"Kry Fitness" continues to pay attention to all the latest brand trends and content information related to sports and fitness, and witness the development of the sports and leisure industry in the times.
One-week big event
Nike NRC App will stop service in mainland China
According to the " Wall Street Journal ", Nike's running application Nike Running Club (hereinafter referred to as NRC), has issued a notice of service suspension, stating that due to business adjustments, the NRC APP will stop service in mainland China from July 8, 2022.
NRC stated in the notice that data export services will be provided to runners in need from now on, and Garmin's sports equipment will stop data synchronization with the NRC APP from now on.
Nike said that this is a decision made by the company after a new round of evaluation of the Chinese market. Nike plans to provide better localized services to Chinese runners in the future. In addition, Nike also recommends that users use the Nike mini program Nike Training Club on WeChat instead. This mini program provides tutorial videos for indoor sports and records the time users use these tutorials.
Image source: nike
NRC is one of the earliest related applications in China, and can provide users with relevant training courses and daily running records. Since the launch of NRC, there have been more than 8 million registered users in China. Users can use the app to record exercise, including outdoor jogging routes, running time, and exercise duration.
In fact, NRC is at a disadvantage in competition with Chinese local rivals such as Keep, Yuepao (Joyrun), Gudong (Codoon), and these applications have much more users than Nike. Another running app under Adidas, Runtastic, retired from the Chinese market last year because it failed to cater to local users.
As one of China's largest sportswear brands, Nike is currently being caught up by local brands such as Anta . According to the latest financial reports available, the Greater China market was the only region where Nike's sales fell year-on-year in the third quarter ended in February. Greater China sales fell 5% to $2.16 billion in the third quarter.
Nike said: "We are building an ecosystem for the Chinese market in China, specifically catering to the unique consumer needs of the region to better serve athletes."
New trend in fitness
Entertainment celebrities with good figures can motivate fitness
Celebrities are often regarded as role models, especially when it comes to the fitness field. People have been looking for fitness incentives from their favorite celebrities on TV, magazines and social media. At the same time, many celebrities and KOLs will also share their exercise methods online.
Recently, the British gym chain PureGym released a new survey that reveals celebrities who can give most people the motivation to exercise.
Thor, Chris Hemsworth, played by Thor, has become the most leading celebrity in fitness with high search volumes in arms, abs, legs and chests. In addition, the fitness dynamics of this actor often share with fitness coaches have also inspired many people.
Chris Hemsworth
Among the top ten male celebrities who can inspire people to exercise, only one is a sports star, and many others have played superheroes in the Marvel Universe. Here is a specific list:
Thor Thor played Chris Hemsworth; The Rock Dwayne Johnson; Superman played Henry Cavill; former California Arnold Schwarzenegger; Captain America played Chris Evans; Black Panther cousin played Michael B.Jordan; Jason, who looks similar to Guo Da Statham; American football athlete Aaron Donald; Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds and "Youth" actor Zac Efron.
The combination of actresses, models and singers constitutes the top ten female celebrities who can inspire people to exercise the most. Here is a specific list:
American model Kendall Jenner; socialite Kim Kardashian; captain Marvel actor Brie Larson; socialite Khloe Kardashian; singer Jennifer Lopez; Israeli actress Gal Gadot; socialite Kylie Jenner; model Bella Hadid; singer Ariana Grande and singer-actor Scarlett Johansson.
The primary purpose of exercise is to improve mental state
According to HCM, recently, the John W Brick Mental Health Foundation released a report called "Move Your Mental Health", which pointed out that the COVID-19 epidemic has escalated the mental health crisis - people's mental health has dropped sharply around the world. About 1/5 of American adults suffer from mental health problems, while this number is 1/6 in Europe. The first step to change is to encourage people with mental health issues to exercise — going outdoors for a walk, cycling, or participating in sports activities with a group of people, while relationships established in the fitness community can also fight anxiety, depression and loneliness.
