Wellhub, the scaleup under US law but originally founded in Brazil under the name Gympass that operates in the corporate welfare sector, announces that it has finalised the acquisition of Fitprime, an Italian platform created to offer corporate welfare services for personal well-being including gym, nutritionist, psychologist and training.
The deal involves the transfer of 100% of the Italian company’s shareholders to Wellhub through a transaction completed partly in cash and partly through the allocation of shares of the buyer, with Fitprime’s shareholders entering the capital of the US company. Wellhub counts Atomico, EQT Growth, Softbank Vision Fund and General Atlantic among its main investors. Vertis SGR, through its funds Vertis Venture 2 Scaleup and Vertis Venture 4 Scaleup Lazio (financed by the Lazio Region through Lazio Innova), both of which entered in 2020, as well as Zest (formerly LVenture), IAG, Club degli Investitori and a number of business angels, are participating in Fitprime’s capital.
Founded in 2016 by Matteo Musa, Gianluca Mozzillo, Laura Carpintieri and Damiano Rossi (pictured), Fitprime enables corporates and SMEs, including Generali, Pirelli, Astrazeneca and Coop to offer holistic health benefits through access to 3,500 affiliated sports centres in 1,200 cities, consultations with nutritionists and psychologists to more than 400,000 employees across Italy. In three years, Fitprime’s turnover has grown more than thirteenfold, from approximately EUR 0.65 million at 31 December 2020 to approximately EUR nine million at the end of 2023. This growth was also generated through consolidation in the B2B segment, in which the company now has more than 200 corporate customers.
Alessandro Pontari, partner at Vertis SGR said in a note: “Accompanying the growth path of this company to today’s result makes us particularly proud. In just four years we have built one of the leading players in Italy in the wellbeing market, also highlighting how the Italian innovation market is able to give birth to and grow internationally appreciated unicorns such as Wellhub”.
Amedeo Giurazza, founder, CEO & managing partner of Vertis SGR, adds: ‘We invested in Fitprime in December 2020 as lead investor and, thanks also to the measures promoted by the Lazio Region through Lazio Innova, we became its main shareholder, supporting the founders in a virtuous path that has led us to this successful exit today.
Roberta Angelilli, Vice-President of the Lazio Region and Councillor for Economic Development, Trade, Crafts, Industry and Internationalisation says, ‘Fitprime’s growth path and the important role played by Vertis make us very proud because once again they testify to the vitality of Lazio’s innovative ecosystem and its ability to establish itself internationally. This success story has even more value for us considering the imminent launch of the new venture capital strategy, thanks to which the Lazio Region, with the fundamental role of Lazio Innova, aims to support innovative and technology start-ups and professional investors who want to strengthen their presence in our region’.
Wellhub, which has a valuation of USD 2.4 billion, has acquired Fitprime for a countervalue of EUR 4 million, of which 50 per cent in cash and 50 per cent in shares in the US company, Zest said in a separate note referring to the value of the stake held by the group formed from the merger between LVenture and Digital Magics.
Fitprime was launched by Zest thanks to the Luiss EnLabs acceleration programme, born from a joint venture with Luiss University. The startup initially developed a consumer model geared towards the sale of virtual subscriptions for access to affiliated sports centres, later reinforcing its offer in the B2B sphere thanks to a complete corporate wellbeing platform.
“This exit, the third one finalised in 2024 by Zest (after those finalised by the startups Futura and Cardo AI), demonstrates the level of maturity reached by our portfolio, which counts technology champions and high-potential startups operating in the main industrial sectors. The acquisition of Fitprime by Wellhub confirms the attractiveness of our portfolio to international investors, which is the result of the constant enhancement work carried out by the entire team. Our ambition is to launch and accompany the next generation of technology companies to success, creating impact in the economic system and value for our shareholders,’ says Luigi Capello, CEO of Zest.
“We are proud to have accelerated Fitprime and supported the founders in their journey to become a national digital champion. The team has shown great resilience and entrepreneurial spirit, strengthening the business model in the post covid period and establishing itself as Italy’s leading corporate welfare platform. This market, which is constantly growing, is estimated to reach a value of more than 75 billion over the next few years, and our participation in Wellhub, a global leader in the sector, opens up interesting scenarios for Zest for further, important returns,’ concludes Gabriele Ronchini, CEO of Zest Investments.
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