Despite Dragons’ Den No, PumpUp Secures $2.4 Million in Seed Funding
Toronto’s PumpUp today announced the closing of a $2.4 million seed financing round led by General Catalyst Partners. Additional investors included Azure Capital Partners, Relay Ventures, Freycinet Investments, and a number of angel investors.
The funding will be used to accelerate the rapid growth of the PumpUp community, expand the internal team, and further develop the app, which currently has over 1.7 million users.
PumpUp is the social network for those interested in a healthy, active lifestyle. The PumpUp app combines photo sharing, community and fitness tracking, immersing members into a positive community where they can share content around their personal fitness goals, progress, healthy meals, and mental health.
Last year PumpUp appeared on Dragons’ Den but didn’t manage to secure an investment.
The PumpUp team put Dragon Bruce Croxon through a workout but when it was time to ask for $100K for 10% of their company all five dragons cooled off quickly with Arlene Dickinson making her opinion clear asking “What’s a business model in an app?”
Unlike Dickinson, General Catalyst Partners were able to see the business model. “We are thrilled to partner with Phil and Garrett to build a category-defining community in the health and fitness space,” said Niko Bonatsos of General Catalyst Partners.
“Consumers today are looking for inspiration and guidance regarding their physical activity and eating habits without being overwhelmed by a plethora of applications. PumpUp is uniquely positioned as a horizontal platform that provides an open, safe and positive community to engage with compelling health and fitness related content.”