Slovak startup GymBeam nabs around €6 million for its fitness brand

Slovakian startup GymBeam, one of the fastest growing fitness brands in Europe, has landed an investment of around €6 million, which it will use to push its brand across Central and Eastern Europe.

Founded in 2014, the Slovak e-commerce platform focuses on fitness, nutritional supplements, functional foods and equipment for an active lifestyle. Currently, the startup distributes 4000 packages on a daily basis to 13 countries in Central and Eastern Europe, has grown a team of 100+ employees, and in 2019, turned over approximately €24 million. 

SIH, whose mission is to support private and public investments in strategic sectors in Slovakia, participated in the funding with €2 million, in addition to the €4 million private investment of Crowdberry investors.

“We want to become a leading brand in all Central and Eastern Europe markets. We will use the investment for modular automation of the distribution centre, we plan to build a new development centre for our own products and we have opened supply points and representative premises in Budapest and Prague,” says founder Dalibor Cicman, adding that he wants to achieve a turnover of €100 million by 2024.

“GymBeam’s regional e-commerce strategy is unparalleled in our space. It is bringing a digital revolution to an industry ruled by big offline players for decades. The company responds promptly to trends arising from data analysis and brings an interactive way of marketing and product innovation, supported by localized customer service,” says Daniel Gašpar from Crowdberry, representing private investors.

“We started talking about GymBeam and the investment in 2019, long before the world was paralyzed by a pandemic. There are not many sectors of the economy that can emerge stronger from the coronary crisis, but e-commerce is such an area. We are glad that a company like this was founded in Slovakia, being absolutely innovative and unique in its approach to customers regarding online purchases of products, focused on an active and healthy lifestyle. We believe that GymBeam will take advantage of the current trend and grow even more internationally,” adds Ivan Lesay, CEO of SIH.