Kayla Itsines and Tobi Pearce’s Sweat sold to US giant iFIT Health & Fitness

Australian fitness influencer Kayla Itsines and ex-fiance Tobi Pearce will bank a rumoured $400 million from the sale of their Sweat empire to a US health tech giant.

The deal with iFIT Health & Fitness comes just six years after the duo started their workout platform with a simple e-book launched from their backyard in Adelaide.

The Sweat app has now been downloaded more than 30 million times and is one of the world’s biggest digital fitness training platforms for women, generating $99.5m in revenue last year alone.

Itsines told her more than 13 million Instagram followers that she would continue with the business, which would remain a standalone brand offering more than 5000 workouts ranging from high-intensity interval training and strength to yoga, barre and Pilates.

The mother-of-one said Sweat would benefit from iFIT’s investment in technology and a push it into new markets, including diversifying the app’s workout content.

“It has been an incredible journey so far,” Itsines said.

“I remember running one-on-one sessions in my parents’ backyard and them growing into bigger group sessions in the local park here in Adelaide. Those sessions kept growing and growing and slowly we built up a community and then in 2015, we launched the Sweat app.

“Today we now have 13 personal trainers training you all, hundreds of thousands of women using Sweat every single week across 26 programs.

“Sweat has been acquired by iFIT, but will remain a standalone brand and I will still be your trainer and all of our programs are not changing or going anywhere.”

iFIT’s portfolio includes well-known fitness brands such as NordicTrack, Proform and Freemotion Fitness.

It said the Sweat deal would expand its presence in the global digital fitness market.

iFIT founder and chief executive Scott Watterson said the two businesses were highly complementary.

“The addition of Sweat will allow iFIT to further expand our membership base as well as add new fitness genres and modalities to our fast-growing subscription business, giving our company a tremendous competitive advantage,” Mr Watterson.