While improving mental health, in the long run, improving physical activity levels can reduce the medical burden. Research shows that if more people exercise regularly, the world can save billions of medical expenses every year.
The report stressed that respondents said the primary reason they exercise was to feel better mentally.
Brand Dynamics
Fitness function login to iOS 16
Recently, at the WWDC22 press conference, Apple announced a message that starting from iOS 16, iPhone users can use the Fitness fitness program without Apple Watch. The
program will use the iPhone's motion sensor to track the user's steps, activity distance and third-party physical training data, and provide calorie estimates. Like the Apple Watch, there is also a fitness record circle display, allowing users to understand the daily activity goals.
Source: Apple
China Mobile releases 5G national fitness channel
Recently, the National Sports Administration Group Department and China Mobile jointly held a national fitness cloud exchange activity. At the event, China Mobile officially released the 5G national fitness channel, launching the "National Hot Practice" online fitness content area on Mobaihe and Migu Video platforms.
As the event dissemination base of the General Administration's "National Fitness Online Sports Games", China Mobile's 5G National Fitness Channel has obtained nearly 2,000 hours of online fitness course resources authorized by the General Administration of Sports. It has and will continue to produce more than 20 sets of Olympic champion fitness courses led by the "5G Ice and Snow Team" Gu Ailing , Xu Mengtao , and Wu Dajing .
China Mobile also cooperates with fitness celebrities such as Pamela , Zheng Duoyan , Zhou Liuye, and other international head copyrights, Laimi, UFC. The content covers 15 fitness sections including aerobic training, dance, yoga, strength shaping, etc., providing more than 3,600 hours of selected fitness content and 5,000 "exercise + diet" guidance courses.
Source: China Mobile
In addition, China Mobile will empower 5G technology to create a new fitness experience, with Metauniverse Digital Homo sapiens fitness coach, ultra-high-definition picture quality, AI interactive fitness courses, and seamless coverage of large and small screens. China Mobile will continue to give full play to its advantages in sports events operation, further extend it to the field of national fitness, gather advantageous resources, and actively carry out the "National Hot Training" online fitness content operation promotion.
In the future, China Mobile will carry out many theme operations in combination with social hot spots. Among them, on August 8, " National Fitness Day ", online running competitions, digital cycling competitions and other activities will be planned.
American fitness celebrity Xiao Ma Ge starts the fitness premiere on Xiaohongshu
According to the official news of Xiaohongshu , recently, American fitness blogger @ Xiaoma Ge Fitness Marshall premiered domestic fitness on Xiaohongshu on June 11. It is reported that Xiao Ma Ge is the second foreign sports and fitness super IP to join Xiaohongshu in addition to Pamela.
Source: Xiaohongshu
Xiaoma Ge’s real name is Caleb Marshall, and he is the founder of the American fitness brand The Fitness Marshall. In 2014, Xiao Ma Ge opened a personal channel on Youtube and released original fitness dance videos. The content is known for fat-burning dance. The teaching videos are played 400 million, and the average number of views per video is as high as more than 20 million. In addition, Xiao Ma Ge also founded his own sportswear brand Active Booty.
At present, Xiao Ma Ge has enjoyed a certain popularity in China. He has more than one million fans in Xiaohongshu and Youtube. Among all major social platforms, fans spontaneously carry and recommend his video content.
Super Orangutan launches immersive fitness course
According to the official news of Super Orangutan, recently, Super Orangutan launched the original immersive fitness course "Super Ape Screen", which creates a full-dimensional immersive fitness experience of "film, television, sound and light" through panoramic large screen, lighting and three-dimensional sound effects.
Super Ape Drama Screen Classroom was first completed in the Hengyu Xiangyueli Store in Shenzhen. The first courses include five major series: fun fat burning, vitality shaping, fusion of martial arts, static rejuvenation, and dance.
