The Whoop 4.0 tracker.
Image: Whoop

Wearable maker Whoop to hire 50 in Dublin expansion

30 Sep 2021

The company, which is backed by golfer Rory McIlroy, secured $200m in new investment last month to help it grow internationally.

Fitness tracker company Whoop is to expand its presence in Dublin with the creation of 50 new roles.

The move follows a Series F funding round in August, led by SoftBank, which raised $200m and valued the Boston-based company at $3.6bn.

Whoop currently employs seven people in Dublin in the areas of marketing and membership services, having set up its first European office in the city earlier this year.

The company has not yet specified what areas in which it plans to hire, but said it will grow its headcount across “multiple business functions” and fill 50 new roles by the end of 2022. It is currently advertising for a marketing manager position in Ireland.

Whoop’s investment in Dublin is supported by IDA Ireland.

The State agency’s CEO, Martin Shanahan, said Whoop’s presence will add to the cluster of sports and wellness technology companies in Ireland.

“This decision by Whoop to base its first international hub in Dublin, despite competition from other European locations, is a strong endorsement of our talented workforce and attractive business environment for fast growing companies,” he added.

The company’s co-founder and CEO, Will Ahmed, hinted to the Irish Times that further expansion in Dublin could follow. “We’re going to keep growing fast. I think the 50 jobs announced now will be just for the next 12 months but we’ll continue from there.

“We looked at a number of cities and came to feel that Dublin is the one that has the best access to tech talent and will therefore enable us to grow quickly internationally.”

The company’s presence in Dublin is currently led by international marketing director Briain Curtin. Prior to joining Whoop in March, Curtin spent 10 months as head of growth at Revolut, and more than four years at Fitbit.

He said that Whoop has “ambitious expansion plans for international markets” over the next number of years.

Whoop doesn’t have a large a market share as competitors in the fitness tracker market like Fitbit, but is used by famous athletes across a range of sports. Munster rugby player Conor Murray uses the company’s devices, and golfer Rory McIlroy is both an investor in the company and a user of Whoop bands.

The company was founded in 2012 and earlier this month released its Whoop 4.0 tracker, featuring innovative, new, energy-dense batteries from Sila Nanotechnologies. The device isn’t bought by customers, but comes as part of a monthly subscription service that also includes app updates, coaching features and more.

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Jack Kennedy
By Jack Kennedy

Jack Kennedy is a freelance journalist based in Dublin, coming from a background in computer and electronic engineering. He currently serves as the editor of Trinity News, Ireland’s oldest student newspaper. He’s interested in international relations and has strong feelings about baseball.

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