MyFitnessPal has acquired Sessions, VentureBeat reported. Financial details about the deal were not provided.
Backed by Rock Health, Sessions is an app that links individuals with fitness experts that give advice, support, establish goals and more importantly require that the user be accountable for his or her workouts. MyFitnessPal, meanwhile, is an app that helps users lose weight and already integrates with 80% of wearable exercise trackers like Jawbone, Fitbit and others. There are already 50 million users of MyFitnessPal, the report said.
MyFitnessPal Co-Founder Mike Lee was quoted in the report as saying that their members have clamored for "expert advice and accountability." Lee said that the Sessions purchase will help accomplish just that. Both companies say that a majority (90%) of those who use Sessions started and more importantly, completed their chosen programs.
Lee said, "Acquiring Sessions gives us a team that's been thinking about coaching for years to help us jumpstart our own coaching initiatives. This move positions MyFitnessPal to provide yet another layer of offerings to what we already have: the largest-ever set of health data and tools, and a living, breathing study in how to make healthy living the new normal for millions of people."
What exactly will happen to the current Sessions app still remains unclear. A representative from MyFitnessPal told VentureBeat, "What you'll see in the future is a new offering from MyFitnessPal. We don't know what that will look like yet."
What is certain now, however, is that the team at Sessions will now be going on board MyFitnessPal. This includes Sessions Co-Founders Nick Crocker and Ben Hartney, the report said.
Sessions was established in 2012. Rock Health invested $20,000 in the startup while SV Angel and other investors also backed it with an undisclosed investment. The purchase of Sessions was undertaken on the strength of the $18 million MyFitnessPal received last year in its first funding round, VentureBeat reported.
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