New-age Fitness Startup StepSetGo Raises ₹ 5 Cr in Seed Funding Round

The award-winning fitness tech startup aims to expand its market share further while utilizing its funds in adding unique features and upgrades

StepSetGo (SSG), the award-winning health & fitness industry disruptor, recently raised their Seed round from marquee seed investors as part of their plans to add unique features and further increase their market share through a one-of-a-kind offering in the fitness-tech industry. 

Founded by Shivjeet Ghatge, Misaal Turakhia, Abhay Pai and Zaheer Khan, the Mumbai-based, StepSetGo, a Huddle accelerated venture with over 9 million users, raised INR 5 Crores seed funding from 4 renowned investors.

The round has seen participation from Huddle, Singapore-based BeyondSeed, along with Dexter Angels and Seeders LLP.

With a deep-rooted ambition to augment their product offering, StepSetGo, which has often been ranked as one of the country's top applications, is set to strengthen technological capabilities & infrastructure and intensify customer acquisition & growth. The financing will enable StepSetGo to innovate and upgrade customer experience while adding more core fitness solutions and bolstering its footing among lesser receptive markets.

Commenting on the round, Shivjeet Ghatge, CEO and Co-founder – StepSetGo, commented, "As a young startup built by fitness enthusiasts, we are incredibly excited with the outcome of our first investment round and would like to sincerely thank our users and investors for their faith, trust, and belief in us as a growing entity. This is just the beginning of our journey, and the best is truly yet to come."

“The founding team of StepSetGo is built by those who are all deeply rooted in making fitness easy, accessible, and rewarding. With a robust technology and marketing background, the founders have built StepSetGo into what is becoming a community that resonates with making fitness fun, and staying healthy a reward at all times. For us, as an accelerator and investor, we've loved the passion in how this team has built a product that caters to everyday users whilst being a lucrative offering to brands and organizations that associate and have seen over 110 crores of their products retailed through StepSetGo," said Sanil Sachar, Founding Partner, Huddle.

"I truly believe that the best investment one can make is in their health. If you are healthy, nothing seems hefty – neither a task nor a goal! As StepSetGo grows as a product, we will effectively be able to attract more and more users with different fitness interests to compete and motivate each other inside the same ecosystem." said Zaheer Khan, Celebrated Fitness Pioneer and Co-founder of StepSetGo.

"We loved the approach StepSetGo has taken in becoming the trend-setter of the fitness industry. We are impressed by the hustle, strategic insights, and operational execution capabilities of the founding team and are excited to have joined their journey as the co-lead to this round." said Yuan Jin, COO of BeyondSeed.

StepSetGo has come a long way over the last two years, generating sustainable revenue from day one. Since its inception, the company has astoundingly grown from a 4-person team with 50 users to a registered user base of over 9 million users.

The Fitness App’s prime focus is to add more features to deepen fitness and social touchpoints and widen how users will spend their SSG coins (which are earned by the users' fitness activity on the app) while inspiring new users to join the platform and helping them find the motivation to stick to their fitness regime.

The app's user-friendliness is best epitomized by its widespread acceptance across operating systems with a rating of 4.2 and 4.8 on the Google Play and App Store, respectively.

About StepSetGo:

India's fastest-growing fitness startup was founded with the sole intention of making people fitter by encouraging them to be physically active, bringing about a widespread lifestyle change throughout the nation. Established in 2019 by CEO - Shivjeet Ghatge, CPO - Misaal Turakhia, and CTO - Abhay Pai, and Co-Founder - Zaheer Khan, StepSetGo is India's first fitness platform that encourages users to walk more while being rewarded for their efforts. The platform is entirely free and considers the number of steps one has walked over the day, tracks calories burnt, measures kilometers walked, and rewards users with SSG coins that can be collected over time to claim exclusive products and discounts from the in-app Bazaar.

StepSetGo also emerged as a winner at the Digital India AatmaNirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge organized by the Government of India. Initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this app innovation challenge witnessed the participation of over 6,940 tech entrepreneurs and startups nationwide. StepSetGo was the winner in the health & fitness category and was lauded by Mr. Modi during his Mann Ki Baat address.

