Whoop executive defends high price tag, calling fitness tracker 'premium product'

The Whoop fitness tracker may have a high price tag, but that reflects its status as a premium product, a company executive said on Wednesday. Emily Capodilupo, Whoop ’s senior vice president of research, algorithms and data, spoke briefly about the wearable fitness tracker company's strategy at Axios 's Future of Health Summit event in Washington. "We're a premium product, we're one of the more expensive wearables out there and we also think those wearables are the best," she said. Ms Capodilupo said that "from day one", Whoop was designed to be a product aimed at enterprises, which meant that the company had to have evidence that its wearable offerings were effective and reliable. "In order to win government and enterprise contracts, you have to be able to prove that you work," she said. Ms Capodilupo also told those attending that artificial intelligence is making it possible for companies such as Whoop to add features at a much faster pace. But Whoop, she insisted, has several advantages over similar products on the market. “Last year, we announced a partnership with Quest diagnostics, which is one of the largest blood-testing companies in the country, and now through Whoop you purchase lab work,” she said. She said the data from Whoop’s tracking wrist band offers unprecedented health insights. "You can see, in the context of your Whoop data, what all that bloodwork means," Ms Capodilupo said. "This is what we're doing very differently from some of the other companies that have been offering direct-to-consumer bloodwork." Competition in the wearable space remains fierce. Last week, Alphabet-owned Google announced its new Fitbit-Air, promising the "most in-depth health insights yet". Egyptian-American entrepreneur Will Ahmed, who founded Whoop in 2012, responded with a photo on social media showing the internal components of a Whoop band, which included the label: "Don't bother copying us. We're still winning." Whoop recently announced it would open its first overseas research lab in Doha this year after securing $575 million in funding from a group of international investors led by Abu Dhabi and Qatar sovereign funds. The Series G round, led by Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Investment Company , 2PointZero Group and the Qatar Investment Authority, values the Boston-based company at $10.1 billion. The devices have grown in popularity since the company's founding and have gathered a loyal following, particularly among professional athletes. The company was at the centre of controversy during this year's Australian Open, when officials made tennis players including Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner remove their Whoop devices. "Data is not steroids," Mr Ahmed posted on his X account in protest. In April, he hailed announcements that Whoops can be worn in the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open. On Tuesday, Mr Ahmed announced a new deal with the Boston Red Sox. "This partnership runs from 2026 through 2028 and establishes Whoop as the exclusive wearable health technology partner of the Red Sox," he wrote.