109. Daniel Sobhani, CEO of Freeletics

Today I’m joined by Daniel Sobhani, CEO of Freeletics — an
AI-powered fitness app. 


 


In today’s episode, we discuss the company’s evolution from PDF
workout plans to a digital fitness platform with more than 50M
users. We cover the launch of Staedium, the company’s new
game-based connected strength training product. And Daniel shares
his thoughts on innovation, team building, gamification, and
more. 


 


More from Fitt Insider 


 


Fitt Insider helps operators stay informed and make better
decisions. We produce a weekly newsletter and podcast, curate an
industry jobs board, and invest in early-stage companies.


 


*** Subscribe to our newsletter:
https://insider.fitt.co/newsletter/


 


*** Visit the jobs board: https://jobs.fitt.co/


 


*** View current investment and get in touch:
https://insider.fitt.co/investments/


 


More from Daniel 


 


Daniel Sobhani is the CEO at Freeletics, the leading provider of
AI-based fitness and mindset coaching, with more than 165
employees and nearly 53 million users worldwide. Born and raised
in Munich, Germany, he studied business administration,
mechanical engineering, finance and technology management in
Munich and Sydney. After working at the renowned Boston
Consulting Group, he then joined Freeletics in its early stages
as CEO in 2014.  At the time, Freeletics was a very small,
young startup, but one which was growing rapidly. Daniel helped
foster its potential and guided the team to achieve international
success in just a short space of time – all as a bootstrapped
company. 


 


After five successful years as a bootstrapped company, Daniel
Sobhani steered Freeletics to the next milestones of the
company’s history, as it closed a $45 million Series A funding
round in 2018 and a $25 million Series B funding round in
September 2020, to enable further product innovation, 
exploring and building new business verticals and to expand
Freeletics’ global footprint.


 


With its AI-powered and hyper-personalized digital fitness and
lifestyle coaching, Freeletics has continued to disrupt a
multi-billion-dollar industry which, before the company’s
existence, had been dominated by stationary gyms and exclusive
personal trainers. Aside from its financial success, the company
has grown exponentially across the board. With almost one million
users in early 2014, today the Freeletics app has over 52 million
users in more than 175 countries. The company has continued to
build on its product portfolio, also launching an e-commerce
platform. With exciting things in the pipeline, Freeletics
continues to strive to innovate and disrupt the digital fitness
industry. Daniel has enabled and guided Freeletics to become the
creator of one of the world‘s most popular fitness apps,
inspiring and challenging people all over the world to become the
greatest versions of themselves, both mentally and physically.
And this is just the beginning.