A Pikesville startup plans to maintain a local presence after being acquired by a Tennessee consumer health company.
BurnAlong CEO Daniel Freedman said the startup has re-signed its lease for a 50-person office in Pikesville and will remain in the area even after being acquired by Tivity Health on Jan. 31. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"We're just going to get [Tivity Health CEO Richard Ashworth] to come visit more often," Freedman said.
BurnAlong's network of over 5,000 local fitness instructors is one thing that will encourage Ashworth to make the trek from Nashville to Pikesville. Tivity Health has its own online fitness classes, but Burnalong provides more specialized instructors. BurnAlong also offers classes on managing chronic diseases like diabetes or arthritis, which are targeted toward more specific audiences.
BurnAlong grew during the pandemic as in-person fitness opportunities shut down. The company had raised $14 million in venture capital since its founding in 2016, including $11 million in two rounds of funding in 2020 and 2021.
Freedman is looking forward to focusing more on the core business of BurnAlong instead of the endless ups and downs of venture capital that defines life as a startup. He will serve as the Tivity Health president of commercial health and fitness in the combined company.
“You're not spending your time dealing with fundraising and investors, you're focused on just growth and helping members, which is why why we got into this in the first place,” Freedman said.
BurnAlong and Tivity are still figuring out if the Pikesville company will exist as a separate brand within the larger company. The two companies already had a commercial partnership and realized that it would make sense for them to combine, Ashworth said. Private equity firm Stone Point Capital bought Tivity Health in 2022 in a $2 billion deal.
Tivity has a massive membership base of 75 million eligible members for programs at its over 22,000 locations, but Ashworth said it is difficult to get people to engage with fitness.
Freedman plans to help the fitness industry get a foothold with people who do not go to in-person classes, particularly seniors. Ashworth believes that more robust digital offerings can help acquire more customers for in-person Tivity Health centers or give people who are active users of Tivity’s gyms and centers a way to stay engaged even on days when they don’t have time to go in person.
“40% of the people who engage in our digital programming are first-time users,” Ashworth said. "They've been eligible for it but they haven't engaged. This digital channel is a very compelling and low bar for entry."
BurnAlong targets government and corporate clients for expansion. Notable BurnAlong clients included Baltimore City, Brown Advisory, Johns Hopkins University and other local institutions.
