Magic AI raises $11M to take its hologram fitness mirror to the US
What's the deal? London-based Magic AIDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has raised $11 million in an early VC round to fund its US expansion. BeringeaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and IW CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → co-led, joined by new backer Active PartnersDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → — known for investing in Soho House, RaphaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Leon. The round brings the startup's total raised since 2023 to about $20 million.
What's the endgame? Magic AI makes the Magic AI Mirror, a wall-mounted screen that uses computer vision to correct form, count reps, and project a hologram trainer into the room. Trainers include former England cricket captain Sir Alastair Cook and ex-Manchester United winger Jesse Lingard.
Why now? Founder Varun Bhanot built his first prototype after losing a quarter of his body weight with a trainer he could barely afford. Five years and three funding rounds later, the company is targeting US customers and has hired a former managing director of Peloton InternationalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → to lead the push.
Returning investors PXN GroupDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Accelerate VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Ventures TogetherDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → also backed the round. Earlier raises included a $9 million seed in 2023, a $5 million round in 2024, and an angel round in October led by Cook and Lingard.
What could go wrong? Home fitness hardware remains a hard sell. Lululemon shut its Mirror business, and Tonal's valuation reportedly fell from $1.9 billion to $500 million. TempoDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, the top-funded US competitor, has raised nearly $300 million but has not reached steady recurring revenue.
Bhanot says Magic AI is cheaper to build and run than its US rivals. Its computer-vision model, ReflectAI, is trained on more than 500,000 AI-coached workouts and roughly 150,000 hours of user data. Whether that translates into a US edge is unproven.
The signal: The raise ranks among the largest early VC rounds for UK augmented-reality startups — above the 96th percentile in that group. InsightAce Analytics projects the global AI fitness and wellness market will hit $34.7 billion by 2031. Bhanot reads the round as proof investors now see AI hardware as a strong position, though it remains unclear whether US consumers, who have watched many fitness-mirror firms fold, agree.
Image credit: Magic