Fitness Startup BurnCal Raises $330K in Pre-Seed Round Funding Led by Titan Capital and SenseAI Ventures

BurnCal, India's most personalized fitness solution provider, has announced that it has raised $330,000 in its pre-seed round funding. BurnCal was backed by 100X.VC (Class 3) in December 2020.

The investors participating in the round are Titan Capital,SenseAI Ventures(Syndicate on Let's Venture platform), Kushal Bhagia of First Cheque along with Farooq Adam (Co-Founder of Fynd), Hershel Mehta and Brendan Rogers (Co-Founder, Wag) of 2AM Ventures, KRS Jamwal (Executive Director of Tata Industries), Aditya Kothari (Co-Founder of Chingari), Anupam Mittal as Part of LV Syndicate(Founder of People Group, i.e., Shaadi.com) and few super angels. 

The funding received shall be utilized to build the core technology, scale up the product and strengthen the founding team.

BurnCal is founded by Anik Agrawal (Head of Sales & Marketing), Vichar Shroff (Head of Product), Chetan Reddy (Head of Fitness), Kunal Agrawal (Head of Technology) a team of elite fitness coaches and serial entrepreneurs who are alumni of IIT Bombay, BITS Pilani, and University of Rochester. The unique platform was born out of Covid, as people struggled to find consistency with fitness due to a lack of convenient options. 

BurnCal's proprietary computer vision-based technology tracks the posture and counts repetitions in real-time during workouts ensuring their members get complete attention even while working out from home without having a human trainer next to them. The solution provided by BurnCal is designed in such a way that people can work out from anywhere: home, gym & park, etc. Along with nutritional guidance, it provides world-class personal coaching with cutting-edge technology to make fitness a lifestyle for millions of people struggling with fitness.

Anik Agrawal (Head of Sales & Marketing),Vichar Shroff (Head of Product) ,Chetan Reddy (Head of Fitness), Kunal Agrawal (Head of Technology)

Mit Mehta, Founding Team Member at BurnCal, Ex-VP at Fitternity, said, "Being in the fitness industry for more than 6 years, the biggest problem that I have noticed is customer retention. We are working really hard at BurnCal to solve that, and our solution is designed to enable people to incorporate fitness into their daily lives for long-lasting physical and psychological transformations."

Bipin Shah, Partner at Titan Capital, said, "BurnCal's vision to scale personal coaching to a level unimagined before with the help of their ground-breaking technology is something that impressed us massively. Founding team possess that needed ingredients to build the right working product and business around it."

Rahul Agarwalla, SenseAI Ventures, said," When we met BurnCal’s passionate founding team, we were impressed by their deep technical skills and the revolutionary Computer Vision technology they had built. They are tackling an issue which is a focus for everyone – health and fitness. Their solution of personalized coaching at scale is especially relevant and timely.”

Ninad Karpe, Partner at 100X.VC, said, “Personal fitness has now received the importance andpriority which it truly deserves. With a unique offering and a business model which can scalerapidly, BurnCal is rightly positioned to become a leader in its space. At 100X, we are delightedto have backed BurnCal as its first institutional investor."

BurnCal offers a subscription-based fitness membership where the premium members get access to an elite fitness coach, personalized workouts and nutrition plans, real-time scoring, and performance tracking.

About BurnCal:

BurnCal is a breakthrough fitness product that empowers individuals to acknowledge and improve their health in a more personalized and engaging way. Combining human expertise with machine intelligence, BurnCal is building the highest retention fitness product ever to ensure all their members have a sustainable fitness journey.

Website: https://www.burncal.fit/

Fittr Launches the 13th Transformation Challenge; Introduces New Categories and Rewards

• Powers Transformation Challenge 13 with total prizes worth INR 15 lakh
• Expects 30,000 plus participants for the Challenge
• Registrations to begin from 3rd May 2021

​
Fittr, one of the world’s largest community-first online health and fitness brands, has announced the launch of the 13^th edition of its Transformation Challenge. With every edition, the Transformation Challenge (TC) becomes bigger and better. This edition of the challenge introduces three categories: Individual, Partner and Senior. The winners across these categories will be rewarded with exciting cash prizes.
 
