The founders of Finland’s SportSetter were the size of Godzilla in New York yesterday, getting their faces slashed across a billboard after ringing the opening bell to the NASDAQ exchange. Sportsetter has been growing steadily in New York after launching their service in Helsinki, allowing gyms, yoga studios, and other players in the Fitness space to get new customers through a network of people interested in trying new sports. After signing up through SportSetter, users select the types of activities they’re interested in, and then get access to a few curated activities a month. The value for fitness centers is that after trying out a yoga gym, for example, a user might decide they really like it and then stick around for a membership.
Today they say they’ve gotten their first paying customers in, including NY household names, like UFC GYMS, and Crunch gyms. In total they say they have gathered 70 partners in New York, although they haven’t launched publicly.
It’s a funny thing to celebrate. Ringing the bell to the NASDAQ exchange has to be one of the most pointless exercises we’ve covered on ArcticStartup. I mean, it’s a computerized exchange. But, as Niko Karstikko, cofounder of SportSetter puts it, “For us is a symbolic step to the US and a testament to how far our awesome team has gotten.”
