Connected Fitness Startup Hydrow Expands Series A To $27M

Hydrow, a connected indoor rowing machine startup, said today it has expanded its Series A, taking the round’s total to $27 million.

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Hydrow began selling its product, which shares the same name as the company, last fall. L Catteron initially led the first tranche of the Series A in February, at which time Hydrow raised $20 million, according to its Crunchbase profile. It has now raised another $7 million from investors including Rx3 Ventures, which was co-founded by Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers; Wheelhouse; The Raptor Group and The Yard Ventures.

In a press release, Hydrow said it plans to use the new capital to “further fuel” its growth as it begins shipping its connected indoor rowing machines nationwide.

Nate Raabe, managing partner at Rx3 Ventures, in a press release said his firm was impressed with Hydrow’s “ability to connect people and deliver a superior, low-impact workout.”

The global digital fitness market is projected to be worth $27 billion by 2022. Indeed, we have written about a number of digital fitness startups that have raised venture funds as of late. Just this morning, we published a story about how Glofox, which sells software to boutique fitness studios, recently picked up a $10 million Series A.  

Last month, we reported on how Tonal raised $45 million in a Series C round led by L Catterton’s growth fund. Evolution Media/CAA, Shasta Ventures, Mayfield, Sapphire Ventures, professional tennis player Serena Williams’ Serena Ventures and other investors also participated in the financing.

And in December, our Savannah Dowling wrote about the most funded fitness startups helping people break a sweat. At that time, according to Crunchbase, the 10 most funded U.S. startups in fitness had raised more than $1.6 billion. The first startup on the list, spin bike and treadmill developer, Peloton, raised a $550 million Series F in early August 2018, which brought its total known funding to more than $994 million and its valuation to $4 billion, post-money.

The funding is also an example of how professional athletes are increasingly investing in startups. For example, in February, digital sports media startup Overtime raised $23 million in a Series B round of funding led by Spark Capital that also included participation from NBA players.

Illustration: Li-Anne Dias

Update: The headline of this article was amended post-publication to more accurately reflect the status of the funding round.