UK-based fitness gaming developer and publisher Quell has announced the completion of a $10 million Series A funding round. Tencent led the round with contributions from Khosla Ventures, Heartcore Capital, Social Impact Capital and entrepreneur Naval Ravikant.
The company stated that the latest round brought Quell’s total financing amount to $15.6 million. According to the press release, Quell will use the investments to upsize its launch game, Shardfall, and expand its video game library.
The company has also announced that it will commence large-scale production of its Impact fitness gaming system. Impact is a proprietary motion and biometric tracking technology with haptic sensors that offer an immersive video gaming experience. Every workout is claimed to burn over 600kcal/hour, which is the same amount as an intense spin class.
Cameron Brookhouse, Co-Founder and CEO of Quell, commented:
“The Quell Impact is the first gaming platform designed from the ground up to deliver high-intensity, personalised workouts where the player is the controller. Through our pioneering technology, we aim to help millions of people worldwide unlock the health and wellness benefits of exercising while immersing them in worlds where the hero gets stronger as they do.
“We’re thrilled with the support we’ve received from such a distinguished team of investors and look forward to seeing the over 10,000 Impact pre-orders arrive in people’s homes soon.”
Dr Ling Ge, Chief European Representative at Tencent and Quell Board Member, added:
“Tencent is delighted to support Quell as it looks to bring the future of fitness to consumers globally. Until now, fitness gaming was an undeveloped industry, providing either a great gaming or fitness experience, but never both.
“Quell’s Impact device solves this problem. By refusing to sacrifice entertainment or exercise, it provides a consistently entertaining, exhilarating home fitness experience. We’re confident Quell will drive fitness gaming to the mainstream and are proud to support them as they work towards their global launch this year.”
Quell’s gaming-first approach is personalised and promises gym-quality exercise that covers cardio and strength. The inbuilt fitness trackers measure calories burned, heart rate and speed and can automatically adjust the game and the workout difficulty to deliver high-intensity exercise.
