Gazella app

Gazella is the world's first running app focused exclusively on women. Gazella aims to revolutionize the way women all around the world live their health & fitness activities thanks to running. The first version of the app provides menstrual-cycle automatically adjusted running training plans

First version of the app (running plans automatically adjusted to the user's menstrual cycle) has already been downloaded by more than 18,000 users on Google Play (since it was launched in Mar'19).
We are currently working on introducing paying features in 2H19 (personalized nutrition plans adjusted to the user's menstrual cycle and fitness goal).

There has not been a better time for a project like this. Gazella is at the heart of the running boom, the surge of fitness & health app increasingly integrated in our lives and the femtech revolution. Gazella benefits from a rather favorable tailwind around the increasing popularity of personalized feminine services and a context of women empowerment that makes the project a winning formula.

When it comes to Health & Fitness gender equality means embracing the differences in order to use them to improve performance. It is a reality that menstrual cycle causes physical and emotional changes and accordingly it is key that women acknowledge them to use them in their benefit to extract the full potential of their bodies.

Menstruation is a natural thing for women, however due to taboos around it, women rarely adapt their fitness activities to the different phases of the menstrual cycle, even though is a very powerful tool that female elite athletes have been using for decades. Gazella is the first running app that goes beyond the running experience to embrace women’s uniqueness allowing them to benefit from it, turning what has traditionally seen as a problem to their advantage.

The first version of the app, which is already available for download on Google play, has been built around our proprietary algorithm that automatically adjust the training program to each user’s menstrual cycle. This way, the app allows each woman to easily reach her full potential by designing an individualized training plan that extracts the most out of each woman’s body throughout her unique menstrual cycle.

The app helps each user to be her very best by understanding how her body works through a 3-month training plan based on: (i) training smarter not harder, (ii) understanding how your body changes through the five phases of the menstrual cycle and how to make the most out of them, (iii) combining running sessions with strength and pelvic floor exercises for better results and (iv) cheering the user along the way!

The fitness & health app segment is a crowded one with multiple successful apps in the fitness area (both women and generic focused) and in the running sector (mainly generic), however women-only running apps offers an untapped opportunity. Personalized training starts with embracing the differences between men and women.

Although they are not the same, the only direct competitors could be FitrWoman (a menstrual cycle tracker that provides recommendations for sports) and Catch me if you can and Sincronizadas (which are focused on women safety whilst running).

Indirect competition on the other hand is fierce:
Generic running apps: Runtastic, Runkeeper, Strava, Nike Running Club...
Fitness apps (not performance or sports) targeted to women: Asana Rebel, Sweat with Kayla, Women workout, female fitness...
Generic fitness apps: 8fit, Aaptiv, Sworkit, Nike Training Club, Freeletics...

Gazella is the first running app that goes beyond the running experience to embrace women’s uniqueness allowing them to benefit from it, turning what has traditionally seen as a problem to their advantage. The rest of the alternatives are generic ones that do not truly understand the specific physical needs and deeper motivations of women.

We want to build an app based on the values of scientific evidence, women self-discovery and women empowerment. A holistic app that covers all the needs of the active & healthy women (body, mind and nutrition), with functionalities specifically designed for their challenges (menstrual cycle, pelvic floor, pregnancy, menopause...) and a community of users that share the same interests (women that follow a healthy & active lifestyle and want to take new sports challenges).

The beauty of gazella is that it not only allows women to unlock the full potential of their bodies but it also facilitates the integration of women into sports (not only fitness or gym) as it is personalized to their needs and understand their bodies.

We are already working towards launching our subscription model around nutrition and menstrual cycle in the 2H19 based on the following assumptions and a freemium model (training free feature and nutrition paying feature):
CPI (Cost Per Install) of €0.75
5% conversion to paying user
CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) of €15
ARPU (Average Revenue Per Paying User) €71
Gross Margin of 65%
LTV (Lifetime Value) of €92
LTV / CAC of 6.1x

Projected revenues under the subscription model: €27k in 2019, €217k in 2020, €975k in 2021, €3,267k in 2022 and €10,007k in 2023

Our business model is structured around a freemium scheme. Running plans are offered free to attract a large base of users (boosting word-to-mouth and allowing to develop artificial intelligence algorithms). Paid features will include personalized nutrition plans based on each user’s menstrual cycle (€€8/month, 60/year) and interacting with a human women coach (€20/month, €100/year). Additionally, other monetization techniques will be implemented when reaching critical mass (lead generation, partnership with brands and selective ads).

Launching the paying subscription model in the app around personalized nutrition and menstrual cycle, launching the app internationally, launching the iOS version of the app and accelerate product development and marketing tests with new hires on both teams.

We are currently raising an equity crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube: https://www.crowdcube.com/companies/gazella-app/pitches/Z5nW5b

We have already committed 90% of the target (100,000€) at a valuation of €1,000,000 pre-money.

Direct Investments start at €25,000.

Crowdfunding project video: https://vimeo.com/342759586

The business models around apps share similar risks: capital-intensive, difficulties around viralizing the app and also monetization.

In addition, female sports are attracting a lot of interest in a very short period of time and big multinationals are increasingly showing more interest on the segment. We see it as a validation and a great opportunity for the project (big multinations tend to acquire successful projects rather than developing internally) but we also understand it can be viewed as a risk.

We are in the late stages of the selection process for the acceleration programs of Concetor (Madrid) and Via Galicia (Galicia) to start after the summer.

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