Mark Wahlberg has started companies of his own and backed plenty of others. But he says the gym he's opening in December has him more excited than anything he's done in his entire career. It also goes after a corner of the market where venture money keeps flowing: pricey, diagnostics-heavy wellness. Speaking with us at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco on Thursday, the actor said the first Municipal Gym opens in December. It's a 32,000-square-foot club outside Las Vegas with blood work, epigenetic testing, recovery gear, compression therapy, cold plunges, and a cafe that serves up protein muffins, among other things. He's pitching it as the affordable alternative to the longevity clubs that charge tens of thousands of dollars a year for much the same thing. The clothing brand Municipal launched during COVID, which Wahlberg freely volunteered 'was not a good idea,' given that clothing was a lousy business to enter in 2020, with retailers from J.Crew to Brooks Brothers going...
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