The 12-week challenge will be hosted on the Fittr app around the theme of #AbNahiTohKab, urging people to stop procrastinating and begin their fitness journey now.

Kickstarting the Transformation Challenge 13, Jitendra Chouksey, Founder & CEO, Fittr said, “We have come a long way since we first started the Transformation Challenge almost five years back. It is indeed delightful and motivating to witness so many people work hard, rise up to the challenge of investing in a healthy body and mind. In doing so, they become an inspiration to many, helping people believe that anyone can become the best version of themselves with proper knowledge and guidance. I wish all the participants the very best and look forward to seeing some amazing fitness transformations.”
 
TC 13 is expected to be thrilling as more rewards are in store for the participants. The Individual category is further divided into two sub-categories - male and female. Winners under these sub-categories will receive a cash reward of INR 3 lakh each, while the runners-ups will receive INR 1 lakh each. Similarly, the winners under Partner and Senior categories stand to win a cash reward of INR 1 lakh each and runner-ups will receive INR 50,000 each.
 
“The aim of these new categories is to encourage more people across all walks of life to join the fitness challenge, enabling us to move closer to our goal of making 50 million people fit. More importantly, the positivity associated with these challenges is a reflection of the power of an informative and engaging global fitness community,” Chouksey added.
 
The Partner category is open for any two individuals joining the challenge as a pair, while the Senior category is open to people who are 50 years and above. 
 
As a part of the challenge, the participants are required to upload a video every week in the suggested format to showcase their week-on-week progress. The aim of the Transformation Challenge is to push boundaries and work towards bringing out a fitter and healthier version of oneself. The participants are evaluated on multiple factors such as muscle gain, fat loss, and consistency from the past transformation challenges. People who are 18 years and above can participate in these challenges from across the world, without any registration fee.
 
This year, the grand prize of INR 1 crore will be awarded to the top performer across all the editions of Transformation Challenges that will take place in 2021.

9Unicorns Invests in Fitness Tech Startup Oga Fit's on-going Pre-Series A round

The fitness tech startup had secured investment from US-based venture fund Joyance Partners last month and the 9Unicorns investment is part of the same funding

Ashish Rawat, Founder -Oga Fit

Mumbai, 12^th November, 2020: 9Unicorns, India’s first idea-phase accelerator VC fund, has recently invested an undisclosed amount in the ongoing pre-Series A investment in Oga Fit, a fitness tech startup. The previous funding rounds saw participation from other early-stage investors including David Giampaolo (CEO of Pi Capital), Sarva Yoga and Inflection Point Ventures.

Founded in 2017 by Ashish Rawat,Oga Fit aims to disrupt India’s digital fitness industry by making workout a completely live, on-demand, and engaging experience. Their interactive platform backed by cutting-edge technology promises its users the quality of an in-studio workout withinthe comfort of their homes. The platform’s proprietary motion comparison technology compares the movements of the user and trainer to provide a similarity score and real-time feedback to the user.

“We are very excited to partner with 9Unicorns on this endeavour,” Ashish Rawat, Founder –Oga Fit, said, “Their reputation is well established in India and their faith in our enterprisegives us the motivation we need to take our company to global prominence and achieve our vision of revolutionizing the fitness industry.”

Speaking about the investment, Dr. Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, Co-founder & Managing Director – 9Unicorns, added, “There has been a growing awareness about the benefits of regular exercising among the general public of India. The current times have pushed people to think more seriously about their health and lifestyle. Oga Fit’s vision of a digital fitness platform is fresh, innovative and smart which will make quality fitness classes easily accessible to anyone, anywhere. With highly qualified minds carrying the enterprise forward, we are confident that their innovative IP will capture the imagination of a larger public in no time. We wish them continued success.” 

