Following a business model that is becoming more common in the industry, various celebrities participated in a new funding round for Hydrow, the connected rowing equipment brand. Indicating that its sales jumped by 500 percent in the past year, the company also announced the appointment of a chief commerciale officer, Gretchen Saegh-Fleming, and a general counsel, Ben Berman. In addition to a retail partner, Fabletics, the participants in the latest funding round included music, sports and entertainment celebrities such as Lizzo, Aaron Rodgers, Justin Timberlake, Whitney Cummings, Travis Kelce and Kevin Hart. The size of their investment was not specified, but it was said to have led to a total raise so far of more than $200 million. It may pave the way to a public offering for the company through a reverse merger with Sandbridge X2, a special purpose acquisition company, as reported a few weeks ago by Bloomberg, which indicated a total valuation of more than $1 billion.

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