Whoop Launching Smart Apparel, Secures $200M More in Funding
Since its founding nearly a decade ago, Whoop has quietly positioned itself as a leader in the human performance field. At the end of August, the Boston-based company raised another $200 million in a Series F funding round that values the company at $3.6 billion. Today, it will launch Whoop Body, a line of technical and lifestyle smart apparel.
Whoop Body features Any-Wear Technology, garments with a special pouch to hold a sensor that collects a variety of data points intended to enhance performance. In the past, the data was only available by wearing a wrist monitor.
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In a video created to introduce Whoop Body, the company said: “It’s time wearable technology became wearable anywhere.”
Antonio Bertone, chief marketing officer and board member at Whoop whose background includes the same roles at Puma, said Whoop Body garments free wearers from always having to wear the bracelet. “Some of our members say they just like wearing their Apple Watch or don’t want to wear their Whoop to the office,” he said. Instead, they can now just slip the sensor into their clothes and obtain the same personalized fitness, sleep and recovery data.
Whoop Body will include two separate collections. The Training Collection will include sports bras, compression tops, leggings, shorts and athletic boxers while the Intimates Collection includes bralettes, boxers and briefs. Prices will include a two-pack of boxers for $69, a bralette for $55 and sports bras for $79 to $110. Depending upon the garment, the sensors are placed on either the torso, waist or calf.
The Whoop Body collection will be sold on the company’s website and is available only to the brand’s members. Bertone said membership fees start at $18 for an 18-month commitment, $24 a month for a yearlong membership or $30 for a month-to-month membership. All members receive the Whoop band with their membership, and the apparel collection requires the latest Whoop 4.0 technology in order to be used.
The newly launched Whoop 4.0 is 33 percent smaller than the prior model, features an upgraded sensor, a sleep coach with haptic alerts, a pulse oximeter, a skin temperature sensor and a health monitor that tracks heart rate, skin temperature, blood oxygen, resting heart rate and heart rate variability.
“I’ve been thinking about this technology for more than a decade, and I can promise you that this is the most innovative product we have ever released,” said Will Ahmed, founder and chief executive officer of Whoop. “We’ve always aspired to develop wearable technology that is either cool or invisible. With the launch of Whoop 4.0 and Whoop Body, we have accomplished both.”
Whoop has more than 500 employees and has raised more than $400 million to date. The latest $200 million investment was led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and includes IVP, Cavu Ventures, Thursday Ventures, GP Bullhound, Accomplice, NextView Ventures and Animal Capital.
The company said it will use the new capital to invest in continued research and development on wearable technology, enhance its products, software and analytics, enter new international markets, acquire other technology companies, expand its staff and work to expand its membership base.
“Whoop continues to experience tremendous user growth as they transform human performance, adding new features and products that are focused on enabling their users to lead healthier lives,” said Kristin Bannon, investment director at SoftBank Investment Advisers, who will now join the Whoop board of directors.
