Star power

Celebrity-backed fitness chain moves headquarters from California to Austin

F45 now calls Austin home.

Photo courtesy of F45 Training Holdings

A fitness company backed by Hollywood star Mark Wahlberg is muscling its way into the Austin startup ecosystem.

In a June 21 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), F45 Training revealed its headquarters is now in Austin and indicated it plans to become a public company. F45 had been based in Los Angeles.

F45 franchises fitness studios. As of March 31, F45 franchisees operated 1,487 studios in 63 countries. That total includes 518 studios in the U.S. Twelve F45 studios operate in the Austin area, including one at the University of Texas.

F45 aims to eventually bulk up its portfolio to more than 23,000 fitness studios. In the SEC filing, the company says its studios offer “functional 45-minute workouts that are effective, fun, and community-driven.”

The filing lists F45’s headquarters as being at 801 Barton Springs Rd., just south of downtown Austin. However, the company reportedly will occupy a leased 44,000-square-foot office building at South Austin’s Penn Field development as its permanent headquarters.

The company is seeking SEC approval for its common stock to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol FXLV. In 2020, F45 racked up revenue of $82.3 million, down from $92.7 million in the pre-pandemic year of 2019.

Founded in 2013 in Australia, F45 attracted a minority investment from Wahlberg in 2019. Aside from drawing on Wahlberg’s star power, F45 has sealed marketing deals with basketball legend Magic Johnson, soccer icon David Beckham, and golf idol Greg Norman.

“We expect that Mr. Wahlberg’s involvement, leveraging his broad celebrity reach (with over 16 million Instagram followers) and well-known affinity for fitness, will continue to be a key differentiator in helping us to continue to drive growth,” F45 says in the SEC filing.

Wahlberg brings more than celebrity status to F45, though. His other entrepreneurial ventures include the Wahlburgers restaurant chain, the Performance Inspired Nutrition sports supplement brand, sports fashion designer and retailer Municipal Apparel, production company Unrealistic Ideas, and two car dealerships in Columbus, Ohio.

Wahlberg owns almost 1.4 million shares of F45’s stock, equating to a 4.6 percent stake. He also partially controls 46 percent of F45’s stock through MWIG LLC, a fund set up by Key West, Florida-based FOD Capital and Wahlberg. MWIG invested $100 million in F45 in exchange for 10 million shares of stock. FOD, founded by billionaire Donald Ross, also is an investor in Wahlburgers.

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Self-driving Roller Coaster

More self-driving cars expected to roll out in Austin for 2025

Photo courtesy of Waymo via KVUE

Various brands offering self-driving cars are on-and-off in Austin.

Expect to see more self-driving rideshare vehicles, also known as robotaxis, on Austin roads next year.

Robotaxi company Waymo, which you may have already seen on Austin's roads, is partnering with Uber. At some point next year, customers will be able to use the Uber app to call a self-driving ride.

Austin-based company Avride is in the testing phase and plans to roll out its robotaxis next year.

Currently, Volkswagen ADMT and Amazon's Zoox are in the testing phase in Austin, while Hyundai's Motional is in the mapping phase.

Last year, robotaxi company Cruise paused operations in Austin after the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the company's permits to operate driverless vehicles in the state. And last week, General Motors said it would no longer fund the company because of the time and resources needed.

This way of getting around has come with its safety concerns and issues. The city is tracking those concerns. According to the Transportation Department, the problems span from blocking the roads and parking in front of people's homes for weeks with lights beaming through their windows, to actual wrecks.

Since July 2023, robotaxis have been involved in 75 incidents. Only 21 of those incidents happened in 2024. It's important to note that Cruise has not been operating in Austin this year.

Since July 2023, driverless rideshare vehicles have been involved in 22 near collisions, eight collisions and seven instances where driverless taxis ignored directions from the Austin Police Department (APD).

According to the data, at least four of those Austin police incidents happened in recent months. The issues varied from driving through police checkpoints, to malfunctioning and getting stuck at an APD road closure near pedestrians, causing safety concerns.

A Waymo spokesperson said their vehicles have gesture recognition capabilities, which they've been training APD officers on using.

As the report shows, sometimes it does not work and Waymo said it is working to improve that. The spokesperson said that as of just last week, Waymo's First Responder Program has been independently verified by TÜV SÜD, making Waymo the first autonomous vehicle (AV) company to receive third-party validation for our emergency response protocols. They also said the data to date indicates the Waymo Driver is already reducing traffic injuries and fatalities in the places where the company currently operates.

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

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