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The Leisure Media Company Ltd | Fit Tech promotion
The Leisure Media Company Ltd | Fit Tech promotion
The Leisure Media Company Ltd | Fit Tech promotion
FIT TECH News

Blok reveals new fund-raise and ambitious growth plan

By
Blok aim to operate 12 clubs by 2026 by opening four new sites in 2023, three in 2024 and two in 2025
CEO, Ed Stanbury, is targeting a £500k raise to finance the development and rollout of an elevated hybrid digital platform
The high-end club has launched a new Crowdcube campaign ahead of a Series A funding round next year
Blok says its profits will grow from -£1.9m this year to £23m in 2026

Blok has launched a fundraising campaign on Crowdcube. The company’s goal is to reach £500,000 – ahead of a possible funding round in 2023.

The investment is earmarked to accelerate the devleopment of Blok's hybrid digial platform and fund the construction of additional clubs in the UK.

The raise is currently only open by private invitation on the Crowdcube platform but will be open to the public in December.

Since launching in 2016, the company has opened three studios – two in London and one in Manchester – as well as launching digital platform, Blok TV.

Founder and CEO Ed Stanbury is now aiming to fast-track the company's physical and digital offering to capitalise on the changing market for high-end hybrid offerings, as the online fitness industry is expected to grow in value from US$16.15bn in 2022 to US$79.87bn in 2026.

Along with introducing a new digital product, Blok is also planning to double its physical footprint across London and the UK over the next two years.

“By leveraging the power of our tech, we can build a far superior and significantly more engaging customer experience than either physical gyms alone or digital platforms could ever offer,” said Stanbury.

In 2018 Blok raised over £891,000 from 571 investors on Crowdcube. It launched another campaign in 2020 raising £457,445 – 182 per cent of its £250,000 target.

In February and March 2022 Blok raised £2.75m of a £3.75m raise in pre-Series A bridge funding, led by ACF Investors, to drive business growth, which included hybrid studios and a digital fitness platform. This round was left open at the time to accommodate the current raise, which is being carried out on the same terms.

Blok’s financials show yearly increases in revenue, with £2.4m this year, £5.3m projected for 2023, £8.4m in 2024 and £23m estimated for 2026. EBITDA has not been disclosed at this time.

As well as VOD (video on demand), virtual studios and live streams – which are offered by competitors in the market – Blok intends to launch two-way live streams, which it claims few fitness brands are currently offering.

Stanbury told HCM the aim is to increase the lifetime value of each customer by driving memberships, with members yielding a lifetime value approaching £3k, versus sums in the £100s for pay-as-you-go, class-pack and Classpass customers.

However, Blok is among Classpass's top operators in Europe and Stanbury says this relationship will also continue.

The company expects to significantly reduce its central overheads and marketing costs as a percentage of revenue by 2026.

Recurring memberships are increasing at a rate of 4.6 per cent per month — with 50 per cent of new members joining as a result of word of mouth. It has a monthly reservation average of 9.6 visits and customer acquisition costs of £56.

Since launching in 2016, the company has recorded 1m in-person bookings, nearly 300,000 digital classes have been taken and over 400 in-person classes are registered each week.

Blok offers workouts and classes around ten disciplines: barre, boxing, yoga, strength, high intensity, dance, Pilates, mobility, restorative and calisthenics.

This story was updated to remove EBITDA, rollout specifics and overhead details at the request of Blok @2 December 2022

See Ed Stanbury's pitch for Blok below:

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FIT TECH News

Blok reveals new fund-raise and ambitious growth plan

By
Blok aim to operate 12 clubs by 2026 by opening four new sites in 2023, three in 2024 and two in 2025
CEO, Ed Stanbury, is targeting a £500k raise to finance the development and rollout of an elevated hybrid digital platform
The high-end club has launched a new Crowdcube campaign ahead of a Series A funding round next year
Blok says its profits will grow from -£1.9m this year to £23m in 2026

Blok has launched a fundraising campaign on Crowdcube. The company’s goal is to reach £500,000 – ahead of a possible funding round in 2023.

The investment is earmarked to accelerate the devleopment of Blok's hybrid digial platform and fund the construction of additional clubs in the UK.

