Hardly Moritz Kreppel and Benjamin moved in Roth, as the two founders were looking for a new place to Stay. The Loft in Berlin – Moabit, for less than a year, the home of Fitness Startups Urban Sports Club, is to become small. Meanwhile, 120 people work here, close together in a large room office. Only room for 90 is actually. Your own fitness equipment no longer gets the promising Sport-Start – up. After all, a ping pong table, and a power device are still in the common room. For the founders this is not bad: “in addition to the work, it is not always easy to find time for sports,” says Kreppel.
The problem of space shows what the two young entrepreneurs project: you want to make Urban Sports Club is the largest sports and Fitness operator in Europe and operate without even a single Studio. Their business principle: The company enters into partnerships with Thousands of Studios and halls, the customer, in turn, a contract with Urban Sports Club and get access to all of the sports offered in your city. The long-term contract with one and the same gym would have been used. Instead, Amateur athletes can decide on a daily basis: Today, strength training, or rather to the swimming pool?
Who pays more, gets more
In the deal, the two founders have more than 50 sport types of partners – including traditional gyms, climbing gyms, Yoga courses, but also more unusual activities such as water skiing and archery. How many times a customer may go to a particular club depends on the Collective. Who pays for a monthly € 29, you can do this once per week only with selected partners Sport – climbing gyms or Spa, because not to do so. For 129 euros in the month, then access is Offered in all Clubs.
The idea for the concept was born at the end of the 2000s, at that time under the name of “Pyler”. With the Start-up of Benjamin Roth wanted to build a booking platform for football halls. “The idea was ahead at the time, but a little of your time,” recalls Roth. The Startup failed, the concept has remained. As Roth got to know her through a common friend of his today’s colleagues Moritz Kreppel, took up the idea again and started with the Urban Sports Club in 2012, a new start-up. Because from the business, Roth was convinced: “I wanted to create the access to sports activities as easy as possible.” Also from the own experience. Both worked prior to your green currently, as a business consultant and have worked on the road a lot, and therefore had multiple contracts with different gyms.
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The number of customers grows to five digits – the month
With your concept of Roth and Kreppel seem, now 40 and 37 years old, to have at least a chord with many Amateur athletes hit. Because your Start-up Europe’s growing far to fast: Every month, new customers would add in the five digit range. In Berlin alone tens of thousands are already a member, tell, without, however, concretely. And more and more sports facilities, enticing, clearly, at the Urban Sports Club to participate. Because the number of partners waxes every month, a three-digit number. Currently there are a total of 3500 in 35 German cities and in Paris, Lyon, Lisbon, Milan and Rome.
Urban Sports Club benefited from a new Fitness Lifestyle sports such as Yoga and bouldering have made it from the Trend in the mass. However, the growth rate is not solely due to the fact a good idea, and the lucrative market. The two leaders have been pursuing for years an aggressive strategy. And it works like this: money to collect and competitors. Recently, the Munich-based competitors, “FITrate” the Berliners. In 2015, the Urban Sports Club has a Fitness intermediary on the same business concept. A year later, the company then merged with the second largest German competitor, “Somuchmore”, a stake of Rocket Internet. The participating investors, which, in addition to Rocket Internet, Holtzbrinck Ventures and a Latvian company, raised a seven digit amount, with the Berlin-based Start-up. Only a few months later, Holtzbrinck increased its participation once again, a million amount.
in the Meantime, the customers participate in the customer acquisition
The focus is on growth and international Expansion. “Rounds of financing are, of course, important,” says Kreppel, “but certainly not an end in itself”. The offer must vote, in the case of the Fitness-for Start-ups so the diversity and coverage with partner clubs. The great dominance in the market seems to help you in any case: six years Ago, the employees would be recruited with difficulty with Power-Point presentations to partners, says marketing chief Torsten Müller. But now even the customers would not go to providers that are part of the large network.
pressure at the expense of the individual operator, it would not give. “The model for our partners is definitely lucrative,” says Müller. Finally, it would come across Urban Sports Club, leisure athletes in the Studios who would otherwise not have a contract with only one provider. Per visit to a customer, the partners get a fixed Commission, says Müller – call without Pay.
Dating without Dating
all would Benefit. Because even more important than the features and quality of the Studios is the members of the proximity to the place of residence, has detected the company. A storm on the best Studios don’t give so – also because many of the Premium partners are open to only the most willing to pay customers. The Numbers of marketing heads also show that members use the Fitness mediator in width. Between three and four sports for the average customer, and even for the same Sport, he changes more frequently, the partner clubs.
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In its basic concept, the two bosses want to hold on to. For the more your company is still too young. Ideas for the future, it’s not for a lack, nevertheless. In the long term, you want to network about their members better, finally, factor will also in competitors of Community is always important. Members could meet up on the platform for joint Training or achievements, to exchange and to dinner. The matchmaking for Amateur sports Urban Sports Club should not be: “but We would not call it Dating.”
