The Austin-based Sweatpals connects customers with in-person health courses, occasions and experiences. It additionally presents back-end enterprise instruments for private trainers and organizers
As social habits shift away from nightlife towards wellness-oriented experiences, particularly for Gen Z, Sweatpals is betting that motion and connection can coexist at scale. The Austin-based health neighborhood platform has raised $12 million in seed funding from Patron, a16z speedrun and Kevin Hart’s HartBeat Ventures to speed up its nationwide growth and new product growth.
Co-founded by Salar Shahini and Mandi Zhou, SweatPals aims to reimagine how people meet and build friendships by positioning wellness as the new social currency. The platform permits customers to find and host in-person health courses, occasions and experiences, remodeling gyms and studios into neighborhood hubs. It additionally consists of back-end instruments for private trainers and organizers, providing digital ticketing, waiver signing, participant administration and group communication.
“We’re constructing the infrastructure for human connection in an more and more lonely world,” mentioned Shahini. “Our objective is to make each studio, park and neighborhood area a spot the place folks can discover belonging via motion.”
In response to the corporate, hosts see a median of 30% extra prospects via Sweatpals, suggesting the mannequin helps each connection and creator monetization.
Sweatpals reported greater than 1 million month-to-month customers throughout its net and app merchandise, with 170,000 weekly lively customers and over 20,000 new experiences, starting from courses to retreats, created final month alone. The common paid host earns $70,000 per yr, reflecting how the platform blends entrepreneurship with community-building. Final month, the platform served because the tech and ticketing companion for Strong New York Kenny Santucci’s annual health and wellness expo in NYC.
Run clubs have been a specific space of growth, with attendance rising 216% year-over-year between January and September 2025. In whole, greater than 237,000 folks have joined Sweatpals-affiliated run golf equipment prior to now 22 months, the corporate says. Prime cities for exercise embrace Miami, Austin, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, whereas widespread classes span combined social sports activities, energy and athletic coaching, Pilates, operating and mountain climbing, and journey sports activities.
The idea faucets into broader life-style adjustments amongst youthful generations. With alcohol consumption at historic lows — solely about half of American adults now drink — wellness has emerged as a most popular social outlet. Sweatpals calls this pattern the “daylife motion,” the place exercises, run golf equipment and yoga meetups substitute the normal bar scene.
“Once I first noticed Sweatpals, I instantly acknowledged it as the way forward for how we join,” Hart mentioned. “They’re main a motion that makes wellness accessible, social and enjoyable.”
Andrew Chen, a common companion at a16z speedrun, added that Sweatpals’ enchantment lies in its capacity to “drive real-world neighborhood formation with built-in monetization.”
With the brand new capital, Sweatpals, which is at the moment lively in 24 cities, plans to broaden to 12 extra markets by early 2026, improve social and monetization instruments for hosts and roll out options for gyms, studios and occasion organizers. The corporate’s investor lineup additionally consists of Max Mullen (Instacart co-founder), Jeffrey Katzenberg (WndrCo) and Deb Liu (Ancestry CEO).
