HealthTech

础蝉听颁翱痴滨顿-19听sequestered children across the nation in their homes, they 鈥� and a good many of their parents and guardians 鈥� turned to YouTube for their exercise听fix.听

The pandemic would听make听The Body Coach YouTube star Joe Wicks听into听a household name.听But thousands of听other听health听and fitness instructors were perhaps less听chipper about the situation.听

Last autumn, around the time Wicks was awarded an MBE for services to health and charity,听Daniel Stott听founded his start-up business, Class-ify, to听hand听these professionals 鈥撎�unable to see clients听face-to-face听鈥撎�with听a听revenue lifeline.听

鈥淐濒补蝉蝉-ify is a platform which enables independent fitness and wellness instructors to build their own online business through live and on-demand classes,鈥� Stott (below) tells 老九品茶Cloud.听

鈥淲e provide the tech, but we also deliver the business and marketing support required for them to grow their revenue.鈥澨�听

Daniel Stott, Class-ify

Class-ify, which听launched in November,听allows independent instructors to monetise their audience without having to invest capital into the development of their own website or app.听

鈥�Our sole goal is to help every instructor around the world pivot their business online as the world moves that way,鈥� Stott explains.听

鈥淓ach instructor has their own landing page, where their members can easily log in and join their live class directly from the instructor鈥檚 page, so there is no need for Zoom links or emails invitations.听听

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鈥淎s soon as the class is over, the recording automatically saves into the instructor鈥檚 on-demand library for their members to play back if they miss the live class.听听

鈥淲e also handle all payments and provide the instructor with a dashboard to manage their business, making everything as easy as can be to run a successful online fitness business, with everything in one place.鈥�听

Employing 12听full-time听remote听staff听around Europe, including its three co-founders, Class-ify听had a novel approach to attracting instructors to the platform:听the first 100 trainers to partner with it are also being awarded shares in the business.听

鈥淲e want our instructors to feel part of the fabric of Class-ify. We are building this business for instructors, so it made sense to reward them in this way and, technically, make 100 of them our bosses in the process,鈥� Stott says.听听

鈥�We wouldn’t be where we are now without the support of the founding 100.鈥�听

It surpassed that number at the end of March.听

While the London firm鈥檚 focus is on the English-speaking market, the trainers are based in more than 10 countries while the firm has more than 1,000 paying members in 33 countries.

鈥淲e just raised 拢350k in an angel round of funding. We had bootstrapped the business until that point,鈥� says Stott, a former sales manager and director at JustEat and technology-focused care firm Elder.听听

鈥�Given the speed of growth and traction, we are likely to kick off the next round of funding, which could be Seed/series A, in the next couple of months, with a view to close that next round by late summer.听听

鈥淎s a founding team, we have been down this road a few times already in our careers and have the fundraising map clearly laid out, but with plenty of flex of course as you never know what’s around the corner.鈥�听

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