This press release was provided by FitStar. The Club Industry editorial staff was not involved in the creation of this content.
Digital fitness company FitStar has added Mark Mastrov, founder of 24 Hour Fitness Worldwide, Inc. and New Evolution Ventures, a private equity firm behind some of the world’s most prominent sports businesses, to its board of directors.
“Mark has built some of the world’s best-known international fitness brands and we are thrilled to bring his expertise to help build FitStar into a worldwide leader in digital fitness coaching,” said Mike Maser, CEO and co-founder at FitStar. “Mark is a pioneer and innovator in the fitness industry, and we think his insights and demonstrated history of wins in this space will help us expand our offerings and open up new markets for FitStar.”
“Like FitStar, my goal is to make fitness more appealing and accessible to a worldwide audience,” said Mark Mastrov. “I'm looking forward to joining FitStar on its mission to transform health and fitness into a more personalized and interactive experience.”
Mark Mastrov founded 24 Hour Fitness Worldwide, Inc., helping it become the world’s largest fitness company, serving more than 3.5 million members in the U.S.A., Europe and Asia. Since its inception in 1983 with a single facility in San Leandro, California, Mastrov built 24 Hour Fitness into a fitness empire of over 550 locations at its peak with revenues in excess of $1.5 billion. In June 2005, Mastrov sold 24 Hour Fitness U.S.A. and Asia for $1.68 billion – the largest sum in industry history – remaining chairman with a substantial stake in the company.
In 2008 Mastrov left 24 Hour Fitness and founded New Evolution Ventures (NeV), a private equity firm based in Northern California, focused on the health and fitness industry, providing capital and operating partnerships, management oversight, and expertise to emerging brands around the world. Some of these brands include UFC Gym, YogaWorks, Crunch, Sharecare, Energy Fitness Chile, Energy Fitness Mexico, US Fitness and Steve Nash Fitness World and Sports Clubs. Mastrov is also the founder of Planet Fitness Russia, Germany’s Mrs. Sporty, and NeV Australia among many other.
Since launching in 2013, FitStar Personal Trainer has been recognized with an Apple Editor’s Choice Award and was an App Store Best of 2013 and Best of 2014 product. FitStar is continuing to build and expand their portfolio and last month launched its’ second app, FitStar Yoga, which quickly became the #1 free app on the iPhone and iPad in Health & Fitness category. This latest launch gives FitStar a footprint of over 2 million downloads with users in 150 countries to date across both FitStar Yoga and FitStar Personal Trainer apps.
About FitStar, Inc.
FitStar’s mission is to build a digital health and fitness platform to inspire people to live healthier lives. Founded in 2012, the company is backed by several prominent angels and venture investors including Google Ventures, Advancit Capital, FLOODGATE Fund, Founder Collective, MESA+, Neil Young and Bob Stevenson’s LLL Capital, Ronnie Lott and Ed Zander. FitStar is based in San Francisco. For more information and on-going updates, please visit FitStar’s website at www.fitstar.com.