Press release -
VR Fitness Developer FitXR Secures $7.5 Million In Series A Venture Round Led by Hiro Capital
07.00 London, England—July 10th, 2020 — FitXR, the leading VR fitness company, today announces that it has secured $6.3m in investment funding, led by Hiro Capital, with continued support from U.S.-based BoostVC, Maveron and TenOneTen Ventures, together with an additional $1.2m in the form of an innovation loan, from Innovate UK.
FitXR, who had previously secured $1.25 million in seed funding from investors, will use the new investment to expand its operations in Europe and North America, and to accelerate launch of several exciting new products and services for people to keep fit in Virtual Reality.
The investment marks a significant show of belief in FitXR, who over the last year has grown to become one of the leaders of the VR fitness sector, with its mission to put the fun back into fitness. Its first product, the boxing rhythm game BoxVR, has been a runaway success and a continual best-seller across Oculus, Steam and PlayStationVR.
“Over the last year, we have been redefining fitness and challenging people’s perceptions of what a fun and effective workout is, providing an alternative for people who want to keep fit but are unmotivated by the traditional fitness offerings” said Sam Cole, co-founder of FitXR. “With BoxVR, we have captured the imaginations of players around the world and introduced them to a new form of exercise which is both immersive and enjoyable. We’re proud to partner with Hiro Capital who are leaders in the digital sports sector, and we look forward to breaking new boundaries with FitXR over the coming year”.
The investment comes at an exciting time for FitXR. The company is working on a series of product developments over the next 12 months that are set to redefine fitness and cement FitXR as the world’s leading VR fitness company.
Cherry Freeman, Co-Founding Partner, Hiro Capital says “FitXR is the best-in-class within the VR fitness sector, creating a new category of experience in VR by redefining how people can get fit and strong. Achieving global recognition for FitXR’s ability to build a passionate community around its innovation and creativity makes this a very exciting investment for Hiro.”
Luke Alvarez, Founding Managing Partner, Hiro Capital added, “Sam and his team are VR fitness heroes and impressive entrepreneurs. With the tech acceleration that has been happening in 2020 and the big changes in exercise and sports, FitXR is perfectly positioned to lead fitness in the Metaverse. At Hiro we are both gamers and sports/fitness nerds - as our second investment in digital sports and our third investment in VR/MR, FitXR is a perfect fit for our portfolio.”
Nigel Walker, Head of Innovation Lending & Investor Partnerships at Innovate UK said: “We’re pleased to partner with FitXR and offer a loan for the business to develop additional tools which will make content creation more efficient and cost-effective. By backing FitXR’s innovation in sport and exercise, we are supporting a potential future global leader and helping them to continue to develop and grow”.
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About FitXR
FitXR is breaking new ground in virtual fitness, helping to define the category with award-winning games and services for all popular virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) platforms as they become available. The company’s first fitness app, BoxVR, has won multiple awards and has been described as “Guitar Hero crossed with a studio boxing workout.” FitXR is building a suite of pro-quality fitness games to give anyone, anywhere, the precise workout experience they want, whenever they want it. FitXR is headquartered in the UK.
About Hiro Capital
Hiro Capital is a Luxembourg / London technology Venture Capital fund which invests in US, European and UK innovators in Games, Esports and Digital Sports. Hiro Capital generally invests at the post-seed Series A and B stages. We invest both in front-end Content creators in Games, Esports and Digital Sports and in deep tech sector-specific applications of Cloud, Mobile, Streaming, Big Data, AI, Wearables, AR and VR technologies.
We back experienced entrepreneurial teams, building innovative technologies and content with a strongly differentiated proposition and with the scaling opportunity to become very large.
We are Games, Esports and Sports investors who are also Games, Esports and Sports entrepreneurs. Our core belief is that Games, Esports and Digital Sports will be a central pillar of Entertainment, Economic and Social Life in the mid 21st century. We invest in the innovators who are building that future. https://hiro.capital/
About Innovate UK
Innovate UK is part of UK Research and Innovation, a non-departmental public body funded by a grant-in-aid from the UK government. For more information, visit www.ukri.org. We drive productivity and economic growth by supporting businesses to develop and realise the potential of new ideas, including those from the UK’s world-class research base.
For further information and interview requests please contact:
For FitXR
Jamie McLean, Alfred, jamie.mclean@alfredlondon.com
T +44 (0)7527 995 286
For Hiro Capital
Jordan Tunnicliff, Bastion, jordan@bastion.co.uk
T +44 (0)7794 402897
