Squeeze of the new issue of Invest Dala

Ilyas Isatayev is a Kazakhstani entrepreneur, founder of the Invictus fitness center chain and the Hero's Journey startup. Under his leadership, Invictus has grown to 40 halls across Kazakhstan with over 60,000 customers. In 2023, his new project Hero's Journey attracted investments of $6 million at an estimated $30 million.

The history of Isatayev's entrepreneurial path did not begin with fitness. His first big business was the A2 supermarket chain, which was later acquired by Magnum. In 2014, he decided to enter the fitness industry:

"In 2014, I realized that my vocation is fitness. Before that, I worked in another field, owned a supermarket chain. As a result, we sold it to Magnum, and I can say that it was a relief for me, because I didn't particularly like this industry."

In 2015, together with his wife Aigerim and friend Olzhas, he launched Invictus Fitness. The company operates in several segments:

• Premium Market (Invictus Fitness)
• Available Segment (Invictus Go)
• Women's Fitness rooms (Invictus Girls)

“We plan to open in Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan in the near future, and we are also considering the Uzbek market. Our goal is to open 175 halls by 2031,” Ilyas Isatayev said.

The idea of the new project appeared after analyzing the behavior of Invictus customers:

"We saw that 60-70% of customers did not come at all, and the remaining 30-40% came 20 times a month. Fitness as a product works very well for some customers, but not for 60-70%. Our Hero's Journey project began with an analysis of this problem."

Hero's Journey Results:

• Engagement is 250 times higher compared to traditional halls
• Raised $1.3 million in investments with an estimated $10 million in the first round
• Successful closed the second round at $6 million with an estimated $30 million

“Do you know what the most interesting thing is? Over the past 44 years, everything has changed beyond recognition, and fitness has remained the same. If you compare Arnold Schwarzenegger's 1980 workouts with modern ones, the simulators have become only slightly better, but the essence is the same. We decided to change that."

Hero's Journey is now preparing to enter the US market. The plans are serious:

"We raised $6 million, of which $5 million will go to the opening of the first studio in New York. You know, when I tell Americans that we have developed a new type of fitness in Kazakhstan, they sometimes look with disbelief. I understand them — imagine if someone from Afghanistan came to you and said that they had come up with a revolutionary fitness in Kabul," Ilyas laughs.

By 2027, the team plans to raise another $20 million at a company valuation of $100+ million, and by 2030 reach 500-1000 halls across America.

According to Ilyas, there are no projects like Hero's Journey on the American market.

"Until 2019, we brought all innovative ideas from America to Kazakhstan. In 2019, these ideas ended. If we analyze the market in 2024, we will see that they are engaged in bootcamp and cycle again. Nothing has changed since 2019. <...> The closest project I have found is in Portugal. This is a fitness studio that uses gamification. I met its founder, San Mauro. The difference is that this fitness studio is focused on boxing and martial arts, and we work with hardware."

How the Hero's Journey team defends itself from competition:

1. Patenting the key elements of Hero's Journey
2. Rapid growth and market capture
3. Maintaining an innovative advantage
4. Possible partnerships with major market players

"I believe that a person should try a lot to learn something. He must make mistakes, and most importantly, understand them and learn from them. There is no way without it. Knowledge is not only in books and videos. Knowledge is taken from experience"

Invest Dala Podcast is the first podcast about the venture capital market of Kazakhstan in the Kazakh language. Here we are honestly talking about venture investments and startups in our native language.

Listen to the full version of the release with Ilyas Isataev – Youtube, audio platforms