[ibimage==22793==Original==none==self==ibimage_align-left]amSTATZ, the LinkedIn for health and fitness, just tacked on the final $30,000 last week of an angel round that now totals $415,000 since mid-January. Although the investors will remain anonymous, CEO Michael Piermont said that 90 percent of this round’s funding came from investors in Chicago.
Focused on solving the problems of fragmentation in the fitness industry, amSTATZ keeps clients of personal trainers and fitness teachers engaged by allowing them to book appointments online, view past workouts and refer their friends, while, through the same web-based platform, also providing business management solutions for trainers.
“The trainer who trains your parents, the trainer who is a big, strong, meathead, the yoga instructor who trains a group of stay-at-home moms all have kind of the same inherent problem: how do we keep our clients engaged before and after the session?” Piermont said.
Besides closing its angel round, amSTATZ has been receiving some major attention in the health and fitness field recently, including a spot as a top 25 finalist for the Nike+ TechStars Accelerator.
All this hype is coming right before amSTATZ gets out of its private beta within the next several days. Once public, Piermont said amSTATZ will be able to expand the platform to accommodate fitness events, like large races and obstacle courses, so that event companies can stay in touch with athletes even after events. (Piermont said he is already in negotiations to partner with a city-wide event this spring.)
Allowing event companies and personal trainers to stay connected with their clients through amSTATZ, Piermont said, solves frequent complaints heard from clients like “I don’t work out as well without my trainer,” or “I can’t really tell the overall progress of my long-term workout plan.”
On the trainer’s end, amSTATZ’s business management solutions enable more availability to concentrate on clients.
“Trainers are super, super connected to their clients,” Piermont said. “They are articulate, they are great with people, they’re just not great at managing the business stuff. We want to step in there and handle that part of it for them and let them grow their business.”
Providing needed solutions in the health and fitness field from so many angles has landed amSTATZ, a name derived from the words ‘amateur’ and ‘statistics,’ a pretty fitting tagline: “technology for the business of fitness.”
