Keep steps up push to boost home workouts with tech

Chinese fitness technology company Keep is ramping up efforts to offer better exercise content and more tech-powered sports equipment, after it recorded about 300 million registered users for its app.

The efforts came after Keep, which started as a fitness app in 2015, finished a $360 million funding round in January.

Peng Wei, the co-founder of Keep, said now, more than 6 million people exercise every day via the company's app or sports equipment such as smart bicycles.

"Our development in the past six years can be divided into three stages. In the first stage, Keep was a mobile fitness tool to help everyone exercise online anytime, anywhere; the second stage Keep was a new generation of sports brand, which provided sports solutions for people at home. The third stage is now. At present, Keep is moving toward an open sports platform, striving to provide users with more value-added services and refresh the sports experience," Peng said.

As the number of Keep's users continues to increase, their diversified demands have also pushed Keep to upgrade its services. When asked about the next strategic development direction of Keep, Peng said that it will be "high-quality content and tech-powered sports" and the company will use content and hardware products to bring users a "renewed" sports experience.

On Wednesday, Keep also unveiled its latest smart bicycle Keep C1 Pro in Beijing, which is equipped with a 21.5-inch screen.

Keep announced in January that it had finished a $360 million funding round, which was led by SoftBank Group Corp's Vision Fund, as more people resort to the app to work out at home amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Other investors also include Hillhouse Capital, Tencent Holdings Ltd, Coatue Management, GGV Capital and Bertelsmann Asia Investments.

Keep's app offers users customized exercise sessions and instruction. The company also sells fitness equipment such as treadmills and home exercise bicycles as well as weight-conscious snacks.