Teamwork makes the dream work, as the saying goes.
For Peerfit co-founder and CEO Ed Buckley, that saying is fortunately true for the countless fitness beginners who have started their journey of fitness with Peerfit. Founded in 2011, Peerfit is a digital health startup that matches employers and employees with group-oriented fitness spaces. With nearly 100 employees, Peerfit has connections to 4,000 fitness studios in 48 states nationwide that host 200,000 Peerfit users.
Employees of a Peerfit-connected company can sign up for a Peerfit account online or on the app. They then can dip into a reserve of Peerfit credits to book classes in a variety of fitness spaces. Perhaps the greatest benefit of group fitness is that it attracts fitness beginners who otherwise would not have begun exercising.
“For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been incredibly interested in having other people exercise together,” Buckley said. “I remember being 13 (years old), and finally being able to go to the gym. I always wanted to bring people with me, whether it was my neighbors or my siblings. Generally, these were people who didn’t enjoy exercising.”
Inspired by his desire to promote the joys of group fitness, Dr. Buckley went on to the University of Florida to earn a master’s degree in public health and a doctoral degree in digital health behavior. While working as a fitness instructor and studying subjects like healthcare policy, Buckley never lost his genuine passion for group fitness.
“My passion of helping people get healthier is both on the health side, as well as just simply a social side,” he said. “I think people greatly benefit from being around others. And in a time…with senior citizens especially having a loneliness and isolation epidemic, being around others and being active seems to be a great avenue and possibly a great solution for that.”
To that end, Peerfit collaborates with health insurance companies like Aetna, Cigna and UnitedHealthcare to make the most of employers’ wellness dollars. Peerfit counts the Tampa Bay Lightning and the now-defunct Laser Spine Institute among its more than 12,000 clients nationwide.
Peerfit’s competitors include Gympass and ClassPass, the latter of which has amassed nearly $240 million in funding. Buckley’s startup also competes with corporate wellness solutions such as Limeade and Virgin Pulse, which have raised $33 million and $92 million in venture capital, respectively.
Last month, Peerfit announced Peerfit Move, a brand of Peerfit specifically tailored to senior citizens and their health insurance plans. As Buckley envisions future partners for Peerfit in the coming years, he will remain committed to Peerfit’s vision of incentivizing those who are least likely to exercise to do so through the power of what amounts to positive peer pressure.
“We love when we can go activate people who have fallen out of love with physical activity and make them find the joy of being active with their peers again,” he said.
