Technology
Trade My Spin is building a business around used Peloton gear

Peloton has had one of the tumultuous half-decades in tech. The home fitness company has experienced a few of the industry’s biggest ups and downs in a dizzying sequence. This is the story of a high-profile startup that became the main focus of a cult following amongst influencers and fitness fanatics. A worldwide pandemic catapulted the brand to unprecedented heights before overinvestment, product recalls, mass layoffs, and executive departures brought it back all the way down to earth.
Peloton is within the red in mid-2024, but not out of the business. The company avoided a major liquidity crisis with a massive debt refinancing in late May. That marked the top of a month that also saw a 15% staff cut and the departure of CEO Barry McCarthy a little over two years after he took over from founder John Foley.
Peloton’s unique rollercoaster ride has had a wide selection of negative effects. Excitement peaked at the peak of the pandemic, but because the world began to reopen, sales fell. Some who got hooked at the peak of social distancing have remained loyal to the brand. But many others have lost that bond. Some churn is inevitable with any fitness offering, but those numbers have undoubtedly been exacerbated by the reopening of gyms and other alternative exercise options.
As a result, a lot of unused, expensive fitness equipment is taking over space in homes across America; they’re now “coat racks,” as a coworker recently dubbed her Peloton bike. A fast search of Facebook Marketplace reveals row after row of exercise bikes routinely priced around $300 to $500—a fraction of the worth of a latest model (around $1,500). For many once-enthusiastic owners, the equipment has turn into a pain. But for a pair of East Coast entrepreneurs, it’s a chance.
This Change my spin The origin story begins humbly, when current CEO Ari Kimmelfeld began on the lookout for a good deal on a used Peloton bike. As good as the costs were on Facebook and Craigslist, in comparison with buying latest from the manufacturer, the experience had its own problems.
“Buying something that big was a huge inconvenience,” Kimmelfeld, who was then working at Ernst & Young’s strategy consulting arm EY-Parthenon, tells TechCrunch. “Five hundred dollars was a lot of money, and meeting up with a stranger and giving him money for a piece of equipment that you can’t really test. And I live in New York. Moving something like that from a Brooklyn apartment to Manhattan is tough. And there are no guarantees.”
Local logistics
Kimmelfeld began piloting what would turn into Trade My Spin last yr by collecting and selling used Peloton gear. The offering was essentially DIY logistics, removing the friction of shopping for and selling used exercise equipment. It was a conversation with Joey Benjamini that transformed the one-man operation into a profitable business.
Benjamini has built a logistics network based on cooperation with contractors Collectible classicsHis Pennsylvania-based classic automotive dealership relies on drivers to deliver vehicles sold primarily through the used-car marketplace Bring a Trailer.
“Logistics is the most complicated and important part of this business—and the biggest barrier to entry,” Benjamini tells TechCrunch. “We have a database of 1099 vendors who deliver for us. We’re constantly growing a network of drivers who know our company and our processes. Once a driver is trained, we send them out to pick up the bikes. It’s very simple.”
The latest team began working on the Trade My Spin website before looking for funding. The site stays easy, whilst the inventory has expanded to incorporate Peloton treadmills, rowers and a number of accessories. The Buy button displays a bustling marketplace for the service, while Sell displays a form for the equipment you would like to sell. With the positioning up and running, the young company raised a small amount of seed money to scale operations.
Interview with Peloton
The startup has also had multiple conversations with Peloton since its official launch in March. Trade My Spin’s primary focus within the conversations is that its relationship is symbiotic, not parasitic. At first glance, it’s easy to see why Peloton is likely to be hostile toward the corporate.
Seen as a zero-sum game, every used bike sold represents a potential lack of a latest bike sale. While it’s true that keeping bikes in circulation is a net positive on the sustainability front, Peloton shareholders are undoubtedly trying to the sales figure for change.
The math changes, nonetheless, while you consider that Peloton’s ultimate goal is to be a content company that sells equipment, not the opposite way around. Rather than simply selling used bikes as a missed sale on a latest one, Trade My Spin claims that each bike taken out of circulation is one less subscription to Peloton’s class content platform.
“Every bike we take is from someone who isn’t using it,” Benjamini says. “If someone isn’t using the bike, they’re not using the subscription. Peloton is a subscription service. It’s $44 a month. Every time we flip a bike—and we’ve flipped thousands of bikes—they make $500 a year.”
The relationship would little doubt have been different had Peloton been more proactive about moving its own used gear. Ultimately, Trade My Spin stepped in to fill this underserved gap out there.
New turn

