Upgrade Labs

The modern health-conscious consumer faces a fundamental paradox: they want measurable, science-backed physical optimization, but traditional gyms deliver neither the technology nor the efficiency to meet that demand. Upgrade Labs was purpose-built to solve exactly that problem. Founded in 2017 by Dave Asprey — the entrepreneur credited with creating Bulletproof Coffee and widely recognized as the "Father of Biohacking" — Upgrade Labs launched as the world's first Human Upgrade Center in Santa Monica, California, consolidating decades of biohacking research and cutting-edge performance technology under one roof. Asprey's thesis was straightforward: busy, affluent professionals are willing to pay a premium for measurable biological optimization, but they will not sacrifice hours per week in a conventional gym to get it. The flagship service, The Cheat Machine, delivers the physiological equivalent of a full week's worth of resistance training in just 15 minutes, a claim that crystallizes the brand's value proposition. The Upgrade Labs franchise opportunity sits at the convergence of personalized wellness, advanced technology, and the emerging longevity movement, targeting consumers with median household incomes above $100,000 who are actively seeking evidence-based health solutions. As of 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document data, the brand operates 4 franchised units across the United States, with territories sold in California, Idaho, Utah, Texas, Washington, North Carolina, and Tennessee, and active international expansion into Canada and Australia. With the global personal services market valued at USD 1,415 billion in 2024, and biohacking and recovery services representing one of its fastest-growing subsegments, the Upgrade Labs franchise opportunity positions early investors at the frontier of a market shift that is still in its opening innings. This analysis is produced independently by PeerSense and is not sponsored, affiliated with, or reviewed by Upgrade Labs or its corporate team.

The industry context surrounding the Upgrade Labs franchise opportunity is one of the most compelling structural setups in the entire franchise investment landscape. The global personal services market, within which Upgrade Labs competes under the fitness and gym category, was valued at USD 1,415.0 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 1,533.86 billion in 2025 before expanding to USD 2,292.44 billion by 2030 at a compound annual growth rate of 8.4%. A parallel projection values the personal services market at USD 1.3 trillion in 2025, growing at a CAGR of 9.8% to reach USD 3 trillion by 2034, reflecting consistent cross-source consensus that this is a high-growth, secular-trend category. Consumer behavior inside this market is shifting sharply away from traditional gym memberships toward smarter, more time-efficient, and technologically sophisticated training models — exactly the space Upgrade Labs occupies. The macro forces driving this shift include rising disposable incomes, accelerating urbanization, demographic aging, and a post-pandemic recalibration of health priorities that has made preventive care, performance optimization, and longevity mainstream concerns rather than niche preoccupations. Biohacking and recovery services specifically — which include cryotherapy, neurofeedback, PEMF therapy, infrared saunas, compression therapy, and atmospheric cell training, all of which are offered at Upgrade Labs locations — are emerging as the highest-growth niche within this expanding market. The customer base for these services skews toward professionals aged 30 to 55 in high-income zip codes with strong tech-sector employment, a demographic that is growing in size, spending power, and health awareness simultaneously. The competitive landscape in biohacking and recovery remains highly fragmented, with no single dominant national brand having yet established the kind of scale and recognition that locks out new entrants, creating an advantageous environment for a well-capitalized franchise system to claim territory ahead of market maturation.

The Upgrade Labs franchise investment represents a premium capital commitment that is well above category averages for fitness and personal services franchises, and prospective investors should approach the financial requirements with clear-eyed precision. The initial franchise fee is $65,000, a figure that reflects the brand's positioning as a high-end, technology-intensive concept rather than a conventional fitness studio. Total initial investment ranges from $751,500 on the low end to $1,525,500 on the high end, with variation driven primarily by real estate costs, build-out complexity, and the density of proprietary equipment installed in each location, which includes advanced technologies like The Cheat Machine, infrared sauna systems, cryotherapy chambers, neurofeedback platforms, PEMF devices, and compression therapy stations. Working capital requirements are specified at $50,000 to $75,000, which is a meaningful line item on top of the build-out and equipment costs. The ongoing royalty fee is 7.5% of gross revenue, and franchisees also pay a 2.0% advertising fee, bringing total ongoing fee obligations to 9.5% before any local marketing spend. The initial franchise agreement carries a 10-year term with a 5-year renewal option, providing a reasonably long runway for franchisees to recoup their capital and establish a mature membership base before facing a renewal decision. To put the investment scale in context, the low end of $751,500 already exceeds what many boutique fitness concepts require at their high-end investment range, making this a mid-to-upper tier franchise investment that is best suited to investors with substantial liquid capital and a genuine risk appetite for early-stage, technology-forward concepts. The company's estimated annual revenue falls in the range of $5 million to $10 million at the corporate level, indicating that the brand as a whole is still in its early revenue-building phase. No specific SBA lending details are referenced here, but the scale of the investment and the asset-intensive nature of the build-out suggest that investors should explore structured financing options and consult directly with lenders experienced in health and wellness franchise concepts.

