The Urban Sports Club was founded in Berlin in 2012. The start-up provides access to an aggregated range of various sports within a city. After the acquisition, the company has more than 400 partners in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Munich and Potsdam enabling its more than 2,000 members to do 40 different kinds of sports. For the current year 2016, founder Benjamin Roth has set the target, to become the largest sport offering in Germany.
In 2015, the start-up completed a first round of financing at a six-figure sum. Also last year, its self-proclaimed biggest competitor in Europe somuchmore found a new partner in Rocket Internet. With the respective financing it has already realized the international expansion to Paris, Madrid and London. In the British capital it is in direct competition to the biggest rivals in this segment Classpass. Referring to media reports, the US based company had been valued in financing rounds at USDm 200 to 400 last year.
The cooperation of Fitness First with My Fitness Club, allowing members of the online aggregator using Fitness First facilities, shows that also the traditional industry players take the "new" competitors seriously.
Source: Urban Sports Club, somuchmore, Wall Street Journal, My Fitness Club
Picture: Urban Sports Club