The raise is currently only open by private invitation on the Crowdcube platform but will be open to the public in December.

Since launching in 2016, the company has opened three studios – two in London and one in Manchester – as well as launching digital platform, Blok TV.

Founder and CEO Ed Stanbury is now aiming to fast-track the company's physical and digital offering to capitalise on the changing market for high-end hybrid offerings, as the online fitness industry is expected to grow in value from US$16.15bn in 2022 to US$79.87bn in 2026.

Along with introducing a new digital product, Blok is also planning to double its physical footprint across London and the UK over the next two years.

“By leveraging the power of our tech, we can build a far superior and significantly more engaging customer experience than either physical gyms alone or digital platforms could ever offer,” said Stanbury.

In 2018 Blok raised over £891,000 from 571 investors on Crowdcube. It launched another campaign in 2020 raising £457,445 – 182 per cent of its £250,000 target.

In February and March 2022 Blok raised £2.75m of a £3.75m raise in pre-Series A bridge funding, led by ACF Investors, to drive business growth, which included hybrid studios and a digital fitness platform. This round was left open at the time to accommodate the current raise, which is being carried out on the same terms.

Blok’s financials show yearly increases in revenue, with £2.4m this year, £5.3m projected for 2023, £8.4m in 2024 and £23m estimated for 2026. EBITDA has not been disclosed at this time.

As well as VOD (video on demand), virtual studios and live streams – which are offered by competitors in the market – Blok intends to launch two-way live streams, which it claims few fitness brands are currently offering.

Stanbury told HCM the aim is to increase the lifetime value of each customer by driving memberships, with members yielding a lifetime value approaching £3k, versus sums in the £100s for pay-as-you-go, class-pack and Classpass customers.

However, Blok is among Classpass's top operators in Europe and Stanbury says this relationship will also continue.

The company expects to significantly reduce its central overheads and marketing costs as a percentage of revenue by 2026.

Recurring memberships are increasing at a rate of 4.6 per cent per month — with 50 per cent of new members joining as a result of word of mouth. It has a monthly reservation average of 9.6 visits and customer acquisition costs of £56.

Since launching in 2016, the company has recorded 1m in-person bookings, nearly 300,000 digital classes have been taken and over 400 in-person classes are registered each week.

Blok offers workouts and classes around ten disciplines: barre, boxing, yoga, strength, high intensity, dance, Pilates, mobility, restorative and calisthenics.

This story was updated to remove EBITDA, rollout specifics and overhead details at the request of Blok @2 December 2022

See Ed Stanbury's pitch for Blok below:

More fit tech news
Atlanta-based boutique fitness software company, Xplor Mariana Tek, has kicked off a push for international expansion. Shannon Tracey, VP of ...
news • 18 Apr 2024
Portugese footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo, has launched a health and wellness app that harmonises advice on fitness, nutrition and mental wellness ...
news • 05 Apr 2024
Egym, has signalled its intention to become a dominant force in the corporate wellness sector with the acquisition of UK-based ...
news • 27 Mar 2024
Egym, which raised €207 million last year in new investment, continues to build its top team with the appointment of ...
news • 21 Mar 2024
The UK government acknowledged in its recent budget that economic recovery depends on the health of the nation, but failed ...
news • 11 Mar 2024
Technogym is launching Checkup, an assessment station which uses AI to personalise training programmes in order to create more effective ...
news • 06 Mar 2024
Norwegian health club operator, Treningshelse Holding, which owns the Aktiv365 and Family Sports Club fitness chains, has acquired fellow Norwegian ...
More HCM news
Fitness On Demand (FOD) has teamed up with Les Mills, to offer an omnichannel fitness solution to operators. Fitness on ...
news • 04 Mar 2024
Samsung has unveiled a smart ring, packed with innovative technologies to aid health and wellbeing, which will be available later ...
news • 29 Feb 2024
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news • 23 Feb 2024
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news • 21 Feb 2024
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news • 19 Feb 2024
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news • 16 Feb 2024
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news • 13 Feb 2024
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news • 07 Feb 2024
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news • 05 Jan 2024
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news • 19 Nov 2023
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