Digital health and fitness company WHOOP has boosted its valuation to $3.6 billion after securing $200 million in a Series F funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. Additional investors include IVP, Cavu Ventures, Thursday Ventures, GP Bullhound, Accomplice, NextView Ventures and Animal Capital.

Today’s funding announcement comes less than a year after WHOOP earned unicorn status following its $100 million Series E raise. The company now has $400 million in total funding.

WHAT IT DOES

WHOOP has developed a membership program that provides members with its wearable health tracker that collects physiological data around the clock and access to the corresponding app that displays health analytics and connects users with each other.

In addition to tracking heart rate and movement, the WHOOP Strap captures sleep, strain and recovery metrics to help users understand their health trends and unlock their fitness potential.

The company stresses the importance of a connected community to motivate one another and boasts a user base that includes professional golfers Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas, Super Bowl Champion Patrick Mahomes and more.

WHAT IT’S FOR

As WHOOP continues its growth trajectory, it plans to put the new cash toward research and development, product enhancements, market expansion, acquisitions, hiring, and growing both its professional and amateur athlete user base.

It hopes to build upon its recently released features that include WHOOP user chat rooms, menstrual cycle coaching, levels and in-app membership services. Additionally, the company is planning its growth by growing its team to 1,000 members by the end of 2022 and by launching internationally across Europe and Asia.

“We are thrilled to deepen our partnership with SoftBank as we grow internationally,” Will Ahmed, WHOOP founder and CEO, said in a statement. “While we have experienced amazing growth in the past year, the potential of our technology and the vast market for health monitoring remains largely untapped.”

As a part of its investment, SoftBank Investment Director Kristin Bannon is joining WHOOP’s board of directors.

MARKET SNAPSHOT

The wearable devices market is rather crowded these days with big names like Apple, Fitbit, Garmin and Samsung. Peloton could also be joining the wearable space as reports circulated this summer claiming it is working on a heart-rate monitoring armband.

Ahmed has made no qualms calling out WHOOP's competition for seemingly copying his design. When Amazon launched its Halo tracker last year, many saw similarities between the two devices, driving Ahmed to Twitter saying, “Yes, Amazon imitated our industrial design @whoop and yes they met with us as potential investors years ago under the Alex Funda.”

The popularity of these fitness trackers is expected to generate $13 billion in 2021, a 12% growth over the year before, according to the Consumer Technology Association.