Bike Battles

Amazon appeared to be stepping into the connected fitness industry on Tuesday as reports of a $500 “Prime Bike” spread across the internet. It even caused Peloton shares to drop more than 4%, just a week after Apple also announced its entry into at-home workouts.

Initial reactions thought a connected bike from Amazon could be a major challenger to Peloton — especially with a price difference of nearly $1,500. However, the e-commerce giant denied any connection to the product released by Echelon, scrubbing mentions of the alleged partnership from the product page and listing the bike as “unavailable.”

While Apple Fitness+ will still be a major tech company challenger, Peloton stocks were back up yesterday. Peloton will look to build on its fourth quarter subscriber growth of 113% — it has added more affordable products to stay competitive as players continue to enter the connected fitness space.

Don’t Stop The Fitness Funding:

Freeletics, an AI-powered fitness coaching app, has joined this year’s hunt for cash by connected fitness start-ups. The app closed on a $25 million Series B round after a $45 million Series A in 2018.

Other fitness start-ups to receive funding during the pandemic include Zwift ($450 million) and Tonal ($110 million). Lululemon acquired fitness start-up Mirror for $500 million this summer.