Echelon Fit, the maker of Echelon Fit connected spin bikes and on-demand digital workouts, announced a growth capital infusion from North Castle Partners. The investment comes approximately one year after the official direct-to-consumer launch of Echelon Fit.
North Castle is a leading small-cap consumer private equity firm with more than 20 years in the healthy, active, sustainable living markets.
Jon Canarick, managing director for North Castle Partners, commented, “Until connecting with Echelon Fit I hadn’t met any business that was able to create a high-quality, connected hardware fitness product and make it available at a more affordable price than leading competitors. With such high-quality products and content, we believe Echelon is well-positioned to capture the mass market opportunity.”
This investment is part of a growth strategy that will make live, studio-style, connected fitness attainable to a wider audience. Echelon Fit includes a line of connected spin bikes that range in price from $800 to $1,600. More recently the company launched the Echelon FitPASS and announced pre-orders for the new Echelon Reflect, a wall-mounted comprehensive, interactive home gym that looks like an average mirror and allows you to stream workout content while monitoring your form. Echelon will soon launch the new Echelon Connect EX5 bike and is seeking commercial gym and hospitality partners.
“We believe that live, connected fitness should be accessible for everyone. This partnership with North Castle provides Echelon with both the growth capital and the deep industry expertise to help us make connected, live fitness available to a more diverse group of customers than our competitors are currently reaching,” said Lou Lentine, CEO for Echelon Fit.
Currently the Echelon Connect bikes are available throughout the U.S., U.K. and Canada in many accessible retailers including Academy Sports, Amazon, Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy (in Canada), Johnson Fitness, QVC and Sam’s Club. The company is working to expand distribution to more stores across North America in Fall 2019.
Echelon will also benefit from North Castle Partners’ 21 years of experience helping some of today’s most recognized health and fitness brands grow. From expert advisors to potential value-add partnerships across portfolio brands to knowledge sharing with fellow CEOs in the portfolio, the partnership will position Echelon for continued growth and success. North Castle’s prior and current investments in the fitness category include Equinox, Barry’s Bootcamp, SLT, Brooklyn Boulders, Octane Fitness and HydroMassage, among others.
