Hydrow, maker of high-end, connected rowing machines, has acquired a majority stake in Speede Fitness, according to CNBC. In addition, the company’s founder, Bruce Smith, will be ceding the post of CEO to current President and Chief Financial Officer John Stellato and taking up the post of Chairman.
Hydrow enjoys the financial backing of the private-equity firms Constitution Capital and L Catterton as well as of Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and singer Justin Timberlake. It has so far raised some $300 million in funding. Its rowing machines sell for $1,700 to $4,000. According to CNBC, unit sales for 2024 have risen by 23 percent year-on-year, while sales on Amazon increased by 273 percent year-on-year for the 12 months that ended on March 31.
The apparent idea behind the Speede acquisition is to expand from the cardiovascular training of rowing into strength training, albeit in a high-tech way that avoids free weights. Speede makes what it calls “the first machine to combine isokinetic, isotonic and eccentric-only training.” In short, you are never loaded with weights. Instead, you are almost always pushing or pulling with handles or bars that you can release without consequence at any time. Meanwhile, an AI machine uses cameras and sensors to monitor your posture and adjusts the resistance accordingly.
Peloton sought to acquire Hydrow back in the lockdown days, when the producer of the famous connected stationary bike was at its peak, but Hydrow declined the offer.
Hydrow has recently appointed a new Chief Experience Officer, Craig Tello, and promoted Diana Cino to Senior Vice President of Marketing and Sales.
Tello was previously Head of Content Strategy at Electronic Arts (EA), the Californian company behind such video games as the FIFA and Madden series. He was also Senior Vice President of Content Programming & Media Operations at WWE (the former World Wrestling Entertainment), heading up the video-on-demand and subscription platform.
Cino was previously Vice President of Marketing at Bevi, Director of Marketing at Wayfair and Director of Strategy and Product Implementation at GoHealth.
