Venture Insights: BeFit

Who is BeFit?

In a world where health often takes a backseat due to time constraints, convenience, and cost, BeFit is redefining fitness by making it an effortless part of daily life. By integrating movement into daily routines, BeFit empowers individuals to prioritize their health without disrupting their busy lifestyles. With its budget-friendly pricing, BeFit ensures that fitness remains accessible to everyone, making well-being an everyday choice rather than an exclusive privilege.

Why We Invested

The Company: BeFit is poised to reshape the fitness landscape in the Philippines by offering a unique blend of quality, convenience, and affordability. Leveraging a tech-enabled approach, BeFit delivers a modern and seamless fitness experience through its end-to-end digital journey that keeps members connected on and off the gym floor. The company’s strategy begins with launches in locations in high-traffic districts, ensuring strong brand visibility and an impactful introduction.

BeFit’s business model centers on larger-scale gym formats, which deliver several advantages. Bigger spaces allow for more amenities that elevate the member experience. Large format gyms enable BeFit to provide a high-quality fitness experience while keeping it accessible and affordable for a wide range of members.

Many budget gyms in the Philippines, such as “Bakal gyms,” often cater to consistent gym-goers and fitness enthusiasts. While these spaces serve their communities well, their setup can unintentionally feel intimidating or unwelcoming to beginners or those seeking a more balanced and inclusive environment.

BeFit addresses this gap by creating a space that is approachable for all fitness levels and aims to foster a modern and supportive gym culture. Staff are trained to be approachable and proactive, offering guidance to newcomers and encouraging structured training sessions. This approach ensures that every member, regardless of experience level, feels confident, supported, and motivated in their fitness journey.

Beyond that, they are intentionally welcoming more women members, who are often underserved in traditional gym setups. From thoughtful equipment choices, to a layout and culture designed around inclusivity, BeFit ensures that every member feels comfortable, supported, and encouraged to pursue their fitness journey.

The Market: The Philippine fitness market presents a clear opportunity, as rising health awareness meets a shortage of affordable, high-quality gyms. If we compare the Philippines to Latin American, a region with a similarly young population, rising middle class, and aspirational, social-media–driven fitness culture, it offers a useful proxy for how affordable, quality gym chains can scale in an emerging market. The introduction of high-value, low price, high-quality gyms led to a noticeable increase in fitness participation. The Philippines is similarly positioned for growth, with low starting penetration, a Gross National Income (GNI) showing positive growth, and an emerging fitness and wellness consumer base ready to embrace accessible, value-driven options.

Compared to Latin American countries, the Philippines lags significantly in gym membership penetration. Only 0.53% of the population holds a gym membership, likely due to factors such as inaccessibility and affordability, highlighting a clear opportunity for market entrants. By contrast, select Latin American countries with comparable GNIs have an average gym membership penetration of around 3%. According to our 2025 Philippine Venture Capital Report, the country’s middle-income population has grown from 42% in 2012 to 47.5% in 2023, a 13% increase even as the total population rose by 20%.

With rising incomes, Filipinos are increasingly prioritizing areas previously overlooked, including health and wellness. Post-COVID lifestyles have further reinforced this shift, with more people focusing not only on reactive health but also on preventative wellness, including regular fitness. Recent reports show that 31% of Filipinos are spending more on physical fitness activities, reflecting this growing awareness. Yet despite the increasing demand, no competitor fully addresses the low-cost, high-value gym niche, leaving a clear opportunity for BeFit to step in and meet this need.

The Team: Behind BeFit is a team of seasoned professionals with a blend of global experience and local insight, making them uniquely equipped to execute their vision.

Tania, the driving force behind BeFit's expansion, previously led the rollout and expansion of PureGym into new markets, including Saudi Arabia. Her experience in scaling fitness brands in diverse markets brings invaluable expertise to BeFit's operations. Tania's understanding of global fitness trends, combined with her ability to adapt strategies to local contexts, ensures that BeFit remains at the forefront of the industry.

Angelo Lee, founder of BeFit, brings deep financial expertise to the table. With a background in private equity and experience as an active angel investor, Angelo has a sharp understanding of how to increase shareholder value. His financial acumen and strategic vision are instrumental in building BeFit into a sustainable and profitable business.

Together, Tania and Angelo, along with the local team and investors, form a powerhouse of talent and experience. Their combined expertise in operations, finance, and market strategy provides BeFit with the leadership necessary to navigate the complexities of the fitness industry and drive the company's growth and success.