The appointment comes on the back of Wexer’s acquisition of Intelivideo, the US-based digital fitness provider where Podoll specialised in marketing, business and brand development since 2015–most recently as Chief Marketing Officer. 

“We’re excited to welcome Ashley to our team. The US is a dynamic market with major growth potential and the Intelivideo deal has given us a fantastic springboard, instantly and significantly growing our presence, customer base and revenues in this market.”

 – Robert Louw, Wexer’s Chief Growth Officer –

Wexer’s goal is to significantly expand the US footprint. With her extensive expertise in this field and strong relationships with top brands and partners in the North American market, Ashley is well-placed to lead this drive. 

Wexer is currently focused on the seamless transition of Intelivideo clients to their content platform. Ashley will clearly play a critical role here, but this is just the beginning of our plans for strong expansion across the US. Louw said, “We’re delighted to be bringing someone of Ashley’s calibre onboard to help us realise these plans.”

“It’s a very exciting time for our two companies and I’m thrilled to be joining the Wexer team. Over recent years at Intelivideo, I’ve had the pleasure of working with some of North America’s most well-respected and successful digital pioneers. I look forward to supercharging the evolution and growth of these companies, and many more, through the new technology, content, and partnership opportunities that Wexer brings.”

– Ashley Podell, New Head of North America –

Wexer’s commitment to consistent innovation and partnerships is a positive win for Intelivideo clients, and any health and fitness business. The vision is to make premium content accessible to all fitness enthusiasts provides a strategic weapon for any prominent brand looking wanting to provide fitness content inside or outside its four walls. The real value for the fitness industry is to reach a wider, more diverse, increasingly digitally savvy audience.

Podoll concludes: “It’s clear that Wexer has ambitious plans to expand its footprint across multiple verticals to become the leading global fitness and wellness content provider. I look forward to being an integral part of the team invested in doing so.”

To find out more please contact us at info@wexer.com

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Claire joins Wexer from fitness technology agency SweatWorks, where as head of marketing she spearheaded all communications for the brand. Prior to SweatWorks, her roles included Senior Marketing Manager for Marriott Hotels and B2B Marketing Manager for Nuffield Health.

“I’m delighted to be joining Wexer as it accelerates towards its mission of hybridising fitness and wellness delivery around the world.”

Claire Evans, Wexer Global Marketing Manager

“Claire’s appointment is an incredibly timely one,” says Wexer’s Chief Growth Officer, Robert Louw, “Our April 2022 acquisition by Core Health & Fitness was a pivotal step in dramatically scaling our business for growth; we’re excited to recruit expertise that will enable us to maximise our growth opportunities.”

Robert continued, “Over recent years, Wexer has strengthened their leadership position in the health club and fitness sectors. We have also created a strong foundation in other industries, like hospitality, corporate wellness, multi-family housing and telecommunications. As we move forward and build on our strengths and foundations, Claire’s breadth of experience within digital fitness and our other key vertical markets will ensure she is a powerful appointment to our team.”

Claire stated, “This new role with Wexer feels like the perfect fusion of all of my fitness sector experience, from personal trainer to corporate wellness, hotel fitness & spa marketing, to Head of Marketing for Digital Fitness Innovation with SweatWorks. I can’t wait to bring my expertise to bear in helping Wexer achieve its mission.”

Claire shared, “At SweatWorks, our focus was on innovating to make fitness more accessible and engaging, which in turn helped people live healthier lives. I remain passionate about that ambition, so I’m excited to find it echoed at Wexer, where rapid scaling–and further global growth of their comprehensive wellness offering–will mean we can positively impact more people than ever.”

To find out more please contact us at info@wexer.com

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Our story began in 2008, when serial fitness entrepreneur Rasmus Ingerslev created ‘World of Exercise’ – or Wexer for short. At the time a purely B2C product, Wexer was an on-demand fitness video platform designed to provide instructor-led content for effective home workouts. It’s funny how things have come (almost) full circle now, albeit with Wexer a B2B(2C) digital ecosystem rather than a B2C platform these days; Rasmus was, not for the first or last time, ahead of the curve.

