FitXR

A London virtual-reality fitness company whose app offers boxing, dance and HIIT classes you do wearing a headset at home.

About FitXR

FitXR is a fitness technology company that uses virtual reality (VR), where you wear a headset that makes you feel as if you are inside another place. Its main product is a fitness app for the Meta Quest headset, with studios for boxing, HIIT (short bursts of hard exercise) and dance classes led by real coaches inside a virtual space. According to a business directory profile the app has been downloaded by more than a million people, though we did not check that number. The company also sells to businesses, for example for workplace wellbeing. It describes its work as VR and mixed-reality fitness.

The company says it was started in 2016 in a garden shed in the UK. Its mission, as given in one directory profile, is to "impact more lives than any other fitness company" and help build a healthier world, by making fitness simpler and more enjoyable. Another profile puts it differently: it wants to show that exercise can be fun and for everyone, and imagines fitness fitting into daily life at home, in parks or in gyms with technology that extends reality. We did not read the company's own website, so these come from third-party profiles of the company.

FitXR is listed as a London company, with an address at International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, in the City of London. It is a remote-first company, so many staff work from home. A directory profile describes a team of just under 100 people across the UK, the United States and Spain, and another lists 21 to 100 employees. These numbers vary between sources and are not up to date, so treat them as a rough idea of size.

On culture, the profiles say that FitXR is guided by eight "Principles of Play", including making space for every voice, keeping a learner's mindset and putting team success ahead of individual glory. A jobs-site profile lists benefits including unlimited annual leave, a learning budget, a wellbeing budget, a work-from-home budget, a laptop and a VR headset, and a company retreat twice a year. Those are the company's own statements as relayed by the sites. The company has also been named in a list of promising start-ups and has appeared in magazines, according to Built In London.

A company like this employs a surprising mix of people. There are game and Unity developers who build the virtual worlds, designers and animators, fitness coaches and instructors who film and lead classes, product and data specialists, marketing and community teams, and sales staff who work with businesses. If you like games, sport, design or coding, it shows how those interests can meet in a single job. Check the company's website for what it currently needs.

What they do

• {'desc': 'Boxing, HIIT and dance classes inside a virtual studio on a headset.', 'title': 'VR fitness classes'}
• {'desc': 'Classes created with real instructors rather than only video games.', 'title': 'Coach-led programmes'}
• {'desc': 'VR fitness for companies that want to support staff health.', 'title': 'Workplace wellbeing'}

Key facts

• Founded 2016 in a UK garden shed, per Built In London
• London address at 24 Holborn Viaduct, City of London; remote-first working
• Just under 100 people across the UK, US and Spain in a directory description (dated)
• Guided by eight "Principles of Play" (company statement via a directory)

Website: fitxr.com