Trade My Spin has built a logistics network that permits for same-day or next-day delivery in most major cities within the continental U.S. More distant locations can take as much as five days to satisfy an order, which is still faster than the three to 5 days it takes Peloton to process an order.
In the short term, expansion includes adding more fitness equipment to Trade My Spin’s buying and selling options. In the long term, the corporate desires to leverage its growing network of contractors to incorporate buying and selling all forms of bulky items. Trade My Spin will likely need an extra round of funding to attain this.
“We want to transform,” Benjamini says. “We’re going from where we are now and building a large-scale market for large items with logistics. That’s the game plan, and no one else is going to do it. There’s a barrier to entry and a moat around the business when it comes to drivers.”
Technology
Space Solar Startup Aetherflux collects USD 50 million for the introduction of the first version of the spatial demo in 2026

Aetherflux, a start-up with a cosmic sunny founded by Baiju Bhatt, billionaire co-founder Robinhood, collected $ 50 million in the A series round, because it really works on the first demonstration of low land orbit in 2026.
The startup from San (*50*) in California, which got here out of Stealth in October last yr, goals to finally start the constellation of low soil orbit satellites, which might collect and transfer solar energy on to “ground stations” on Earth. This is an concept that was initially attributable to telling Isimov’s telling “reason”. Bhatt focuses on the transformation of this inspired science fiction concept into reality.
But firstly, Aetherflux must persuade the satellite to orbit to prove technology, “show that we have made transformal progress from people who do not have power from place to, for the first time, for the first time there is power from the place for people for the first time,” said Bhatt, founder and general director of the startup.
At least that is the goal next yr, which shall be supported by Fresh Capital Aetherflux. The round brings total Aetherflux funds to $ 60 million after Bhatt has invested $ 10 million in its own funds in the company. The round A round was led by the Ventures and Interlagos indexes, with the participation of groundbreaking energy projects of Bill Gates, Andreessen Horowitz and Nea, in addition to several other interesting names equivalent to Jared Leto.
Bhatt, who joined us in the TechCrunch Equity podcast at the starting of this yr, told Techcrunch that Aetherflux would use funds to employ a bigger number of engineers and invest in technology and infrastructure needed for its first few missions.
“Our team is now focused primarily on building a load, which is located at the top of the bus … which has all the power generated by a satellite bus and turns it into laser energy,” said Bhatt.
Aetherflux uses Apex Space satellite bus. The satellite bus is the basic structure and satellite system that gives basic functions for its operation, equivalent to power, drive and communication. Most buses generate energy through solar panels, and Bhatt says that power – as much as a kilo of energy – shall be sent back to the ground.
After the receipt shall be “ground stations” Aetherflux, consisting of photovoltaic boards, which convert sunlight into energy stored in batteries for later use. Bhatt said that his team, which consists of engineers and researchers from NASA, Spacex, Lockheed Martin, Anduril and the American Navy, can be working on constructing the first Aetherflux ground station. The startup has no place for the station yet, but evaluates military sites where there may be more controlled airspace.
In the future, Bhatt claims that the goal is to construct small, portable ground stations – with a diameter of 5 to 10 meters – to introduce electricity to the most distant locations.
“We would like to demonstrate (with the first mission), it is to join the end,” said Bhatt. “We want to be able to show that we actually have electricity on Earth and use it to illuminate light installations or perform electronic items on Earth.”
Few achieved the feat of sending solar energy from space to earth. One of the only successful missions was in 2023, when scientists Caltech’s Space Solar Power Project The displayed wireless power transfer from low Earth’s orbit using microwave radiation. This has proved this idea, but it surely will not be in the state of Aetherflux for the scalable, industrial system.
Eetherflux increases falls at the back Prize From the Energy Health improvement fund of the Defense Department to develop cosmic solar energy for the US army.
(Tagstotransate) aetherflux
Technology
Spelman organizes the game Dżem to build a hbc gaming pipeline

