WHOOP (company)

WHOOP is an American wearable technology company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Its principal product is a fitness tracker that measures strain, recovery, and sleep. The device is best known for its use by athletes. The device is often used to keep track of overall health and even detection of illness.

The WHOOP band is popular among both consumers and professional athletes such as basketball player LeBron James, golfer Rory McIlroy and swimmer Michael Phelps.

Product
WHOOP 1.0 was released in 2015. A second version arrived in 2016, and a third in 2019. WHOOP 4.0 debuted in 2021, with battery technology developed by Sila Nanotechnologies that replaces graphite anodes with silicon, thus increasing battery capacity. WHOOP 4.0 consists of a removable knit strap that is attached to the monitor. The battery is water-proof and can charge the device while in use on the body.

The wearable device collects data on sleep, heart rate variability, resting heart rate, and respiratory rate to create a daily recovery score for users. The recovery score ranges from 0% to 100% to let users know if their body is recovered or if it needs rest. It provides a suggested exertion goal based on day-to-day recovery and sleep.

On March 29, 2023, WHOOP announced its Stress Monitor feature, which tracks daily stress levels through heart rate variability (HRV) and measurements of resting heart rate to provide a personalized Stress Score. In partnership with Dr. Andrew Huberman, they introduced breathwork interventions designed to decrease stress or increase alertness.

In September 2023, WHOOP released its new "WHOOP Coach" feature powered by OpenAI, which was designed to provide personalized health and fitness coaching. The feature allows members to converse with the program to ask personalized questions and have conversations about their training and health.

The most notable difference between WHOOP and other wearables is physical: WHOOP has no screen or buttons; all information must be viewed on a user's smartphone. The WHOOP app is available on Android and Apple devices.

Other notable differences include price (WHOOP charges a monthly subscription fee; the device stops tracking without a subscription ) and data (according to Time, the device accumulates more data than its peers; its five sensors collect 100 megabytes of data per user, per day ).

History
In 2012, Will Ahmed, a Harvard University student athlete, founded WHOOP to help athletes gain greater visibility into their own fitness and rest. Along with two fellow students at Harvard, John Capodilupo and Aurelian Nicolae, Ahmed incubated a prototype at Harvard Innovation Labs. The company raised $200 million from venture capital fund SoftBank in August 2021, at a valuation of $3.6 billion.

As of November 2022, Ahmed is the company's chief executive officer, and Nicolae is the director of mechanical engineering. Capodilupo was chief technology officer until he stepped down in April 2022. He was replaced as CTO by Jaime Waydo in November 2022. Antonio Bertone former Chief Marketing Officer of PUMA USA was hired in 2018 to serve as chief marketing officer of WHOOP.

Investors in the startup include institutions such as the SoftBank Group and the National Football League Players Association, as well as individuals such as basketball player Kevin Durant and football players Patrick Mahomes and Eli Manning.

The name "WHOOP" is a phrase Ahmed used before big games in college.

Sports
WHOOP has been approved as a fitness wearable by various professional sports leagues and their labor unions. These include CrossFit, the Ladies Professional Golf Association, Major League Baseball, the National Football League Players Association, and the PGA Tour.

The wearable is popular among celebrity athletes, including swimmer Michael Phelps, basketball player LeBron James, and golfers Rory McIlroy, Nelly Korda, Tiger Woods, Justin Thomas, and MLB players Wade Miley and Brandon Woodruff.

In 2017, NBA players DeAndre Jordan, Matthew Dellavedova, and others were reported to be hiding WHOOP devices under their wristbands during games, despite the NBA prohibiting wearables for in-game use.

In 2023, Indian cricketer Virat Kohli wore WHOOP prominently during the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup.

In May 2024, Cristiano Ronaldo becomes the global ambassador of WHOOP.

Covid-19
In June 2020, PGA Tour golfer Nick Watney noticed his respiratory rate spiked on his WHOOP app. Although he had no other symptoms of COVID-19, he decided to get tested, and was positive for the virus. This led to the PGA Tour to sign a deal with Whoop, making their products available to all golfers and caddies on Tour to reduce the spread of the virus.

In December 2020, PGA Tour winner Scott Stallings noticed that his HRV, resting heart rate, and respiratory rate were not in the normal range on his app and soon tested positive for COVID-19. Stallings had been one of the first PGA Tour pros to wear the WHOOP and claimed to initially use it for better sleep habits after his sinus surgery.

WHOOP has tested its product's ability to detect viruses such as COVID-19. In 2020, Whoop partnered with researchers from Central Queensland University to analyze changes in respiratory rate to predict the risk of COVID-19. The findings showed that the algorithm identified 80% of positive COVID-19 cases by day three of symptoms and 20% of positive COVID-19 cases were diagnosed two days prior to the onset of symptoms.