Athos, a fitness apparel upstart, has closed a $35.5 million investment led by Social Capital. The round includes participation by apparel giant MAS Holdings, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Felix Capital, as well as existing investors DMC, early FitBit investor True Ventures and angel investor Joe Lacob – managing partner and chairman of the Golden State Warriors.
Athos will use this capital to continue to drive innovation in wearable fitness technology, scale to support increasing consumer demand and grow its team – which includes recent additions Don Faul (COO) and Rose Yao (VP of Product). Don brings a wealth of executive experience in sales, marketing and operations from prior roles at Pinterest, Facebook and Google. Rose is a seasoned product leader with experience working on consumer products for Facebook and Google.
Chamath Palihapitiya, founder and managing partner of Social Capital, remarked:
“We are seeing great demand from people looking for technology that will help improve their fitness. Athos is on the forefront of this trend, delivering simple yet powerful insights that help people get more out of their workouts. It’s exciting to see strong momentum and an ambitious roadmap that will continue to transform the fitness industry.”
Since launching its first product six months ago, Athos has gained notable traction for its smart training apparel. Athos’ garments measure muscle performance using EMG (electromyography), as well as heart rate and acceleration. This data is streamed to the user’s mobile device, along with simple, actionable insights to help them reach their individual goals.
Dhananja Jayalath, CEO and co-founder of Athos, stated:
“My co-founder Chris and I created Athos to solve a very real problem. We both cared a ton about our health and fitness and spent hours each week in the gym. But we didn’t know how to train. So we set out to build something that could help us reach our personal fitness goals, something that would help us do the right exercises, with the right form, at the right intensity.
“Athos’ mission is to help people train more effectively to reach their fitness goals. We do this by bringing together the most relevant fitness data and cutting-edge exercise science to deliver simple, actionable insights that allow you to get the most out of every minute you spend working out. Whether you are trying to get stronger, lose weight or just feel healthy, we want to help you get the most out of your time and effort so that it’s easier to reach those goals.”
Some of the nation’s top sports performance institutes have been implementing Athos’ technology into their training programs for elite athletes and sports teams. Los Angeles-based ProActive and Fast Twitch in Miami utilize Athos in the training regimens of some of their world-class athletes, which include Karl Anthony Towns, Clay Matthews and Elvis Dumervil.
Now that Athos’ technology is available for consumers, the company is delivering on its mission to bring its innovation to anyone who cares about their fitness. Athos’ insights allow users to set benchmarks and track progress, helping people of all fitness levels to get the most out of their training and accomplish their goals more effectively.
CEO of the Golden State Warriors, Joe Lacob, added:
“The Warriors have begun using Athos’ technology in their training arsenal, and now people of all fitness levels have access to this same innovation. Understanding which muscles are firing, and how hard they’re working, are pivotal metrics to train with. Whether you’re an athlete, or just starting out, Athos gives you the tools to improve your fitness level and work towards your goals- regardless of what that may be.”
Started in 2012 by co-founders Dhananja Jayalath, Christopher Wiebe and Chamath Palihapitiya, Athos was born from an advanced engineering project at the University of Waterloo. Athos’ technology incorporates electromyography, or EMG, the gold standard in measuring muscle activity. Until now, the benefits of EMG technology have been exclusive to clinical settings and top performance institutes. Athos makes EMG accessible, seamlessly embedded in the comfort of workout gear.
