More money for wearables and health tech: Fitbit gets $43M

Quantified selfers, there’s money to be made from your love of data. Fitbit, the fitness gadget maker that collects data about your exercise activities, received $43 million in funding today, according to an SEC filing.

The quantified self movement is all about people wanting to get concrete information about themselves. Data is extremely valuable when it’s analyzed and presented to a person in a visual way. Fitbit does this by collecting information about how many calories you burn, how many steps you take, how far you go, and what your sleep patterns look like. You can track all of this information through the company’s iOS and Android apps as well as online.

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The company will use the funding to hire more employees and focus on product development, chief executive James Park said in a statement. Fitbit’s devices, which include its popular pedometer style health tracker and its new Flex fitness band, are currently available in over 15,000 stores. The company has made a push into “corporate wellness” programs, as well.

Fitbit started shipping its Fitbit Flex bands in May for $100. And, compared to competitors, the band has a lot of great features for its price. Indeed, it’s one of the cheapest bands out there, and it comes with the same perks, if not more, when stacked up next to Nike’s Fuelband, the Basis Science, and the Jawbone Up.

This is Fitbit’s fourth round of funding. Brad Feld, managing partner of the Foundry Group; Jon Callaghan, managing partner at True Ventures; and Steve Murray, a partner with Softbank Capital are all listed as investors in the filing.

Fitbit is headquartered in San Francisco, Calif., and was founded in 2007.

We have reached out to Fitbit on the round and will update this post upon hearing back.

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