With $2 Million In New Seed Funding, Classtivity Rebrands As ClassPass To Add Variety To Your Workout

ClassPass, an NY-based company focused on bringing value to athletes and local gyms, has today announced a $2 million seed round from an assortment of angel investors, including Fritz Lanman, SV Angel, Hank Vigil, Blake Krikorian, Gordy Crawford, Owen Van Natta, Vivi Nevo & Keith Nowak, Kal Vepuri, and Dave Tisch.

ClassPass originally launched out of TechStars NY as Classtivity, looking to give users an easy, centralized location to figure out which gym classes had available slots, for things like Yoga, spin, etc. Over time, however, the company realized that a pay-per-class model might not be sticky enough for users, which led to the launch of ClassPass.

ClassPass is a monthly $99 payment that lets users go to any class at any gym as part of a monthly subscription. The service integrates from the get-go with the gym’s POS system so that users don’t have to go through any arduous registration process, and vendors already have their new guest’s information when they walk in.

Since its launch, ClassPass has been so successful that the company got rid of the pay-per-class model entirely and re-branded from Classtivity to ClassPass.

The idea behind ClassPass is to throw the traditional model of user discounts on its head. After brick-and-mortar stores have been burned by peaked traffic off of a Groupon or LivingSocial deal, they’re not too keen on trying out the same tactic. But with ClassPass, people who visit the gym become more sticky.

They’ve already paid for more classes, and if the gym gives good service and provides an enjoyable experience, there’s no reason for that user to continue using their ClassPass at that same gym.

“I began teaching my TTL class just a year ago with a small, loyal following,” said Patricia Whitcas, founder of PatriciaFit. “Since becoming a class provider through ClassPass, my classes have been consistently full and/or sold-out with many repeat students, all without any other marketing.”

The service has signed on over 65 boutique gyms in the New York area, as well as expanded into Boston with over 20 gyms on the platform there.

For $99/month, users buy access to 10 classes wherever they’d like to go, with no requirements on which type of class they take. Since launching the ClassPass in September of last year, the company has grown from a total of 20,000 reservations booked on the site to 100,000 reservations.

Right now, ClassPass is still in beta with an option to sign up for their waiting list. If you’re interested, hop over here and check it out.