Oga Fit will leverage the capital infusion to drive product development, content creation, and to improve its marketing strategies. Moving ahead, the startup envisions establishing itself in the United States and, slowly and steadily, expanding its geographical footprint across the globe 

About 9Unicorns

9Unicorns is India's First Accelerator VC. It provides acceleration support & seed funding to early-stage start-ups. 9Unicorns provides funding of up to $100K per start-up in the first round, and may invest further $500K-$2Mn in successive rounds with its co-investors. From idea stage to angel stage, it supports start-ups across various themes & sectors. 9Unicorns' strength & focus is to provide a hands-on support ecosystem for start-ups, beyond capital. 9Unicorns, besides investment, opens doorsto the start-upsfor access to a wide network of successful founders, category leaders, CXOs of large corporations, seasoned angel investors & partners of global VC funds. Every portfolio company receives acceleration support for 3 months & post-investment support of 18 months.

Fancy a Mahindra Thar or Kawasaki Ninja as your fitness gift? Fittr announces Grand Prizes in their latest Ed. of Transformation Challenge

In the latest edition of the fitness competition, Fittr expects more than 15000 entries from across the world

Apart from the grand prize of Mahindra Thar, the first prize would be Kawasaki Ninja 650 or an Apple Kit, and the top 50 runners-up will get Hero Cycles

In their constant endeavor to motivate people to get fit, Fittr, the Pune-based fitness startup is set to bring in yet another edition of their fitness competition Transformation Challenge (TC) Series 11. The 12-week online challenge which began from September 1, 2020, is currently accepting registrations till September 7 from across the world.

The TC 11 winner will be awarded either a Kawasaki Ninja 650 or an Apple kit of the equivalent value. In addition to this, the top 50 Runners Up will be given a Hero Cycle each, sponsored by Hero Cycles Limited.

Fittr will also choose the top 10 challengers each from the 9^th, 10^th & 11^th edition of the competition.  A grand prize, Mahindra Thar will be presented to the one who stands out amongst these top 30 contenders vis-a-vis his/her transformation journey and consistency.

Known for their extraordinary offerings in the transformation challenges, Fittr gave out Harley Davidson Street 750 as the top prize for the 9^th edition of the Transformation Challenge. The prizes keep getting better with each series.

Under the challenge, the participants are required to upload a video every week for 12 weeks clearly showing their transformation. The idea is to compete with the self as the candidates will be evaluated on the basis of their past journey. Factors such as gain in muscle mass, fat loss, and consistency from the past transformation challenges will be taken into account. The one who excels on all fronts will walk away as the winner of the challenge.

Speaking about TC 11, Jitendra Chouksey, Founder & CEO, Fittr, said, “The entire world is facing a major challenge right now in the form of the pandemic. At such a crucial time, it’s important to stay positive and motivated and that’s what we at Fittr aim to do through our Transformation Challenges. We motivate people through constant support and unique gratifications to rise to the challenge and make the most of it. We’re all in this together and the best thing we could do is to invest in our health and fitness.”

FITTR started as a WhatsApp group by Jitendra Chouksey. The aim was to help his family and friends to achieve their fitness goals through mentorship, mainly in the form of tips and short video bytes. Soon from WhatsApp, the group extended its reach to Facebook. 2016 was the year when this group completely transformed into an online health and fitness coaching portal.

The bootstrapped fitness startup, backed by actor Suniel Shetty, one of Bollywood’s fittest actors has now been rebranded as FITTR to take its fitness vision forward while serving its customers, both domestic and international. Fittr was recently in the news again when it secured pre-Series A funding from Sequoia Capital and became a part of the latest batch of Surge, Sequoia’s rapid scale-up program for startups in India & Southeast Asia.