The event took place from March 28 to 30 with Hackaton, workshops and network events.
Spelman College wants the game industry to be “E” for everybody. HBCU hosted the third annual game from games to encourage more black people to take part in creating video games.
When the world becomes much more digital, with an adult video game industry, Spelman wants black professionals to take places at the table. HBCU Jam hopes to encourage students with this lucrative profession path by constructing calls and supporting opportunities.
This yr the game It began completely by the team led by students by the senior computer science Major Major Denee Denee. Co -chairing older “Comp Sci”, Nia Brunson, an eight -person team used the Spelman innovation laborator as the seat of the conference.
“Innovation laboratory began so small and then it was an amazing space,” Brunson explained, “Now, with this new dedicated space, students have even more learning and creating opportunities. School and team deserve it, and I think they will do amazing things for Spelman and the entire HBCU community.”
Trope added: “I am a great supporter of jams and hackatons because they give you the opportunity to assess their skills and work on something you are really proud of.”
Event began From March 28 to 30, allowing many without experience as well as to the interest in games to proceed passion on this field. Game Jam began with the inaugural conference before the start of the 24-hour hackaton, wherein students met in teams to create their very own video games.
Brunson believes that this support could make everyone feel welcome in the gaming industry, no matter initial knowledge on this subject. The co -chairman also formatted the game to be sure that that the participants had enough time to work in Hackathon before workshops and network events.
“I love that playing jam welcomes people without the previous development of the game. Over 50% of our applicants are new in games,” said Brunson. “That is why we organize workshops on the creation of assets, the use of unity and ensuring mentoring – that everyone feels supported.”
Students from nine HBCu took part in evolution, and technological sponsors reminiscent of Zynga, Microsoft, Unity, Boeing and Codehouse are also joining the fun with prizes for participants. Although black professionals constitute only 5% of the workforce, which is confirmed by the International Association of Dewelopers, this initiative goals to solve this method gap without delay.
For Jaycee Holmes, a professor of interactive media and co -director Spelman Innovation Lab, Jam encourages enthusiasts of black games to know that these works are already waiting for them.
“We want them to realize what they are capable of and understand that there is a friendly game industry willing to their votes.”
Technology
Altman Foling Drama itself listed in the new book Fragment

Fragment of the upcoming book “Optimist: Sam Altman, Opeli and Race to Invent the Future” offers new details About why the Opeli board briefly slowed down the general director of Altman in 2023.
The book written by the Wall Street Journal reporter, Keach Hagey, claims that members of the Management Board of the Non -Profit organization were increasingly concerned after learning about problems akin to OpenAI Startup Fund, which was actually personally owned by Altman.
At the same time, the co -founder of Ilya Sutskever and Cto Mira Murati reportedly collected evidence of what they perceived as toxic and dishonest behavior of Altman, together with the screenshots of the Slack Channel screen. For example, Altman allegedly claimed that the company’s legal department said that the Turbo GPT-4 didn’t must be checked by a joint security committee, but the best lawyer of the company refused this.
After Sutskever provided this evidence to the board members, they moved to Altman and the appointment of Murati as a brief director. But this failed quickly, and Opeli employees (including Sutskever and Murati) signed a letter demanding the return of Altman – which he soon did, and Sutskever and Murati leave, after which go to their very own startups.
(Tagstotransate) ILYA SUTSKEVER (T) MIRA MURATI (T) OPENAI (T) Altman
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