Finland-based startup Yoogaia has secured €500,000 (~$630,000) in funding to expand its online yoga studio. Nordic VC firm Inventure led the round with around €300,000, whereas the rest of the sum came from unnamed angel investors. Prior to this, the company had raised just under €100,000 via a crowdfunding campaign.

Yoogaia offers live online classes in which participants can use a webcam to broadcast their practice, and get personal guidance and feedback from a remote instructor. The company allows users to pick the flavor of yoga they prefer, including pilates, core and kettle bell exercise classes with trained instructors. These classes can be accessed both on a computer as well as smartphones and tablets.

The monthly subscription costs €14.99 per month if the user signs up for a year, or €19.99 for a one-month unlimited classes pass.At the moment, most classes are in Finnish, and the plan is to use the fresh cash to expand the number of English classes and eventually launch the service all around the world next month. Also as part of this expansion, Yoogaia is looking to hire more yoga instructors.

Aside from participating in live classes, subscribers also have the option to watch recordings of classes for up to a week if they can’t attend the live session at the time it’s being broadcast.

Yoogaia offers a free first week so users can trial the service. After that, the monthly subscription costs €14.99 per month if the user signs up for a year, or €19.99 for a one-month unlimited classes pass. Thus far, the service has attracted between 3,000 and 5,000 users.

[Via: TechCrunch]