Deal Flow
Insights
Market Players
From Drip To Rip – Deal Flow and Capital Raising Ramps Up Across 2024
2024 started with high inflation, energy prices, interest rates and recession worries. Thankfully, throughout 2024 we saw a cooling in each, financing became more affordable and deal flow accelerated across Q2-Q4 as funds and banks deployed capital. M&A was evident in club software and SaaS (Membr, Evercommerce, Perfect Gym, BRP), fitness technology (EGYM) and bricks and mortar (SE Brands and OTF, OneLife, XFitness). There was however little to report in connected fitness. On the investment side we saw big investments from private equity and VC (EGYM, [solidcore], Equinox, LifeFit, VivaGym, Hapana, GymDesk) and there was activity in the HVLP space with funding, acquisitions and divestments aplenty on multi-site franchisees (Crunch, Anytime, Planet, OTF), as well as sadly, the odd bankruptcy (Blink Fitness, Physical HK). On the public markets, share prices of the major fitness and wellness companies were strong (as of 1 Dec 2024) – Planet, Xponential, Leejam, LifeTime, Peloton, Technogym. In reflection, 2024 was a good year for our industry, our investors and god love them, our advisors.
Pete Moore
Founder and Managing Partner
Integrity Square
When you mix “Capitalism and COVID” you don’t get a solid playing field for new entrepreneurs with nascent start-ups; therefore, very few brick and mortar investments were made in 2020-2022 as investors rightfully window-shopped concepts that were recovering, but why should they invest until things returned to pre-COVID KPIs? Therefore, M&A was mostly quiet except for Planet ADA’s and selected “Red State” based businesses. Fast forward to 2023-2024 – the famous quote from the Terminator movie –”I’LL BE BACK!” – best sums up the renewed bullish interest by debt & equity investors in the HALO sector which will continue for the foreseeable future.
There has never been a better time to be a fitness and wellness consumer. With more people seeking science-backed, highly personalized health and wellness services and support, each of our brands are positioned to anticipate and meet these demands. We have significant opportunity to expand our global footprint, invest even more aggressively in leading-edge data, technology, products and services, and drive even stronger preference for our brands. This is an amazing opportunity to position our portfolio brands’ franchisees for greater success and ensure our members have an exceptional experience with us on their personal wellness journeys.
Chuck Runyon
Co-Founder and CEO
Purpose Brands
Rick Caro
CEO
Management Vision, Inc.
2024 was a quiet year for significant financial transactions in the U.S. With high interest rates, lots of companies returning to 2019 revenues but still trailing EBITDA numbers, not many companies were geared up to acquire. There were few deals, especially those of significant size. With very few publicly traded companies in the industry and even fewer performing well, 2024 was a quiet year.
Phillip Mills
Founder & Executive Director
Les Mills International