Online Fitness Portal FITTR Raises USD $2 Mn from Surge, Sequoia Capital India’s Scale-Up Program

• Fittr is one of the largest online fitness communities with over 850,000 members


• Fittr’s mission is to create a community of a billion people engaged in physical, mental and spiritual well-being

In major news for the Indian startup community, Pune-based fitness startup, Fittr (formerly SQUATS Fitness Pvt. Ltd.) has raised USD 2 million in Pre-Series A funding from Surge, Sequoia Capital India’s rapid scale-up program for early-stage startups in India and Southeast Asia.

Fittr was founded in January 2016 by Jitendra Chouksey, a software engineer who transformed himself while working a 12-hour/day IT job. Today, Fittr is one of the largest online fitness communities in the world, with over 850,000 members. The company was bootstrapped and has been profitable since inception, achieving a cumulative revenue of $13 million USD.

Surge has partnered with several high-growth startups in the past year. A number of Surge startups have already raised USD 250M+ in financing rounds following the completion of the program. The investment in Fittr comes on the back of the fitness startup’s impressive growth, and is a testament to the firm’s confidence in its founders and market potential.

Speaking on this latest development, founder Jitendra Chouksey said, “Fittr has been an incredible journey for everyone involved. When I was working in IT, everyone around me wanted to know the secret to my fitness levels. I started a WhatsApp group way back in 2014 to help train a few people. Today, Fittr has become one of the most engaging and informative fitness groups on Facebook – loved equally by experts and coaches, as well as those just starting out on their fitness journey. Our vision is to become the leading global social platform and marketplace for fitness coaching, and the confidence shown by Surge in this vision is a shot in the arm for Fittr.”

Offering a freemium model, the Fittr app was launched in 2018 and is a one-stop-shop for all health and fitness needs. Fittr provides free access to diet and training tools, over 5000 healthy recipes, live fitness sessions with experts, Q&A with coaches, and connects users to a community of fitness experts and enthusiasts. Users can get personalized nutrition and exercise plans to reach their health and fitness goals by paying a small premium. The customised plans are provided by one of Fittr’s 200 certified coaches, who also come from the Fittr community, with their own stories of transformation. Subscribed users get an in-depth consultation call with the coach, as well as weekly check-ups on their progress via the app.

Co-founder Sonal Singh who is an LSE graduate & who previously worked as a strategy consultant with Deloitte adds, “At the core of Fittr is the community. We’ve grown organically through word-of-mouth and transformation photos shared by Facebook group members. So far, we’ve transformed over 100,000 people and 30% of our user base is global, spread across the US, UK, Australia, UAE and Canada. The central philosophy underpinning Fittr is to empower the end-user to transform and inspire others to get fit.”

Fittr’s other co-founders include Jyoti Dabas, an IIM graduate & former Citigroup analyst, Bala Krishna Reddy, a University of North Carolina graduate and former developer at Ford Motors, and Rohit Chattopadhyay, a management graduate and former business-owner. Coming from diverse backgrounds, the five founders are united by their cause to help make people fit.

SQUATS Acquires Minority Stake in Fitness Startup Fitato

SQUATS Fitness Pvt. Ltd., India’s fastest growing online fitness startup, has announced that they have picked up a minority stake in Fitato, an app that allows users to access any gym of their choice across the city without paying for hefty annual memberships.

Speaking on the deal, SQUATS Founder Jitendra Chouksey said “This strategic collaboration with Fitato will allow our community members to have universal access to a plethora of gyms & fitness studios at a fixed monthly fee. Fitato's umbrella brand has over 650 partners in their network, with this alliance, the SQUATS community of 520,000 members will get access to customized packages that have been specially designed for them.”

SQUATS has an app of their own – Fittr – that has been downloaded over 400,000 times and is one of the highest-rated free fitness apps. Its Facebook community is the world’s largest online fitness community and has been growing at a rapid pace. SQUATS was recently in the news when they were one of the few Indian startups to be selected for Y Combinator, a US-based startup accelerator that has helped companies such as Airbnb, Cleartax, Dropbox and others step up business operations and realize their vision.

