South African gym management software platform Octiv has closed an “eight-figure” Series A funding round from venture capital firm Knife Capital.
The start-up previously raised seed capital from South African angel investors and this round also included an angel investment from an executive at BVNK.
This investment will allow Octiv to fast-track its global expansion drive, add product enhancements and scale customer service levels to keep up with aggressive growth, says Knife Capital in a statement.
Octiv started as a workout tracking app for CrossFit gyms in South Africa. Mark Fawzy, CEO and founder of Octiv, formulated this idea when his paperback fitness logbook succumbed to a wet towel in his gym bag.
Knife Capital says since then, Octiv has grown into an all-in-one cloud-based gym management platform that includes everything a gym or fitness studio needs to manage its day-to-day business activities.
It adds the start-up’s technology enhances the experience of human connection and community, while supercharging clients’ business growth potential and brand identity.
Among other things, Octiv software enables member management and billing, payment gateway integrations, scheduling, various programmes, lead management, task management, payroll, reporting and website integrations.
“A primary vision of Octiv is handing brick-and-mortar gyms and fitness studios a digital arm to run a seamless and more profitable business. We offer their members the ultimate personalised fitness experience,” says Fawzy.
According to the venture capital firm, Fawzy’s passion for entrepreneurship, fitness and technology was the recipe that ignited this innovative tech start-up.
It notes Octiv successfully breached South African borders, securing clients in over 27 countries, predominantly in Europe.
Its ability to shift into international markets and gain traction in multiple countries demonstrate the company’s scaling potential is significant even before growth funding, adds Knife Capital.
“In the current economic climate, capital efficiency is key. We admire how Mark and his team have built Octiv into a lean global recurring revenue SaaS business with very little outside capital,” says Keet van Zyl, Knife Capital founding partner.
“We identified the potential in Octiv and its ever-striving objective of becoming a world-class leader in fitness software product development, while being able to humanise the software to ensure it remains client-centric.”
Knife Capital points out this investment will further accelerate Octiv’s expansion, allowing the company to upscale its product team for more innovation while building out the sales function to onboard more gyms.
It says the global fitness industry is valued at $96 billion, with 230 million fitness facilities worldwide and a CAGR of 9.6%.
Europe is leading the growth charge, which places Octiv in an ideal position to take advantage of this upward trend given the company’s established client base there, it adds.
Knife Capital’s presence in the UK will also assist in accelerating Octiv’s European expansion strategy, it concludes.
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