The pandemic lockdown turned training from home and through a screen into a common practice in multiple households. For many, it became an indispensable activity to break with the monotonous confinement and uncertainty. For some, this practice became something more. Alberto Sanz began organizing training sessions with the staff of eight workers from a booming technology company that, like so many others, came to a screeching halt due to Covid.
Given this scenario and the inactivity of his employees, Sanz proposed doing exercises together virtually. They began doing so guided by a trainer, a neighbor of Sanz, who launched into virtual sessions with his technological support and began to bill more with the online format than he earned with his own gym. "Then we said: there's something here. Taking advantage of the fact that we were locked down, we thought about it and saw that there was a good niche for fitness applications," Sanz explains to The New Barcelona Post.
In November 2020, they launched a trial, and "on the first day, subscription plans were already sold." Thus, Sanz launched into boosting the platform that is now BeJao: "I went all in, sold everything I had and invested it all in BeJao." Since then, his project has raised 1.4 million in accumulated investment, also considering financing rounds with various family offices and business angels.
In addition to the funds raised, there is a participating loan from the Institut Català de Finances (ICF) for an amount of 200,000 euros. Specifically, it is a loan from IFEM, an ICF subsidiary company aimed at innovative companies, which is committed to establishing a relationship with the company to contribute to its long-term stability and success. The ICF, which has formalized operations worth more than 30 million euros since this line was opened, aims to reinforce its commitment to economic development, acting as a catalyst for initiatives that generate a positive impact on society. In this sense, the ICF stands as a financial partner capable of providing financing to companies at various stages of their development, ranging from the seed phase to consolidation as large companies.
With this vision, it has also supported BeJao, which connects trainers and foodies with social media profiles with their followers. In this way, content creators use the BeJao platform to articulate a community around them. With the app, they convert their social media followers into subscribers on BeJao, with payment plans for users with a range of prices starting at 20 euros, and which increases depending on customizable extras, such as reviews, consultations, measurements, and advice. "We are committed to universalizing health and offering affordable training and nutrition plans, through high-quality and scientifically rigorous software," defends Sanz.
Through this model, fitness and nutrition content creators manage to monetize their activity through the app, as they can receive up to 90% of the income generated by their community of followers, in percentages that vary depending on the services they provide with BeJao's resources: "We scale the business to the extent the creator wants, from minimally customized plans to very specific options," a model with which the platform currently has about 200 trainers. All of them attract users who subscribe to their profiles and workouts, generating "a community, a tribe that is fundamental for self-care."
BeJao has set the goal of increasing the number of creators, and for this growth to also translate into users. "We want to end this year with about 150,000 active users," which currently stands at 72,000. The company plans to accompany this growth with an increase in staff, now made up of a multidisciplinary team of 20 people working from a unique building in Sants, where they have facilities such as a gym for employees.
With these forecasts, the company predicts to close 2024 with a turnover of 3.5 million euros, in a context where it differentiates itself from the competition by "working on communities that already exist" on social networks; these communities are transferred to the app, which in turn allows users to have more complete and personalized plans and creators to monetize their content, operating simultaneously as a B2B and a B2C. BeJao is now focused on consolidating itself in Spain and in Latin American markets where it operates, with an eye on the Anglo-Saxon sphere to make the leap presumably in 2025. "The next step is there," with the aim of continuing to internationalize BeJao and its communities around fitness and nutrition with the help of content creators.