Whoop, which makes a fitness tracker that is popular with professional athletes, reached a $3.6bn valuation following an investment from Japan’s SoftBank, signalling a willingness from investors to challenge tech giants in the health monitoring business.
SoftBank’s second Vision Fund led a $200m investment in Whoop, making it the most valuable standalone fitness monitoring start-up, the company said. The new funding increased Whoop’s valuation three-fold from a previous financing in October.
Whoop chief executive Will Ahmed said the new capital would help the company compete with Amazon, Apple and Google, which each sell wearable health tracking devices.
“We’re competing with trillion-dollar companies,” Ahmed said. “Being well capitalised as a start-up when you take on the biggest companies in the world tends to be a good strategy.”
Whoop’s fundraising is the newest sign that investors are warming to wearable technologies despite a string of recent high-profile failures, as SoftBank and other deep-pocketed backers flood tech start-ups with record amounts of capital.
Oura, which makes a ring that measures a user’s quality of sleep, raised $100m in May from investors including Singapore’s Temasek, valuing the company at $800m. The second Vision Fund also led a $100m investment round last year in Biofourmis, a health company that uses a wrist sensor to monitor physiological data and predict medical problems.
The tech giants have pushed deeper into digital health in recent years. Apple chief executive Tim Cook has said he wants the company’s greatest legacy to be in the areas of health and wellness, through products like the Apple Watch.
In January, Google completed a $2.1bn deal to purchase the fitness-tracking company Fitbit, following extended regulatory reviews during which rivals raised concerns about competition and the handling of health data. Ahmed said Whoop does not sell customer data to third parties.
Whoop sells a subscription health coaching app that uses data from a wrist strap to recommend changes to a user’s sleep and exercise habits.
Ahmed said Whoop had developed “proprietary algorithms” to measure strain and recovery, metrics that take into account data like heart rate variability.
Amazon has recently moved into Whoop’s territory, selling a screenless fitness tracker called Halo with a subscription app.
Ahmed said Whoop has retained a rising percentage of users over time since switching to a subscription-based business model in 2018. He declined to comment on the size of the company’s customer base.
“Sometimes, when you go to a wider audience you can experience more churn,” Ahmed said. “For Whoop, it’s actually been the opposite.”
Ahmed, a former captain of the Harvard University squash team, founded Whoop in 2012 with two fellow students after growing frustrated at his lack of visibility into his own fitness.
The basketball player LeBron James and swimmer Michael Phelps became two early users of the product. Whoop has also signed deals to provide wristbands to the professional golfing and American football leagues, and its list of investors includes the golfer Rory McIlroy and the basketball player Kevin Durant’s Thirty Five Ventures.
Ahmed said Whoop had not yet spent most of the $100m in capital it raised in its last financing led by Institutional Venture Partners, which also invested in the latest round of funding.
Earlier attempts at wearables had been, “to put it politely, underwhelming”, he said. “I think people are underestimating the power of this technology.”
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was down more than 200 points in late-morning trading, weighed down by losses in the technology, base metal and energy sectors, while U.S. stock markets also fell.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 239.24 points at 22,749.04.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 312.36 points at 40,443.39. The S&P 500 index was down 80.94 points at 5,422.47, while the Nasdaq composite was down 380.17 points at 16,747.49.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.80 cents US compared with 74.00 cents US on Thursday.
The October crude oil contract was down US$1.07 at US$68.08 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up less than a penny at US$2.26 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was down US$2.10 at US$2,541.00 an ounce and the December copper contract was down four cents at US$4.10 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 150 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in technology, financial and energy stocks, while U.S. stock markets also pushed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 171.41 points at 23,298.39.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 278.37 points at 41,369.79. The S&P 500 index was up 38.17 points at 5,630.35, while the Nasdaq composite was up 177.15 points at 17,733.18.
The Canadian dollar traded for 74.19 cents US compared with 74.23 cents US on Wednesday.
The October crude oil contract was up US$1.75 at US$76.27 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up less than a penny at US$2.10 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$18.70 at US$2,556.50 an ounce and the December copper contract was down less than a penny at US$4.22 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2024.
The crypto market has recently experienced a significant downturn, mirroring broader risk asset sell-offs. Over the past week, Bitcoin’s price dropped by 24%, reaching $53,000, while Ethereum plummeted nearly a third to $2,340. Major altcoins also suffered, with Cardano down 27.7%, Solana 36.2%, Dogecoin 34.6%, XRP 23.1%, Shiba Inu 30.1%, and BNB 25.7%.
The severe downturn in the crypto market appears to be part of a broader flight to safety, triggered by disappointing economic data. A worse-than-expected unemployment report on Friday marked the beginning of a technical recession, as defined by the Sahm Rule. This rule identifies a recession when the three-month average unemployment rate rises by at least half a percentage point from its lowest point in the past year.
Friday’s figures met this threshold, signaling an abrupt economic downshift. Consequently, investors sought safer assets, leading to declines in major stock indices: the S&P 500 dropped 2%, the Nasdaq 2.5%, and the Dow 1.5%. This trend continued into Monday with further sell-offs overseas.
The crypto market’s rapid decline raises questions about its role as either a speculative asset or a hedge against inflation and recession. Despite hopes that crypto could act as a risk hedge, the recent crash suggests it remains a speculative investment.
Since the downturn, the crypto market has seen its largest three-day sell-off in nearly a year, losing over $500 billion in market value. According to CoinGlass data, this bloodbath wiped out more than $1 billion in leveraged positions within the last 24 hours, including $365 million in Bitcoin and $348 million in Ether.
Khushboo Khullar of Lightning Ventures, speaking to Bloomberg, argued that the crypto sell-off is part of a broader liquidity panic as traders rush to cover margin calls. Khullar views this as a temporary sell-off, presenting a potential buying opportunity.
Josh Gilbert, an eToro market analyst, supports Khullar’s perspective, suggesting that the expected Federal Reserve rate cuts could benefit crypto assets. “Crypto assets have sold off, but many investors will see an opportunity. We see Federal Reserve rate cuts, which are now likely to come sharper than expected, as hugely positive for crypto assets,” Gilbert told Coindesk.
Despite the recent volatility, crypto continues to make strides toward mainstream acceptance. Notably, Morgan Stanley will allow its advisors to offer Bitcoin ETFs starting Wednesday. This follows more than half a year after the introduction of the first Bitcoin ETF. The investment bank will enable over 15,000 of its financial advisors to sell BlackRock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC. This move is seen as a significant step toward the “mainstreamization” of crypto, given the lengthy regulatory and company processes in major investment banks.
The recent crypto market downturn highlights its volatility and the broader economic concerns affecting all risk assets. While some analysts see the current situation as a temporary sell-off and a buying opportunity, others caution against the speculative nature of crypto. As the market evolves, its role as a mainstream alternative asset continues to grow, marked by increasing institutional acceptance and new investment opportunities.