Daily operations at an Upgrade Labs location center on a membership-based model that gives members access to 36 distinct "upgrades" — individual pieces of advanced biohacking and recovery equipment — throughout the month for a monthly fee, with the Bellevue, Washington location pricing that membership at $399 per month. Walk-in services are also available; for example, a single cryotherapy session at that location was priced at $45, creating a conversion funnel where non-members can experience the technology before committing to a recurring membership. Each member visit begins with a full-body scan that measures biomarkers including weight, hydration, metabolism, and cellular energy levels, followed by a consultation with an Upgrade Labs technician who is trained to guide the member's session. This protocol creates a high-touch, concierge-style service experience that differentiates Upgrade Labs sharply from self-directed gym memberships and justifies its premium price point. Staffing the operation requires trained biohacker technicians who receive extensive pre-opening and ongoing training, and the labor model is lighter than a traditional gym because the equipment itself does much of the work — a 15-minute Cheat Machine session replaces hours of conventional lifting. Upgrade Labs provides an initial training program of 45 hours, comprising 42 hours of classroom instruction and 3 hours of on-the-job training, supplemented by presale training, equipment training, and ongoing virtual training from the corporate support team. Franchisees also benefit from a network-based support structure that the company characterizes as a "franchise family," where owners actively share operational insights, brainstorm solutions collaboratively, and provide peer-level guidance. Revenue streams extend beyond memberships and walk-in sessions to include branded product sales such as Suppgrade Labs supplements, True Light and True Dark eyewear, take-home biohacking technology, and an optional in-house coffee bar that exclusively serves Danger Coffee, another Asprey-affiliated brand. Territory exclusivity is available, and the ideal location profile targets affluent urban and suburban markets where the target demographic of 30-to-55-year-old professionals with household incomes above $100,000 is concentrated.

Item 19 financial performance data is not disclosed in the current Franchise Disclosure Document for Upgrade Labs, meaning prospective franchisees will not find audited average unit revenue, median gross sales, or profit margin data in the FDD. This is a significant due diligence gap that every serious investor must account for, because without Item 19 disclosure, projecting payback periods and return on investment requires relying on industry benchmarks, management representations, and operational modeling rather than franchisor-verified financial data. What is publicly available is the corporate-level revenue estimate of $5 million to $10 million across the entire system, which when divided across a small number of operating units suggests that individual location revenue could be meaningful, but the distribution of that revenue between corporate operations and franchisees is not independently verified. The membership pricing at $399 per month provides a useful modeling input: a location achieving 300 active members generates $1,434,000 in annual membership revenue before walk-in sales and product revenue, which, if achievable, would situate total annual revenue at a level consistent with recovering the initial investment over a multi-year horizon at standard service business margins. However, reaching and maintaining 300 memberships requires sustained local marketing, exceptional member retention, and a community of affluent health enthusiasts large enough to support that volume, which is why the brand's demographic targeting criteria — median household income above $100,000, strong professional and tech-sector employment, urban or affluent suburban location — are not arbitrary but operationally critical. The profitability of any given location depends materially on commercial lease rates, labor costs, equipment maintenance, and local competitive intensity, none of which are controlled by the franchisor. Investors conducting due diligence on the Upgrade Labs franchise cost and revenue potential should request detailed conversations with existing franchisees in comparable markets and engage a franchise attorney and accountant to model multiple performance scenarios before committing capital.

