SAN FRANCISCO--( )--FitStar, a company dedicated to blending the power of mobile technology
and immersive fitness content, has closed a financing round led by
Silicon Valley investment fund Google Ventures. A short list of early
investors include high profile technology, entertainment and sports
leaders and funds such as Advancit Capital, the venture capital firm
launched by Viacom Inc. and CBS Corporation vice chairman Shari
Redstone, and FLOODGATE Fund, a leading business and technology
investment firm managed by tech pioneer Mike Maples, Jr. FitStar raised
a seed round of $1M which will be used to grow the team and support the
company’s first product, a video-based iPad app releasing in the first
half of 2013.
FitStar is led by interactive entertainment veteran Mike Maser. Prior to
forming FitStar, Maser held executive leadership positions at AOL,
Electronic Arts and Digg. Mike’s co-founder is Dave Grijalva, who serves
as the vice president of engineering. Most recently, Dave was the
director of platform technology at ngmoco. The growing FitStar team
boasts more than 50 years of experience developing and marketing
interactive experiences that have touched more than 100 million
consumers.
“We are passionate about improving the health of millions of people by
creating a new technology platform to power health and fitness apps that
are engaging, entertaining, and which adapt to each user’s
capabilities,” said Mike Maser, CEO, FitStar. “We’re extremely proud
that our mission for the company is endorsed by some of today’s most
influential and visionary business leaders who want to help us make a
difference in people’s lives.”
“The rapid rise of obesity and health care expenses over the past
decades has forced us to bring healthy living and wellness to the
forefront of society,” said Kevin Rose, general partner, Google
Ventures. “FitStar sits at the intersection of technology, fitness and
entertainment. They have the team, passion and track record to build out
a platform that delivers the next level of fitness apps.”
A recent study* showed that obesity in America is now adding an
astounding $190 billion to the annual national healthcare price tag,
eclipsing smoking as public health enemy number one when it comes to
cost. In response, FitStar endeavors to address the health epidemic by
providing a robust slate of interactive apps to motivate people to live
stronger, healthier lives.
About FitStar
FitStar Labs, Inc. is headquartered in San Francisco. The company’s
mission is to build a digital health and fitness platform to inspire
people to live healthier lives. Founded in 2012, the company is backed
by several prominent angels and venture investors including Google
Ventures, Advancit Capital, FLOODGATE Fund, Founder Collective, MESA+,
Neil Young and Bob Stevenson’s LLL Capital, Ronnie Lott and Ed Zander.
For more information, please visit www.fitstar.com.
About Google Ventures
Google Ventures provides seed, venture and growth stage funding to the
most innovative and promising entrepreneurs across a variety of stages.
Founded in 2009, Google Ventures helps its entrepreneurs succeed by
providing access to uniquely hands-on and dedicated resources such as
its Design Studio, Marketing, Recruiting, and Engineering Teams, and
Startup Lab. The Google Ventures team has extensive entrepreneurial
experience, deep technical knowledge and expertise in building high
growth, scalable products and companies. Among its 100+ investments are
Nest, Kabam, HomeAway, DocuSign, ngmoco, and WhaleShark Media. Google
Ventures is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif. with offices in
Cambridge, Mass., Seattle, Wash. and New York, N.Y. For more
information, please visit www.googleventures.com.
* Healthcare study by Cawley and Chad Meyerhoefer of Lehigh
University in January in the Journal of Health Economics, as reported by
Reuters.
Contacts
for FitStar
fortyseven communications / Sibel Sunar, 323.658.1200 / sibel@fortyseven.com
or
fortyseven
communications / Craig Sinel, 323.658.1200 / craig@fortyseven.com
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