Blok gears up to scale with £3.75m funding round

Boutique operator, Blok, has secured £3.75m in pre-Series A bridge funding to drive the growth of its business, which includes hybrid studios and a digital fitness platform.

The funding round was led by ACF Investors, with additional cash coming from Elcot Capital, The Santon Group and the UK government’s Future Fund.

Crowdcube and angel investor, Rob Wirszycz, have also contributed, with Wirszycz joining the board as chair.

Founded in 2016 by Ed and Reema Stanbury and friend Max Oppenheim, Blok began as a boxing and yoga space with an initial site in Clapton, London and has a focus on cross-discipline training in beautiful spaces. Blok offers 500 live classes a week, as well as 60 online live classes.

The operator now has a second London location in Shoreditch and a studio in Manchester.

In May 2020, the company rolled out Blok TV, offering 500 videos to meet the demand for remote workouts during lockdowns, as well as a series of Instagram Live classes in partnership with Beats by Dre. Blok says its TV product grew by 35 per cent month-on-month in its first year.

The new funding injection will enable the company to drive the growth of its hybrid business which combines in-studio, at-home and at-office programmes, all linked through a central digital platform.

CEO, Ed Stanbury, said: “Our hybrid model caters directly for customers and the growing demand for personalised fitness and wellbeing, accessed from anywhere. This investment will accelerate our growth and allow us to bring our hybrid 'on-off line' services to a bigger audience.”

The company is now looking to ramp up growth and scale, with Wirszycz saying: “I am delighted to be supporting this funding round and excited to be joining Blok as chair for the next stage of the journey to scale."

George Whitehead, partner at ACF Investors said: “Blok seamlessly brings together fitness, art and design and we're delighted to be supporting them to reach more people than ever with a truly holistic fitness offering.”

About ACF Investors

ACF Investors has supported 100 companies, including Gousto and Creo Medical, providing more than £50 million in investment and more than £300 million from business angels and other investors, making it one of the more active early-stage investors in the UK.