Fitato has been in business for the last three years. According to the company, in 2019, they have seen a revenue run rate of $1 million. The team claims to be clocking an 80-per cent growth each quarter for the past two years, and a 45-per cent retention rate. The team had raised $120,000 in seed funding in late 2015 and was also selected to be a part of the FB-Start programme in 2017, an initiative by Facebook for early-stage mobile startups. The fundraising is part of Fitato's ongoing pre-series A round which closes this month.

About FITTR & SQUATS



Fittr has recorded over 100,000 fitness transformations and continues to do so for its highly-engaged community of 5, 20,000 members who support each other’s goals and inspire those around them. The FITTR app has received more than 4, 00,000 downloads since September 2018, thus furthering its vision of impacting lives by providing people with the professional knowledge they need to achieve their fitness and health goals. The platform, with its focus on preventive health, implements a distinctive approach in helping its members adopt a healthy lifestyle. Fittr provides them with everything from the right knowledge to community support, mentorship and guidance by its team of 190+ consultants at each and every step.

Headquartered in Pune, SQUATS was launched in January 2016 as a community on Facebook to address the challenges in the fitness industry where misinformation, distrust, unsatisfactory results, quick-fix solutions, and fad diets are ruining the industry’s reputation. SQUATS has been profitable since its inception. Suniel Shetty, one of India’s top fitness icons, has recently become a part of the company. The company, with its focus on preventive health, implements a distinctive approach in helping its members adopt a healthy lifestyle.

Fitness App Startup SQUATS Selected for Y Combinator’s Batch of 2020

Fittr App (backed by SQUATS, India’s fastest growing Pune-based online fitness company) has been selected for Y Combinator 2020, a US-based start-up accelerator which selects the most promising start-ups to fund from across the globe. Fittr joins the ranks of RazorPay, Meesho, and Clear tax, some of the top companies from India that have joined the Y Combinator network so far.

Y Combinator is an American seed accelerator launched in March 2005 and was used to launch over 2,000 companies including Stripe, Airbnb, Cruise Automation, DoorDash, Coin-base, Instacart, and Dropbox. The combined valuation of the top YC companies was over $155 billion. Y Combinator provides seed funding for start-ups. Founders of each start-up are invited to move to the Bay Area for the duration of their cycle. During this period, YC works intensively with them to help them realise their vision.

[caption id="attachment_138112" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Mr. Jitendra Chouksey, Founder, SQUATS[/caption]

In the 2020 winter session, Fittr’s Founder Jitendra Chouksey will have an opportunity to share his entrepreneurial journey with leading start-up investors and successful startup founders from across the globe. The online fitness community is the only company from Pune making it to the US-based startup accelerator’s top companies list.

Speaking on being a part of the Y Combinator’s accelerator programme, Jitendra Chouksey, Founder of Fittr said, “It’s a privilege to be a part of this Y Combinator list. Accelerators like them dare to support some of the unconventional ideas and it is quite an enriching experience to simply be in the company of such individuals. I am confident that this will bring a lot of value to our platform in the form of opportunities and learning and will inspire more companies from India to apply for this programme.”

SQUATS – the parent company of Fittr, was started in 2015 by Jitendra Chouksey as a WhatsApp group to offer fitness-related coaching. The platform ultimately envisions transforming the lives of 50 million people as they journey towards better health through diet and workouts.

About Fittr & SQUATS



Fittr has recorded over 100,000 fitness transformations and continues to do so for its highly-engaged community of 5, 20,000 members who support each other’s goals and inspire those around them. The FITTR app has received more than 4, 00,000 downloads since September 2018, thus furthering its vision of impacting lives by providing people with the professional knowledge they need to achieve their fitness and health goals. The platform, with its focus on preventive health, implements a distinctive approach in helping its members adopt a healthy lifestyle. Fittr provides them with everything from the right knowledge to community support, mentorship and guidance by its team of 190+ consultants at each and every step.

Headquartered in Pune, SQUATS was launched in January 2016 as a community on Facebook to address the challenges in the fitness industry where misinformation, distrust, unsatisfactory results, quick-fix solutions, and fad diets are ruining the industry’s reputation. SQUATS has been profitable since its inception. Suniel Shetty, one of India’s top fitness icons, has recently become a part of the company. The company, with its focus on preventive health, implements a distinctive approach in helping its members adopt a healthy lifestyle.