I began to have conversations with him in 2011 and we quickly identified a shared passion for getting exercise into the hands of more people. We also recognised that the best way to do this would be to pivot Wexer to a B2B model, becoming Wexer Virtual: the trailblazing in-club virtual class solution.

I joined the company in 2012, we signed Zumba as our first content provider in 2013, went through a couple of funding rounds in 2013–14 and began to do the groundwork that would enable us to lead the virtual GX charge, acquiring the software that powers Wexer Virtual in 2015 and then, in 2016, acquiring Club Virtual and moving to London as market leader.

Fitness in people’s hands

By this point we had some truly enviable assets, not least proprietary, commercial grade technology – something we still pride ourselves on to this day, with Wexer’s unparalleled reliability evident in our platform’s 99.9% uptime. We also had, and still have, a world-class team, including in-house developers who ensure our market-leading technology continually evolves and remains market-leading even as other competitors come and go.

And we had a strong customer base, including many partners who are still with us today.

But even back then, when Virtual was still the new kid on the block, we were planning our next move. We knew we wanted to develop an ecosystem of products that would reduce barriers to participation: back to that vision of getting exercise content into more people’s hands.

So in 2017, Wexer made a major investment in acquiring Connected Fitness Labs (CFL), a digital platform that has since acted as the foundation for our growing Mobile portfolio: our white labelled Wexer Web Player (launched 2019), Wexer SDK (2020), Wexer API (2021) and of course our app (2017).

And the impact of that decision, accelerating the development of a full Wexer ecosystem, is clear: in 2020, we delivered 25 million fitness experiences, up from 10 million in 2019 and 6 million in 2018.

This performance was partly driven by the growth of Wexer Virtual, of course, which by now was being credited by operators with not only driving sales but also retention.

But to an even greater extent it was driven by the exponential growth of Mobile, not only during successive waves of lockdown – when Wexer helped clubs quite literally put fitness content in their members’ hands at home – but even before that, as early adopters began to put their digital plans in place.

And now? Demand for Wexer Virtual is booming once again as members return to clubs and classes are at capacity, but Mobile remains a huge driver of participation. People’s exercise behaviours and expectations are forever changed by events of the last two years.

Putting operators first

So here we are in the new hybrid era of fitness, something I’d venture is pretty much universally accepted now. Yet the next step is vital. We now have to ensure clubs are delivering a true hybrid experience, not merely ticking the box of hybrid technology – and I believe that experience has to be led by content.

Content is what fitness consumers are demanding, and it also happens to be the element of the club experience that can be perfectly replicated across all touchpoints: in-club, online, in-app, smart TV, smart mirror or other smart device.

It is content that enables the omnichannel model, allowing clubs to deliver the same user experience however their customers choose to consume their product on any given day.

And Wexer’s ever-expanding digital ecosystem supports this, with solutions that allow operators of all sizes to either start their digital journey or else enhance their existing digital ecosystems – but always with a view to strengthening the bond between club and member.

As part of that, we’ve helped clubs push their own loyalty-driving talent to the forefront, with our Web Player and now also our in-club Virtual solution incorporating what we call ‘Connect’ – a feature that hands operators their own channel to upload self-produced content alongside the 1,600+ classes from our now 70+ global content partners.

Because we’ve focused on the operator throughout. We’ve never seen technology as a replacement for the club, but as a complement – a way for clubs to serve their members 24/7. Keeping health clubs relevant in an increasingly digital world has been our ethos from the word go and it remains the case now as we push towards our vision of hybridising the fitness sector.

An opportunity to scale, rapidly

Which brings us to today’s acquisition by Core Health & Fitness – new ownership that excites me not only for what it brings Wexer, but for its implications for the sector as a whole.

Everything I’ve spoken about so far has been achieved with only US$2.5m of equity raised since our inception. What this acquisition does is give Wexer the funding and support to scale our business as never before, accelerating us towards our vision of hybridising the fitness sector.

That will include strategic acquisitions; we believe there to be significant opportunity for consolidation of the digital fitness sector.

