There’s a new kind of sweat equity making waves in Austin, and this time, it’s digital. Sweatpals just locked in a $12M seed round co-led by Patron, a16z speedrun, and Kevin Hart’s HartBeat Ventures to scale what might be the most human tech product in the wellness world: connection through movement.
Founded in 2022 by Salar Shahini (CEO) and Mandi Zhou (Chief Product Officer), Sweatpals isn’t selling workouts, it’s selling belonging. The story started when Shahini, an immigrant from Iran, realized after visiting 250 cities for his last company that no matter the zip code or language, fitness was the fastest way to find your people. Zhou, who immigrated from China at 14, learned the same lesson through a different struggle, turning to sports as both medicine and language when she first landed in the U.S. That shared truth became the DNA of Sweatpals: communities built one rep, one run, one hike at a time.
What makes Sweatpals different is it doesn’t just help you find a yoga class, it powers the ecosystem behind it. It’s the operating system for fitness hosts, instructors, and wellness entrepreneurs: ticketing, payments, waivers, messaging, analytics, even SMS and email marketing, all in one platform built for growth. The results speak louder than any marketing deck: 1M+ monthly users, 170K weekly actives, 20K new experiences in a single month, and a run club movement that’s up 216% YoY. The top 1% of hosts earn up to $2M a year. This isn’t just a social app; it’s an economy.
Backing comes from heavy hitters. Max Mullen of Instacart, Jeffrey Katzenberg of WndrCo, and Deb Liu, ex-CEO of Ancestry, joined the round. Patron’s Brian Cho, Jason Yeh, and Amber Atherton bring the gaming and community building firepower from Riot Games and Discord. And then there’s Kevin Hart, who saw Sweatpals as “the future of how we connect.” Hard to argue with that.
The company is now active in 24 U.S. cities and gunning for 36 by early 2026. The $12M will fuel product expansion, better monetization tools, and new features for gyms and large-scale organizers. Salar Shahini and Mandi Zhou are betting that wellness is the new nightlife, and so far, the data backs it up. Gen Z and Millennials are skipping bars for bootcamps, proving connection hits harder when you break a sweat for it.