Fitness Brand 'MultiFit' Launches Startup Incubator Program for Business Ideas in Wellness Industry

India’s largest and fastest growing Functional Fitness Studio Brand ‘MultiFit Wellness Private Limited’, today announced India’s first Gym chain driven fitness incubator program, namely ‘MultiFit Fitness Incubator Program (MFIP)’.

To be housed out of its Bangalore and Pune facilities, the program will be a healthy mix of technology-based startups and ideas as well as conventional ones across sports, fitness, wellness and nutrition. MultiFit has already commenced incubation of a Fitness CRM, Nutrition program ‘Fitsperts’ and MMA Academy ‘MultiFit MMA Pro-Academy’ – all to be commercially launched over the next three-four months.

To apply for incubator one will have to send a mail at - info@multifit.co.in

Commenting on the Incubator Program, Dr. Samir Kapoor, Founder & MD, MultiFit said: “The fitness business is changing extremely rapidly, driven not just by technology but by the fast-changing socio-economic landscape of the country. It is a known fact that over 400 million will be added to our urban population count over the next decade, over 75-80% of all mortality in the country will be driven by NCDs by 2020 and technology will enter a Machine Learning / AI dominated space, transforming and disrupting everything in the process. If we are not prepared for this change, we will be left way behind. Having said that, while we understand the business of fitness and wellness extremely well we most definitely need to go the collaborative route for the rest.”

“Launching the fitness incubator program was thus imperative. Through this program we aim at tapping into all the brilliant ideas that come up on a day-to-day basis across the country but lack the financial and business experience to take it forward. Add to this the large rapidly growing organic community of fitness enthusiasts we have built over the last couple of years as a native market for these ideas, the probability of getting winners increases. While our program will largely focus on early stage ideas, we would not be averse to established entities coming up with new ideas in the space as well,” added Samir.

Assisting MultiFit in this endeavour would also be its newly inducted Technical Advisory Board comprising 11 International Olympic Athletes including Andy Turner, Marilyn Okoro, Chris Tomlinson, Sarah Stevenson, Mark Lewis Francis, Sebastian Rodger, Zoe Smith, Alyson Dixon, Georgina Cassar, Luke Lennon Ford and Manoj Pingle.

Having started off as a 3000 sq. ft. single studio in 2015, MultiFit currently operates a chain of over 32 large format multi-disciplinary Functional Fitness studios across India, UK & UAE marking a presence in 10 cities. Further it has another 20 more signed up gyms which are slated to go live over the next 4-5 months taking the total count to 52 fitness studios.

[caption id="attachment_127054" align="aligncenter" width="640"] MultiFit- Sally Jones Kapoor and Samir Kapoor[/caption]

MultiFit also has a very active Athlete adoption program which already boasts of a string of national and international athletes and coaches including Commonwealth Athlete Sally Jones (IronMan – Triathlete, BTEC in Sports and Exercise Science (UK) & Certified L3 Personal Trainer from REPS UK), Automatically Timed 200 metre Hurdles World record breaker and three-time Olympian Andy Turner, Mr. Manoj Pingle (Olympian & Arjuna Awardee), Mr. India Rahul Kadam, Chetanya Velhal (IronMan Coach, Triathlete, India’s Fastest Ultracyclist, RAAM qualified, MS Biotech), Kunal Mahour aka The Steele (India’s only representative at the World Street Workout & Callisthenic Championship), amongst others. Furthermore, MultiFit has also recently instituted an advisory board comprising 10 International Athletes and Olympians to advise on its growth.

