Gympass

Gympass, which renamed itself Wellhub in 2024, sells employers a single benefit that gives their staff access to a network of gyms, fitness studios, personal trainers and wellness apps such as Headspace and Calm. It was founded in 2012 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, by Cesar Carvalho, Vinicius Ferriani and Joao Thayro, and moved its headquarters to New York City in 2018. Carvalho, a former McKinsey consultant, remains chief executive. Partners in the network are paid each time a member checks in, and the business is sold to employers rather than to individual consumers.

The company's early international backers appear in SEC filings: Valor Capital Group formed syndicate vehicles named Valor Gympass I and II in 2016 and 2017 to invest in the company. In June 2021 Gympass raised a $220 million Series E co-led by SoftBank and General Atlantic, with participation from Moore Strategic Ventures, Kaszek Ventures and Valor. That round valued the company at $2.2 billion, roughly double its prior valuation. Gympass, Inc. filed Form D notices in late 2021 reporting further equity sales of about $3.7 million and $5.4 million. In August 2023 a further financing valued the company at $2.4 billion, with SoftBank and General Atlantic among its investors; the size of that round was not disclosed in sources reviewed.

Gympass survived the 2020 gym closures by moving members to its digital network, and by May 2021 it was recording 4 million monthly check-ins across more than 50,000 partners. It acquired the online personal training company Trainiac in 2021. After the rebrand it reported 3 million active members and 15,000 business clients; a July 2025 Fortune profile cited 26,000 business customers, about 20 million employees with access, 2,000 staff and operations in 13 countries. Corporate clients include Amazon, Oracle, Accenture, KPMG and Santander. The Financial Times reported that the rebrand was part of preparation for an eventual IPO, but the company remains private.

Gympass shows how a Latin American startup can reach unicorn scale by moving its headquarters to the United States and selling to multinational employers. Its earliest institutional backers, including Valor Capital Group and Kaszek Ventures, entered years before the crossover capital from SoftBank and General Atlantic arrived. More than a decade after founding, the company has not yet produced a liquidity event, which shows how long growth-stage holdings in benefits businesses can stay on a fund's books.