Grndhouse launches new app
According to HCM, recently, British strength training startup Grndhouse announced the launch of a brand new mobile app. The app took 18 months of research and development and could recommend training programs suitable for users to form a training database. The founder of
Grndhouse said that when the number of people in the community reaches a certain number, artificial intelligence technology will be introduced, and the App will recommend training programs suitable for their physical and training conditions to users, thereby creating a user-centered training library. At the same time, heart rate monitoring technology will also be introduced to better help users make new training progress.
Source: Grndhouse
Grndhouse is a fitness company founded by former coach Louis Lennox, a British Barry Training Camp, and successfully attracted 1,000 members in the first 4 weeks, and received a total of 1.5 million investments from Passion Capital and others 10 months after the company was established.
In addition, the company plans to raise more funds this summer, enter the U.S. market and launch a second center that will provide a hands-on experience and be used as a shooting location. The rest of Europe is also the goal of Grndhouse.
Snap Fitness and Apple Watch launch reward plan
According to Club industry, recently, gym chain brand Snap Fitness announced that it will jointly launch the "Earn Your Apple Watch" plan in the United States, Canada, Australia and other places.
This program requires Snap Fitness members to connect to Apple Watch when they are exercising in the Snap Fitness gym. The Snap app will integrate the "Earn Your Apple Watch" program into the user interface, so that members can track exercises and user visits through the Snap app to earn points.
users can get enough points (equivalent to the value of a $199 Apple Watch) within 24 months, which can be used as a membership discount for the gym.
Source: Snap Fitness
The company said that this cooperation shows that Snap Fitness attaches importance to and supports members in developing healthy living habits. Currently, Snap Fitness has stores in more than 20 countries around the world, with more than 640 chain stores in the United States and Canada, 85 chain stores in the United Kingdom, and more than 300 chain stores in the Asia-Pacific region.
leasing company Enjoying enters the fitness industry
According to cmd sports, recently, leasing specialist Gedesco entered the fitness field through its sub-brand Enjoying, aiming to provide necessary support for the mechanical transformation of gyms and fitness clubs .
The company provides fitness equipment rental services, which, according to the company, can help gyms “adopt the latest technology on the market without making large initial spending.”
brand financing
EQLZ INC. completed nearly 10 million US dollars in Pre-A round financing
According to 36Kr , sports technology company EQLZ INC. recently completed more than 10 million US dollars in Pre-A round financing. This round is exclusively invested by Richu Capital, with WeVest serving as the exclusive financial advisor.
EQLZ INC. owns basketball culture brand EQUALIZER® and new sneaker brand EQLZ®.This round of financing will continue to be used in sneaker technology research and development, product innovation, supply chain upgrade and brand ecological construction.
Image Source: EQLZ INC.
EQUALIZER® has created a series of contents and events with the world's top street basketball league "DYCKMAN". The original documentary "Making something out of nothing" created by this has formed a series of contents and events with community culture as the core, forming an influence from basketball to a wider group of young people.
founding team said that EQUALIZER® currently has nearly one million active users aged 15-25, mainly distributed in super first-tier and first-tier cities. In September 2021, the brand opened its first social group concept store in Taikoo Li, Qiantan, Shanghai.
Wutong Sports received a round A financing of tens of millions of yuan
According to 36Kr, recently, basketball youth training institution Wutong Sports received a round A financing of tens of millions of yuan, and the investor was Guotou Chuangfeng. This round of financing will be mainly used for the development of management systems, brand building, company talent building and regional expansion.
Wutong Sports is a sports comprehensive service operation group covering basketball training, sports venue operation, comprehensive event services, and sports technology empowerment. Wuwei Basketball, which focuses on youth basketball courses for aged 3-16, has opened campuses in Sichuan, Shanghai, Chongqing, Kunming, Wuxi , etc. There are more than 60 direct self-built campuses nationwide, with more than 20,000 students.
