Corporate wellness platform, Wellhub, has acquired Fitprime, a key player in the Italian corporate wellness market.

This creates Italy’s largest network of more than 4,300 fitness and wellness partners. Fitprime enables more than 200 corporate clients to offer health benefits to more than 400k subscribers.

“We're delighted to welcome Fitprime to the Wellhub team,” says Cesar Carvalho, co-founder and CEO of Wellhub. “This union represents a significant expansion of our presence in Europe and strengthens our commitment to providing the best wellbeing plans to companies around the world.

“Fitprime’s impressive network and expertise in the Italian market will be invaluable as we continue to grow and innovate on behalf of our corporate clients, their employees and our wellness partners.”

Co-founder and CEO of Fitprime, Matteo Musa, says: “Joining forces with Wellhub is a perfect opportunity for Fitprime to accelerate growth and expand its impact.

“Wellhub’s global resources and expertise will enable us to enhance our offerings and provide even more value to our clients. This will create new opportunities for us to further solidify our position as a leader in the Italian wellness market.”

Wellhub’s 2024 Trends Report – based on the “check-ins” from more than three million subscribers around the world between 1 October 2023 and 30 September 2024 – shows a global move towards holistic activities.

“Nutrition, healthy habits and mental wellbeing are now top priorities for employees,” says the report. “Employers must adapt their wellness programmes with diverse wellness activities to meet these needs.”

A check-in is each time someone uses a service within the Wellhub network, which could be visiting a gym, using the app or doing a meditation. The categories span fitness, nutrition, sleep, mindfulness, therapy and healthy habits.

Strength is the most popular workout globally, followed by Pilates, combat sports, dance, aquatics, yoga and cycling.

However, while it’s still the most popular workout, strength check-ins were down by 17 per cent in 2024 compared with 2023.

Gentle exercise, such as yoga and Pilates are gaining popularity, with yoga being the fastest growing genre: check-ins were up by 7 per cent.

There has been a 112 per cent increase in nutrition check-ins and 72 per cent more check-ins for healthy habits, which is designed to aid adherence to positive behaviours.

Tuesday at 6pm is the most popular time for working out around the globe, Sunday has the fewest check-ins and September is the most active month.

The report also found that users are increasingly combining in-person with digital experiences, showing the importance of offering both.

Looking ahead to 2025, Wellhub predicts companies will step up their wellness programmes to combat the burnout crisis and employees will become better equipped at managing their stress, for example by using midday wellness breaks.