The ESX app offers a subscription with unlimited access to approximately 500 sports centers and fitness facilities in Romania, which can be managed directly from a smartphone. The number of such centers continues to grow significantly each month.
The transaction was assisted by law firms Andronic & Partners and Schoenherr si Asociatii SCA.
“This capital infusion will allow us to take ESX to the next level of development, both on the Romanian market and on international markets. We are delighted to have attracted a strong partner with proven experience in technology and scaling SaaS models to support our transformation and share our vision (…),” said Andrei Trofin, CEO and founder of ESX.
In the past 18 months, ESX has grown nearly tenfold, reaching monthly revenues of almost €1 million, relying on an all-in-one digital solution for aggregating an increasing number of sports and fitness centers throughout the country.
“(…) Catalyst Romania Fund II is based on a long-term understanding of ESX’s exponential growth in the Romanian market. We have been impressed not only by the extraordinary growth, which has multiplied tenfold in less than two years, but also by the fact that ESX has achieved a market-leading position without capital investments, i.e., being bootstrapped. From this position, we can jointly target further growth in Romania as well as expansion into international markets. This expansion will position ESX as the most important platform for aggregating fitness, sports, and well-being activities in the entire European region where we invest,” said Marius Ghenea, Managing Partner of Catalyst Romania.
ESX currently has a community of 200,000 members across over 100 cities in Romania, and platform users have already accessed partner facilities over 3 million times using the app.
“We will invest in expanding our partner portfolio to reach over 700 facilities in the network over the next two years. We will focus on improving the product and consolidating the B2B segment, through which companies can already offer ESX subscriptions as a salary benefit for employees. This year, ESX will also launch a new platform for coaches and nutritionists, which already has hundreds of experts registered from Romania. In 2024, we will introduce nutrition and personalized training products based on artificial intelligence. Our mission is to combine technology with sports, providing an efficient and user-friendly digital solution for those who want to have a balanced and healthy lifestyle,” said Andrei Trofin, founder of ESX.