Volava, the Barcelona-based company that is revolutionizing the concept of smart fitness in Europe with their connected bicycle, has completed its first round of investment with a total of 1.65 million euros. This will allow the company to consolidate the growth of its business and to continue its expansion in the Spanish and European markets.
The company started this round in July 2019; in a first stage Inveready and the Media Digital Ventures fund have contributed with 850,000 euros. Now, Volava has collected another 800,000 euros contributed by 79 small investors through The Crowd Angel platform, Inveready and a private investor.
Smart fitness
The company, founded by Joel Balagué in 2017, is progressing in the development of its disruptive model of smart fitness at home, which responds to the growing trend linked to the culture of wellness and an increased awareness of the benefits of sport for our physical, emotional and mental health. The company have designed an in-house cycling system, a silent bicycle equipped with a 22 inch monitor. Through the screen the user lives an incomparable experience of sports training, right at home.
Users have access to a universe of live or on-demand cycling classes, coached by a team of expert trainers. The monitor allows you to control all the parameters of the training session in order to follow your progress while you cycle on your connected bike: calories burned, pedaling cadence, heart rate, power and resistance. The sessions are designed for all levels and have a variable duration (20, 30 or 45 minutes) to adapt them to the needs of any user.
These qualities make Volava a high quality digital fitness experience, designed for all levels of capacity, adding the comfort of being able to practice it from home. This easy access is fully compatible with the motivation generated by participating in a group activity. Real-time classifications during live classes and performance comparisons with the rest of the community add this important socialization extra bonus to the practice.
The current situation of quarantine due to the coronavirus crisis has led to an unusual situation at Volava as well. For reasons of social responsibility and health safety, the company decided to close its gym / recording studio in Barcelona. But the technological platform is fully operational and Volava has more than 2.000 recorded cycling classes that its users can follow from their homes at any time. In recent days, as a result of the general confinement of the population, the daily use of the platform by its customers has doubled, while the number of bicycle orders has increased 20-fold.
In addition, this week Volava has added to its catalogue of contents a series of physical activity that users can follow for free through the Volava app (available on Android and iOS). They are 10-minute exercise videos based on the body’s own weight, so it isn’t necessary to have a bike.