The growth trajectory of Upgrade Labs reflects a brand that is still in the early stages of system-wide scaling, which simultaneously presents opportunity for territory access and demands careful evaluation of the associated execution risk. The franchise system launched in 2021, reported zero franchised outlets in 2022 by some FDD tracking sources, and grew to 5 franchised locations by 2024, representing meaningful unit growth off a very small base but still a limited operational track record compared to franchise systems with hundreds of units. International expansion has been a notable recent development: in July 2023, Upgrade Labs signed a development deal to open multiple locations across Calgary and Vancouver, with the Calgary flagship anticipated in late 2023 and Vancouver in early 2024, followed by a planned pace of one location per year in each Canadian city. The first Ontario location was completed in Oakville in 2024, marking the brand's entry into that province. In September 2023, Upgrade Labs announced it had been licensed to sign franchise deals in Australia, actively recruiting Master Franchisee Partners for that market. Within the United States, multi-unit development deals have been signed for Charlotte, North Carolina, where franchisee David Hair committed to three locations, and single-unit agreements were completed for Meridian, Idaho, Austin, Texas, and Bellevue, Washington. The brand had set an ambition of awarding 100 licenses by the end of 2022 across the United States and Canada, a target that was not met at that pace, but the continued deal activity in 2023 and 2024 demonstrates sustained franchise development momentum. The competitive moat for Upgrade Labs rests on four pillars: proprietary service protocols built around Dave Asprey's two-decade biohacking research library, an exclusive equipment ecosystem that cannot be easily replicated by independent operators, the Asprey personal brand which carries significant credibility among the target demographic, and the network effects of a membership community that deepens as each location matures. The addition of cryotherapy to the service menu reflects an ongoing investment in expanding the technology stack and responding to member demand for inflammation reduction, metabolism enhancement, and improved sleep quality.

The ideal Upgrade Labs franchisee candidate is not a passive investor or a first-time business owner — the brand's investment scale, operational complexity, and technology-intensive service model demand a specific profile. Successful franchise owners within the existing system, including Debra and Kevin Delashmutt in Bellevue and Hailey Smith and Becky Granden in Meridian, Idaho, share a personal commitment to the longevity and wellness philosophy that underpins the brand, and franchisees like the Delashmutts — who are in their 60s and personally committed to living past 120 — exemplify how authentic alignment with the brand mission translates into credible member engagement. Candidates with backgrounds in high-end personal services, medical wellness, luxury fitness, or health technology are well-positioned to manage the operational and staffing requirements of a biohacking center. The target markets specified by the brand — affluent urban and suburban areas with high concentrations of professionals aged 30 to 55, median household incomes above $100,000, and strong tech-sector employment — point toward metropolitan markets in the West, Southeast, and major innovation hubs across North America and Australia. The franchise agreement runs 10 years with a 5-year renewal, giving committed operators a 15-year potential operating window within a single agreement framework. Multi-unit development opportunities are actively available, as demonstrated by the Charlotte, North Carolina deal, and the brand appears to welcome franchisees with the capital and operational capacity to develop exclusive territories at scale. From signing to opening, timeline will vary based on real estate availability, permitting, equipment delivery, and build-out complexity, but the density of the equipment installation and the specialized nature of the build-out suggest investors should plan for a multi-month pre-opening period and budget accordingly.

Synthesizing the full picture, the Upgrade Labs franchise investment warrants serious due diligence from investors who have the capital depth, wellness industry affinity, and appetite to operate in an early-stage but high-potential franchise system addressing a rapidly expanding global market. The personal services market, growing at a confirmed 8.4% CAGR toward USD 2.29 trillion by 2030, combined with the secular shift toward biohacking, longevity science, and tech-enabled recovery, creates a macro backdrop that is structurally favorable for a brand with Upgrade Labs' positioning. The investment range of $751,500 to $1,525,500, a 7.5% royalty, a 2.0% advertising fee, and the absence of Item 19 financial performance disclosure all represent material due diligence considerations that require rigorous financial modeling and validated franchisee conversations before a capital commitment is made. The brand's FPI Score of 57 indicates a Moderate performance rating within the PeerSense franchise intelligence database, reflecting both the genuine opportunity of early-stage territory access and the real risk factors associated with a system that has fewer than 10 operating units and a limited performance history. PeerSense provides exclusive due diligence data including SBA lending history, FPI score, location maps with Google ratings, FDD financial data, and side-by-side comparison tools that allow investors to benchmark the Upgrade Labs franchise cost, fee structure, and growth trajectory against comparable concepts in the biohacking, recovery, and premium fitness categories. For an investment of this magnitude in a category moving this fast, independent data is not optional — it is the foundation of sound decision-making. Explore the complete Upgrade Labs franchise profile on PeerSense to access the full suite of independent franchise intelligence data.