But funding isn’t the only benefit of this deal. The synergies between Wexer and Core present further opportunities for us both to accelerate our growth and evolution: Wexer will now bring its digital expertise, technology and world-class content to the Core business, while Core’s sales and distribution network will be harnessed to provide Wexer with significant new channels to market.

For me this is key: Wexer has always had great products and great people, but a comparative lack of distribution has historically held us back from fully realising the power of our products. Our new collaboration with Core instantly addresses that, exponentially growing our distribution network.

The opportunity to collaborate with Core across its portfolio of globally recognised brands – Stairmaster, Schwinn, Star Trac, Nautilus and Throwdown – to build an even more diverse digital ecosystem is another huge benefit of this acquisition.

So for me, this really is a turning point – a chance to rapidly scale our business and fulfil our potential both within the fitness sector and beyond, collaborating with Core across its many verticals as well as building on our existing momentum with partners as diverse as telcos, wellness centres, hotels, multi-family housing, student accommodation… and of course, our traditional heartland of fitness.

We now have the products, the people, the partnerships – and the distribution. We are ready to scale and unequivocally claim the crown of digital fitness market leader.

For more information, please get in touch at info@wexer.com

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Today we have launched a suite of brand new virtual classes! Produced by Move 123, the new content has been created to meet the growing demands of today’s consumer.

Demand for Meditation Training and Mindful Exercise

Meditation became mainstream in 2016 and is now recognised as a revered wellness tool around the world. However, 2017 is going to be the year when people become truly aware of meditation and mindful exercise, and the subsequent effects these have on wellbeing. Through technology, Wexer and Move 123 have provided a channel for club operators to deliver mediation to their members worldwide. The new content aims to promote mental and physical calm as well as deeper breathing to calm the nervous system.

Paul Bowman, CEO for Wexer says “more and more we are seeing club groups refer to virtual fitness as the new must-have, but to be successful it requires current fitness videos which meet consumer demand, and this is exactly what we are getting from our partnership with Move 123.”

Increase in Demand for Virtual Boxing

Workouts that incorporate boxing, kickboxing and other fighting styles have seen an increase in popularity among everyday gym goers, as well as less frequent members. Earlier in the year Wexer launched Boxx Method on all virtual players and now Move 123 are adding to this category with new Fight workouts.

Coming soon…

In addition to Meditation and Fight workouts, Move 123 have also produced a collection of workouts targeting senior members. The content has been specifically designed to allow the senior audience to enjoy greater mobility movement and ease in their day to day life.

Tony de Leede, Founder of Move 123 said: “Working with clubs of all sizes globally, we have utilised our vast knowledge and experience in the industry and designed our classes specifically with clubs in mind. Our partnership with Wexer allows club groups to meet the growing demands of members by provided current and fresh group exercise content.”

The new Move 123 Meditation and Fight content is now available on all Wexer Virtual Players. For more information, please contact Adie.meyer@wexervirtual.com

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Wexer Count provides data that will enable Fitness Directors and Group Exercise Managers to better understand their group exercise offering and maximise studio usage during off-peak times. By counting and reporting the number of people entering a studio, fitness operators can quantify member behaviours and patterns relating to group exercise classes; both live and virtual.

“Wexer is excited to be the first to launch an embedded people counting system into a virtual fitness player,” says Paul Bowman, CEO for Wexer. Wexer Count is an ideal product for both small and large group exercise studios, providing an accurate solution to leverage data for member engagement and satisfaction.”

“Wexer Count was launched so that our partners can accurately measure how many members participate in group exercise classes, while Wexer focuses on delivering the most advanced fitness technology,” says Bowman. “Wexer Count does this by providing real-time business intelligence.”

The embedded people counting system is a robust sensor that wirelessly connects to a receiver where data is transmitted to Wexer Admin; an online portal where fitness operators can view attendance across each group exercise class.

Wexer Count is available to purchase now. For more information contact:

• For Americas and Australia: Daniel Waide, Daniel.Waide@www.wexer.com
• For Europe and Asia: Robert Louw, Robert.Louw@www.wexer.com or Adie Meyer, Adie.Meyer@www.wexer.com

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