Lululemon says it plans to acquire home fitness startup Mirror for $500M; Mirror was last valued at $300M
Lululemon today announced plans to acquire home exercise startup Mirror, for $500 million. The fitness apparel company noted its plans by way of a press release …
The deal lands in a home-fitness market that has been consolidating fast: Peloton has already bought three startups for wearables, voice, and connected-mat expertise, while Mirror's $40-per-30-minute 1:1 training service showed the category moving from hardware sales toward recurring services.
First-order effects
Lululemon jumps from apparel into connected hardware and subscriptions overnight, inheriting a $1,500 device and a live-training service rather than building either from scratch.
Mirror's investors — Spark Capital, Point72, and early backer Lululemon — exit at $500M, roughly two-thirds above the company's last private valuation.
Second-order effects
Peloton and Tonal now face a competitor with apparel-scale marketing budgets and retail distribution to put Mirror hardware in front of new customers.
Rival apparel brands are forced to decide whether fitness content and devices belong in their own roadmaps, or whether they cede the at-home category to Lululemon and Peloton.
Third-order effects
If the pattern holds — Peloton acquiring capabilities, Lululemon buying a whole platform, Mindbody later absorbing ClassPass — fitness consolidates into a handful of vertically integrated brands that own apparel, hardware, and subscriptions together.
The premium paid over the last private mark sets a template where strategic buyers, not growth investors, become the natural exit for consumer fitness hardware startups.
The trend: Consumer fitness is consolidating as apparel and software companies buy their way into integrated hardware-and-subscription platforms rather than partnering.
NEW: Lululemon is buying Mirror, the buzzy home fitness startup that sells a $1,495 wall-mounted product for streaming workout classes. The $500 million purchase is Lululemon's first acquisition & underscores its goal of being more than an apparel brand: https://www.nytimes.com/.…
Gangster, perhaps. But ill-conceived. No need for Lululemon to own a fitness equipment company to sell clothes through it. And difficult to successfully run such different businesses, especially with one so early stage. https://twitter.com/...
Mirror is a smart gadget that offers virtual fitness classes. Lululemon is set to acquire the home fitness startup for $500M. Let's look back at their demo at Disrupt 2018 https://twitter.com/...
I don't mean to drag the CEO's success — and congrats to her, truly — but one of these days I look forward to reading about a huge exit from a female founder who *isn't* white, thin, and married into a family with massive amounts of generational wealth. https://twitter.com/...
Really smart move by @lululemon. Can def see a world where @Nike/@UnderArmour make their own hardware or acquire @tonal or my fave @trainwithtempo - like they did with apps in the last 10 years. https://twitter.com/...
Lulu buys Mirror for $500M Mirror raised $72M and expects $100M+ in revenue this year — an extraordinarily capital efficient hardware co Lulu: • enters home fitness • gets early view of emerging fitness categories (quickly iterate specific clothing) https://www.nytimes.com/...
The U.S. economy is great, and fair. Yes 40 million people are laid off but also a company that makes a $1,500 TV with only exercise channels (think Peloton but without the bike) just sold for $500 million. https://www.nytimes.com/...
This is a genius move. It's lateral innovation, it's connected, it broadens Lulu's brand idea and it gives them a new platform for customer engagement! #retail https://twitter.com/...
I like this play. Wife bought a NordicTrack and it was a piece of junk. Cheap plastic. Insanely difficult assembly (and so heavy). She's returning it. Home fitness ripe for disruption am also $PTON convert after getting close look at the competition which is stuck 20 yrs in past.…
I haven't used Mirror but this strikes me as potentially a great pick up by Lulu; hardware is hard but seeing this product really helps and lulu has 460 stores. Also cements my feeling that $LULU and $PTON are direct competitors (I am long both) https://twitter.com/...
Very interesting play. Also not easy. Under Armour couldn't figure out MapMyFitness. Nike had a hard time weaving in outside tech as well. https://twitter.com/...
this is a really smart move for an athleisure company, but i wonder if it'll feel more like the next peloton, or under armour buying mapmyrun ? https://twitter.com/...
Future Mirror notification: It looks like you're wearing Athleta pants. Please upgrade to Lululemon to unlock our latest yoga class. https://twitter.com/...
Huge congratulations to @brynnputnam, and the entire @getthemirror team on building a product people love and a company so valuable. We are incredibly grateful to have been part of it. https://www.businesswire.com/ ...