FitQ Studio OÜ, an Estonian startup that develops software for personal trainers, acquired Gymwolf OÜ, a company that has been operating in the same field for about a decade.
Gymwolf is a platform with more than 25,000 users, which allows gym-goers to keep a workout log and enables personal trainers to create and sell workout plans to people who want to improve their fitness, track their progress, and receive user feedback.
The transaction took the form of a share swap, in which FitQ Studio OÜ acquired Gymwolf OÜ, and Gymwolf OÜ’s existing shareholders joined FitQ’s shareholder base.
The shareholders commented
“Gymwolf has developed an exceptionally powerful back-end solution for managing workout logs and plans, which has been refined based on user feedback for over a decade. Our development plan was to create such capabilities for the trainers using our platform, and with this agreement, we’ve accelerated the product’s time to market by at least a year,” said Marti Soosaar, CEO of FitQ Studio, assessing the newly launched collaboration.
Indrek Ulst, the creator of Gymwolf, CTO of the software development company Mooncascade, and a recreational athlete, commented on the reasons why Gymwolf did not become a unicorn on its own, saying: “There is strength in collaboration. We launched Gymwolf in 2011 as a simple gym workout log. Over the years, new features and mobile apps were continuously added. In 2018–2019, we decided to take the project more seriously and build a tool that would allow trainers to create workout plans and manage their clients. Our small team invested a significant number of hours into developing the product with the goal of launching it in 2020. Unfortunately, gyms closed for an extended period right then, our team’s focus shifted to other projects, and our motivation to work on this product waned. However, the passion for sports remains in our hearts, and I believe that as we move forward with FitQ Studio, we’ll be able to find a new outlet for the solutions we’ve created for Gymwolf so far and take them to the next level.”
Vision for the Future
Marti Soosaar promised that the plan is to integrate the products by fall 2023 and added that Gymwolf, as a platform, will create yet another very trendy opportunity. Specifically, AI will be able to offer well-structured and analyzable workout plans just like a human trainer. “Whether and when AI will take over the grunt work of creating workout plans, leaving personal trainers with nothing but a cheerleading role—well, we’ll see that within the next 3–5 years,” Soosaar mused.
FitQ Studio OÜ is a software platform for personal trainers and home exercisers that grew out of the Stebby OÜ ecosystem during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
