WIT Fitness receives £2m investment to bring gym and retail concept to new markets

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Mar 20, 2019

WIT Fitness, a fast-growing London-based sports retailer catering for the Crossfit community, has secured a £2 million investment from growth capital investor VGC Partners.

The investment will be used to take its retail and gym concept to new territories, including New York, Paris, Barcelona and LA.

The business was established in 2015 by former ameteur athlete Dan Williams and sports retail expert Sam Kitching after finding a gap in the market for performance-based footwear for Crossfit athletes.

Last year, the firm opened a WIT Training Hub in St. Paul’s, London, combining a retail store with a gym. The space sells multi-branded product on the first floor, while the ground floor is used to offer classes seven days a week. More than 5,000 people have been through its doors since opening, and 200 people have signed as members.

Additionally, the business operates an online shop in the UK and US, and has launched an exclusive collaboration with Reebok. Four more collaborations are expected to drop this year.

Parminder Basran, managing partner at VGC Partners, said: “Sneakers have become a pop culture phenomenon in recent years, led by the rise in celebrity endorsements and brand collaborations.

“A core strength of WIT Fitness is that it connects to its affluent customer base via social engagement, enabling it to attract high profile brand partnerships and build links to the athlete community. It has already proven that there is an immediate international opportunity in the US and continental Europe through its US and European ecommerce websites.”

“As a leading grassroots brand within the functional fitness market, WIT is in an excellent position to replicate the successful gym and retail store concept in key international territories,” he continued.

Dan Williams, founder of WIT Fitness added: “We definitely see ourselves as a disruptor in the sports retail industry. We have taken traditionally dull bricks and mortar and turned it into an activation and training space that is recognised globally by the training consumer – a model we aim to roll out into other territories with VGC. Alongside these touch points, we will relentlessly pursue progress on our ecommerce and social platforms, working with our brand partners to do so.”