Irish Startup Glofox receives €500k funding for its Fitness Industry Management Platform

Glofox, a Dublin-based business management software company aimed at gyms and fitness studios, has just secured €500,000 in funding consisting of €250,000 from Enterprise Ireland’s High Potential Startup Unit (HPSU) – co-matched with an additional €250,000 from private investment firm, Growing Capital. The funding is to support US market entry and further development of their product.

Glofox is a complete booking, payment and membership management platform for gyms and fitness studios (exercise studios or independent fitness clubs that focus on group training and fitness classes e.g. Crossfit, TRX, Yoga and Pilates studios).

With a monthly retainer fee of €80 – €150, the cost-effective system manages core aspects of fitness businesses including membership management, online payment processing (including recurring payments e.g. monthly memberships), exercise classes, personal training and appointment scheduling and booking; coupled with detailed business analytics.

Enterprise Ireland’s HPSU offers support to start-ups with high growth and export potential and, to date, Glofox – which was founded in 2014 – currently boasts a client portfolio of over 170 businesses, spanning across six countries.

Backing Enterprise Ireland’s investment is Dublin-based Growing Capital, a seed and early stage fund, which invests in startups, supporting foreign young and talented entrepreneurs willing to join the vibrant Irish Venture Capital ecosystem. Gianni Matera, Founder and Director of Growing Capital, tells, “Glofox is one of the first Growing Capital investments. At Growing Capital, we aim to work with bold and ambitious entrepreneurs and take actively part of their vision.”

Stefano Francavilla, Director of Growing Capital, continues, “We’re delighted to have the opportunity to invest in Glofox. The product that the Glofox team has built comes from years of deep knowledge of this industry. Having the chance to follow the improvements and the hard work that the team has done in the past months, we’ve been struck by their fast growth and customers satisfaction.”

The brainchild of former professional rugby player turned entrepreneur, Conor O’ Loughlin, Glofox currently employs 10 full-time staff, with plans to grow the team to 16 in the next 18 months to support the company’s growth.

Co-Founder & CEO O’Loughlin explains the benefits of the product for fitness businesses, “Members can book and pay for services with ease via a mobile app, with their app is customized for each individual studio. This drives revenue, assists greatly with retention and reduces the significant administration cost of manually managing exercise classes. It also mitigates lost revenue in ‘no shows’ for class bookings.”