In 2019, Wutong Sports established the fast attack basketball commune, a competition-level hardware chain venue brand. At present, the number of operating venues nationwide has exceeded 20.
Source: Wutong Sports
Kickoff received $7 million in investment
According to palco23, recently, fitness service platform Kickoff received $7 million in investment. This round of investment was led by 645 Capital and followed by FJ lab, Expa, per Axios. So far, Kickoff has received a level of tens of millions of investment.
Kickoff will continue to optimize digital teaching, help members get a better user experience from three aspects: access, price and explanation, and is committed to strengthening the connection between coaches and members.
Kickoff was founded in 2019 and is a company that provides members with private customized training programs, dietary programs and lifestyle guidance. Through consulting services and technical means, the platform can match users with appropriate coaches based on the user's own training goals, schedules and training experience.
“We take a modern and economical approach in the fitness field to eliminate negative emotions and provide fitness opportunities 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,” the company’s website claims.
Tripp completed a $11.2 million financing
It is reported that the meditation meta-universe application Tripp announced that it had completed a $11.2 million financing, and this round of financing Bitkraft Ventures, Amazon Alexa Fund, Qualcomm (Qualcomm), HTC, Niantic and Mayfield participated in the investment.
financing will develop augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mobile applications in Tripp to meet users' mental health care needs. It is reported that Tripp recently announced the acquisition of BeardedEye's virtual world construction platform Eden, aiming to build a safe, community-driven experience in the metaverse.
Source: Tripp
Playfit raises CAD 2.5 million
Headquartered in Montreal IntelliSports has raised CAD 2.5 million in seed funds for its gamified fitness application PlayFit. This round of financing will be used for talent construction.
This round of financing was led by Angels Québec, with Canadian athlete Laurent Duvernay Tardif, Vrvana founder Bertrand Nepveu, Imagineactive.org founder Charles Bombardier, investment group IC Excellence Ventures Inc. and other angel investor participated in the financing.
Source: PlayFith
IntelliSports Founded by Jonathan Guillemette and John Morris in 2016, it uses artificial intelligence and sports analysis to develop game technology. The company currently has two products: PlayFit and Klutch Curling.
The company said PlayFit has gained about 214,000 users since its debut in 2019. Using gamification and machine learning, PlayFit is a body-neutral (non-active) exercise platform that tracks individual exercises per user.
Nextiles received $5 million in financing
Recently, smart fabric technology company Nextiles announced that it had received $5 million in seed financing, led by DraftKings, with NBA and Madison Square Garden Sports Company participating. The financing will be used to develop its threaded fabric with sensors to provide more direct performance data for professional athletes and everyday fitness workers.
It is reported that Nextiles is committed to using flexible electronic devices to create ultra-sensitive smart fabrics that can be sewn into compressed equipment or sportswear. Aggregate real-time data through Bluetooth, wearable movements of athletes, and measure raw power. And provide 3D motion capture data.
Source: Nextiles
Nextiles was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Brooklyn, USA. It is a fabric company that produces flexible sensors embedded in it and is a leader in smart fabric technology. Its elbow pads, knee pads, socks and other products can help track tennis and baseball players' athletic performance and health indicators.
Let's Do This received a $60 million financing
Recently, British digital fitness company Let's Do This has raised $60 million in Series B financing, led by Craft Ventures and Headline. Other participants were EQT, NFX and Y Combinator, and Morpheus Ventures. Celebrities also include Serena Williams , Usain Bolt , etc.
new funding will be used to increase the company's global employee base from 85 to 150, and to open an office focused on product development in , Colorado .
Let's Do This was founded by Alex Rose and Sam Browne in 2016 to help amateur athletes match running, triathlon, cycling, swimming and other endurance events. Its algorithm analyzes data from third-party fitness tracking apps, game history and social relationships to provide personalized advice to help its 5 million users find activities that appeal to them.
(Except for separate labels, the remaining pictures and screenshots of the article are from the company or official content published.)
