Estonian startup FitQ Studio OÜ, which develops software for personal trainers, has acquired Gymwolf OÜ, a company that has operated in the same industry for around a decade.
Gymwolf is a platform with more than 25,000 users. It allows people to keep a log of their gym workouts, while personal trainers can create and sell workout plans to people looking to improve their fitness, track how they follow those plans and receive user feedback.
The transaction was structured as a share swap, with FitQ Studio OÜ acquiring Gymwolf OÜ and Gymwolf OÜ’s existing shareholders joining FitQ’s shareholder base.
Comments from the shareholders
“Gymwolf has developed an exceptionally powerful backend solution for managing workout logs and plans, refined through user feedback for more than ten years. Our development roadmap included building this capability for trainers using our platform, and this agreement has shortened the product’s time to market by at least a year,” said FitQ Studio CEO Marti Soosaar, commenting on the newly launched partnership.
Gymwolf founder, Mooncascade CTO and recreational athlete Indrek Ulst explained why Gymwolf did not become a unicorn on its own: “There is strength in collaboration. We launched Gymwolf in 2011 as a simple gym workout log. Over the years, we continued to add new features and mobile apps. In 2018-2019, we decided to pursue the project more seriously and build a tool that would allow trainers to create workout plans and manage their clients. With a small team, we invested a substantial number of working hours in developing the product with the aim of launching it in 2020. Unfortunately, that was exactly when gyms closed for an extended period, our team’s focus shifted to other projects and our motivation to keep working on the product declined. However, our passion for sport remains strong, and I believe that by moving forward with FitQ Studio, we can find a new outlet for the solutions already developed for Gymwolf and take the product to the next level.”
Vision for the future
Marti Soosaar said that the plan was to integrate the products by autumn 2023, adding that Gymwolf as a platform also enables one highly topical feature. AI can serve as a trainer too, offering its own workout plans in a well-structured, analyzable format. “Whether and when AI will take over the grunt work of creating workout plans, leaving personal trainers with only the role of cheerleader, remains to be seen over the next 3-5 years,” Soosaar reflected.
FitQ Studio OÜ is a software platform for personal trainers and people who work out at home. It grew out of the Stebby OÜ platform during the COVID year of 2020.
