LegitFit raises €1m in seed funding round

Cork-based gym and studio software company LegitFit has raised a €1 million seed funding round as it seeks to expand in the UK.

That brings to €1.6 million in total raised by the company since it launched in 2019. The seed funding round was led by Delta Partners, and will be used to speed up its growth in the UK market. Its ambitions include doubling its customer base in the next 12 months and exploring opportunities such as franchises and chains.

LegitFit was founded by Ryan O’Neill, Gearoid Collins and Ian O’Sullivan. It provides business management software to gyms, studios and independent fitness professionals, covering member management, scheduling, payments and communications, and a website builder.

LegitFit has users in 15 countries. The company plans to focus on the UK for its next phase of development. It also plans to expand its team, including its marketing function.

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Cofounder and chief executive Mr O’Neill described the funding as a milestone for the group.

“We’ve been aggressively hiring since we came out of TechStars last year. We were at 11 or 12 people when we went into that, and then over the past 12 months, we’ve doubled the team. For us it’s about continuing to invest in the product and the experience of the customers, and keep driving that UK growth,” said Mr O’Neill. “We’re seeing different opportunities that are coming to us within the UK as well. That takes a little bit of capital builds things.”

LegitFit will continue to target users of rival software in the Irish market and further afield, and those who do not have a system in place. “A big competitor can be pen and paper. You still have around half the people who actually sign up to us, they weren’t using a solution or they were using a makeshift solution like direct debits and maybe Calendly or Google Calendar. For us it’s about bringing people over from existing legacy players as well as this market of people who have never used anything in the past besides pen and paper.”

The backing of Delta Partners was an important move for the company, with Mr O’Neill citing general partner Richard Barnwell’s background as a founder as one of the key factors in deciding on the investors. Mr Barnwell founded Digit Games Studios, in addition to heading up Jolt Online Gaming.

“The customer-obsessed focus of the LegitFit team and their ability to build a product that delivers what fitness business owners actually need, in a complex and rapidly evolving industry, compelled us to invest,” said Mr Barnwell. “We’ve been impressed with Ryan, Gearoid and Ian and we are excited to be joining their journey as they continue to progress and expand into new markets.”