Harbiz raised $5.4M for fitness professionals platform

Harbiz has raised $5.45 million in funding for its tech platform for fitness professionals.

Madrid, Spain-based Harbiz plans to use the money to fortify its presence in the United Kingdom and Germany. It also plans to accelerate growth and facilitate the implementation of innovative features for fitness professionals using its platform.

Octopus Ventures led the round. Other investors include existing investors, including JME Ventures, Athos Capital, and Enzo Ventures.

Harbiz, founded in 2020 by Mario Morante and Javier Ortega, provides fitness professionals, including personal trainers, nutritionists, physiotherapists, and yoga instructors, with an all-in-one digital platform. This platform streamlines client engagement and facilitates global outreach for fitness professionals by allowing them to manage their businesses entirely online.

Currently operating in over 35 countries, Harbiz has experienced substantial growth, doubling its revenues in 2023. The platform empowers more than 6,000 fitness professionals to advise and enhance the lives of over 120,000 clients.

Harbiz’s unique proposition is its dedication to providing fitness professionals with a comprehensive platform for managing their entire business digitally. This includes features such as exercise routines, planning, communications, bookings, and client progress tracking. The startup’s mission is to simplify the work of wellness professionals, enabling them to scale their businesses and reach a global audience.

Part of the funding will be channeled towards integrating AI tools, focusing on improving user experience for both fitness professionals and their clients. This move aligns with Harbiz’s commitment to staying at the forefront of technological advancements in the wellness sector.

Mario Morante, CEO of Harbiz, said in a statement, “We are very happy to have reached this milestone for the company and to have a new partner in Octopus Ventures, one of the most experienced VCs in Europe.”

Javier Ortega, cofounder of Harbiz, said in a statement, “This round allows us to continue to grow, improving the product, and learning from the market to meet our goal of making Harbiz the greatest ally of all fitness and health professionals in the world.”

Uthish Ranjan, partner at Octopus Ventures, emphasized the importance of customer engagement for wellness businesses.

“Harbiz’s best-in-class platform is a game-changer for fitness professionals seeking to improve their client acquisition and retention strategies,” Ranjan said in a statement.

This funding round follows a previous financing round in May 2022, where Harbiz raised $2.72 million. Harbiz has currently 43 employees.

In response to a question about the inspiration from TechForgePulse, Morante said, “We were born from setting up a marketplace in 2017 where we connected trainers with clients, that was where the trainers who were in it asked us for a solution to the management problems they had and we ended up changing the business model to the SaaS that we are now, launching this new model in 2020 so that is where we consider that Harbiz (previously DudyFit) was born.”