Vancouver’s Train Fitness secures pre-seed funding to transform workout tracking
The company announced today a USD $540,000 fundraising round.
Quite fittingly, things have been moving quickly of late for Train Fitness. The Vancouver-based company that bills itself as the “world’s first app that can detect exercises and track reps” officially launched on the Apple Store in September, a month before it grabbed second place at the New Ventures BC Competition.
The company isn’t taking a rest day just yet, it seems. Today, Train Fitness co-founders Andrew Just and Antoine Neidecker announced a USD $540,000 pre-seed fundraising round led by Vienna’s Calm/Storm Ventures. The investment brings the total amount raised by the company to just over $800,000.
Why it matters: The Train Fitness app uses the motion of a user’s smart watch to detect an exercise and count reps. The company’s solution is the first to market that focuses exclusively on the power of wearables, eliminating the need to film yourself for form correction or exercise tracking. Currently, the app’s AI technology can identify 82 exercises, from free weight movements like pushups and pullups to more traditional lifts like bench press and squats.
Just and Neidecker hope that Train can do for strength training what brands like Strava, Zwift and Peloton have done for the cardio space.
“Manually tracking a strength workout is a terrible experience. It’s so cumbersome and frustrating the vast majority of us just don’t bother with it. That’s what we set out to change with Train,” says Just in a release. “Once you begin your workout with Train, there’s really nothing to do but focus on your session. In an age when everything is getting more complicated, Train is giving time and energy back to our users when they need it most.”
Future goals: According to Just, Train Fitness’ user base is doubling every month as it nears the 10,000 downloads mark. The eventual plan includes support for Android, as well as adding anaerobic activities like yoga and boxing to the platform.