Traditional nightlife and drinking habits have been on the decline, especially among younger generations who increasingly turn to wellness and fitness as their primary way to connect socially. Yet, discovering and building meaningful fitness communities remains a fragmented and difficult task.
Sweatpals was created to fill this void. Their platform helps people find, join, and even host local fitness events that foster genuine social interaction through shared physical activity. On top of this, Sweatpals provides tools that allow fitness hosts to monetise their communities, supporting sustainable growth.
Today, the company secured $12 million in seed funding from investors such as Patron, a16z speedrun, and HartBeat Ventures, with additional backing from Max Mullen (Instacart co-founder), WndrCo (Jeffrey Katzenberg, founder of Dreamworks Animations), Antler, Pear, and Deb Liu (Facebook Marketplace, Ancestry CEO).
This brings Sweatpals’ total fundraising to $17.2 million.
Reimagining wellness-focused socialising as a replacement for traditional nightlife
Founded in 2022 by Salar Shahini and Mandi Zhou, both immigrants and tech entrepreneurs, Sweatpals grew out of their personal experiences with social isolation and the power of fitness communities.
Shahini told TFN, “Sweatpals started from our own experience looking for community and finding it through movement. I came to the U.S. at 21, searching for a connection in a new country, and wanted to find it outside of bars, parties, and traditional nightlife. My co-founder, Mandi, had a similar journey, moving to the U.S. alone at 14, school sports became her lifeline to help navigate language barriers and cultural differences. We saw firsthand how fitness could create a sense of belonging and longed to bring this to more people who value wellness and want deeper ways to connect with community.”
Motivated by these experiences, they built Sweatpals to help others find their “tribe” through movement, combining social connection with tools to create and monetise fitness communities.
Shahini added, “Sweatpals uses workouts to build true communities. Unlike platforms focused only on bookings, metric tracking, or event hosting, we unify discovery, community, and entrepreneurship, helping users find experiences that fit their goals and helping hosts grow their wellness businesses without taking a cut. Sweatpals is the infrastructure for building authentic connections for a generation craving real-life community.”
Sweatpals distinguishes itself from competitors like ClassPass and Mindbody by focusing not only on class bookings but also on real-world social connection and community monetisation. It blends event discovery, community building, and monetisation tools that help hosts increase their customer base by around 30%.
Features such as “event bundles” give both hosts predictable revenue streams and users cost-effective access to multiple events. The platform also includes “Sweatpals Connect,” a resource designed to help community leaders build authentic partnerships and expand their wellness businesses.
What’s next?
With the new funding, Sweatpals plans an aggressive expansion into 12 new U.S. markets by early 2026, alongside the rollout of enhanced tools for studios, gyms, event organisers, and hosts. The company aims to deepen monetisation features, improve social engagement tools that bridge fitness experiences to lasting friendships, and scale partnerships to build larger, more vibrant wellness ecosystems.
“Sweatpals represents a fundamental shift in consumer social behaviour. While others focus on digital engagement, Sweatpals drives real-world community formation with built-in monetisation. They’ve cracked the code on making community building both meaningful and economically sustainable,” said Andrew Chen, General Partner at a16z speedrun.
