS), a training technique that’s popular in countries such as Germany, Japan and Brazil. The round was led by London-based investor Octopus Ventures, whose partner Jo Oliver sits on the startup’s board. Katalyst’s business model is similar Peloton, the maker of virtual spin classes and fancy stationary bikes that went public in September. Like Peloton, Katalyst will sell high-end hardware and a subscription to on-demand virtual workouts. But instead of guiding you on a bike ride, Katalyst will gently electrocute your muscles… Read More
Two Microsoft veterans are building apps to help people put down their mobile devices and engage with others in the real world through sports. Seattle-based Mavengo, which launched in 2016, helps sports enthusiasts find and communicate with other players and set up games and matches. The software uses artificial intelligence to manage the monotonous task of organizing and scheduling games and re-matching the winners and losers. Co-founder and CEO Imran Aziz calls it a “personal assistant for sports.” The startup last year raised $400,000 and has been testing an initial version of its app for squash players at three Seattle-area… Read More
After two hours of pickup basketball the previous evening, I woke up on Friday morning last week feeling pretty sore. It was the perfect segue into my next story assignment: trying out Stretch 22, a new Seattle startup that promises to make you feel better with “stretch therapy.” Indeed, after a 25-minute lower body session with Stretch 22 co-founder Ja’Warren Hooker, I felt a little looser, a little lighter, and ready to ball out again. But are these new stretch studios, part of what The New York Times described last year as the “next fitness fad,” worth the cost? At least one big… Read More
Volt Athletics is teaming up with one of the biggest names in sports business. The Seattle startup today announced a new partnership with Gatorade and will rename its strength and conditioning consumer app to “Volt Fueled by Gatorade.” The revamped app combines Volt’s “intelligent” workout technology with Gatorade’s sports nutrition expertise, offering a more complete digital fitness guide for athletes. It’s a milestone deal for Volt, which has more than 100,000 users across 120 countries on its platform that launched in 2013. Volt CEO and co-founder Dan Giuliani called it “a truly unique offering in the fitness app space” and said… Read More
