Ten Thousand inks $21.5 million in series funding round

U.S. men’s activewear brand Ten Thousand announced on Thursday a $21.5 million Series A raise, amid a new partnership with Life Time Athletic Country Clubs and Healthy Way of Life Brand. 

The New York-based brand said the investment was led by Provenance, with participation from Fernbrook and Alfa. This syndicate joins existing seed investors including Dave Gilboa (co-founder of Warby Parker), Blue Scorpion, and Elizabeth St Ventures.

“As lifelong athletes that consistently struggled to find adequate training gear, we started Ten Thousand to build what we were looking for in the market — a streamlined assortment of no-nonsense, premium gear that could take us through any and every training session,” said Ten Thousand founder and CEO, Keith Nowak.

“By only using the highest quality materials, obsessing over the details, and working with elite hybrid athletes to design, develop, and test every product, Ten Thousand has become the go-to performance brand for serious athletes. The result is purpose-built gear that is made to last. As a business we’ve not only seen significant growth on a consistent basis, we also have one of the highest repeat customer rates in the industry. With this new investment and our partnership with Life Time we can shift the business into high gear by growing our team, investing in more inventory, exploring retail, larger partnerships and new marketing channels.”

​Coinciding with the funding announcement, Ten Thousand also announced a three-year partnership with Life Time Athletic Country Clubs that will make them the exclusive men’s training apparel brand of Life Time’s Dynamic Personal Training (DPT) team and its Studio, GTX, Alpha, and Ultra Fit classes. The brand will also sponsor select Life Time events as well as deliver exclusive products and in-club activations.

In 2022, the sports and swimwear apparel market revenue in the U.S. was estimated to be worth approximately 67 billion euros, according to Statista. This is forecast to rise to over $85 million by 2026.