Starting out with one MultiFit studio in Pune in 2015, Dr. Samir Kapoor has spearheaded the brand’s growth to enable a deeper penetration in Pune as well as take MultiFit’s concept of functional training across India. The functional fitness chain has 32 operational functional fitness studios across 10 cities (including its studio at Manchester, UK and Abu Dhabi, UAE), and 20 more set for launch over the next 5-6 months across India, UAE & UK. It has already built a community of more than 75000 Multi-Fitters (members), and has set a target of 100 fitness studios in India and 20 Fitness studios across the UK, Middle East and South Asia by end of next year. Additionally, MultiFit also runs India’s only Tri & Endurance Academy, namely MATES – MultiFit Academy for Triathlon & Endurance Sports.

MultiFit has been at the forefront of innovation and transformation in fitness. The brand has been a fitness and/or Strength & Conditioning partner for Pune FC, Premier Futsal, Basketball Federation of India (BFI) & Puneri Phaltans (Pro-Kabaddi League), sponsored International level athletes in major competitions such as IronMan, been the only gym in India to offer genetic-based nutrition mapping, and has its own trainer training institute - MESA (MultiFit Exercise Science Academy).

Over the last one year, MultiFit has also bagged three prestigious industry awards in India namely Fitness Excellence Award 2018 (Excellence in Multi-Discipline Training Fitness Club), India Business Award 2018 (Best Functional Fitness Studio Brand) and the Business Leaders’ Summit & Awards 2018 (Fastest Growing Fitness and Wellness Company of the year).

Fitness Brand 'MultiFit' Launches Startup Incubator Program for Business Ideas in Wellness Industry

India’s largest and fastest growing Functional Fitness Studio Brand ‘MultiFit Wellness Private Limited’, today announced India’s first Gym chain driven fitness incubator program, namely ‘MultiFit Fitness Incubator Program (MFIP)’.

To be housed out of its Bangalore and Pune facilities, the program will be a healthy mix of technology-based startups and ideas as well as conventional ones across sports, fitness, wellness and nutrition. MultiFit has already commenced incubation of a Fitness CRM, Nutrition program ‘Fitsperts’ and MMA Academy ‘MultiFit MMA Pro-Academy’ – all to be commercially launched over the next three-four months.

To apply for incubator one will have to send a mail at - info@multifit.co.in

Commenting on the Incubator Program, Dr. Samir Kapoor, Founder & MD, MultiFit said: “The fitness business is changing extremely rapidly, driven not just by technology but by the fast-changing socio-economic landscape of the country. It is a known fact that over 400 million will be added to our urban population count over the next decade, over 75-80% of all mortality in the country will be driven by NCDs by 2020 and technology will enter a Machine Learning / AI dominated space, transforming and disrupting everything in the process. If we are not prepared for this change, we will be left way behind. Having said that, while we understand the business of fitness and wellness extremely well we most definitely need to go the collaborative route for the rest.”

“Launching the fitness incubator program was thus imperative. Through this program we aim at tapping into all the brilliant ideas that come up on a day-to-day basis across the country but lack the financial and business experience to take it forward. Add to this the large rapidly growing organic community of fitness enthusiasts we have built over the last couple of years as a native market for these ideas, the probability of getting winners increases. While our program will largely focus on early stage ideas, we would not be averse to established entities coming up with new ideas in the space as well,” added Samir.

Assisting MultiFit in this endeavour would also be its newly inducted Technical Advisory Board comprising 11 International Olympic Athletes including Andy Turner, Marilyn Okoro, Chris Tomlinson, Sarah Stevenson, Mark Lewis Francis, Sebastian Rodger, Zoe Smith, Alyson Dixon, Georgina Cassar, Luke Lennon Ford and Manoj Pingle.

Having started off as a 3000 sq. ft. single studio in 2015, MultiFit currently operates a chain of over 32 large format multi-disciplinary Functional Fitness studios across India, UK & UAE marking a presence in 10 cities. Further it has another 20 more signed up gyms which are slated to go live over the next 4-5 months taking the total count to 52 fitness studios.

[caption id="attachment_127054" align="aligncenter" width="640"] MultiFit- Sally Jones Kapoor and Samir Kapoor[/caption]

MultiFit also has a very active Athlete adoption program which already boasts of a string of national and international athletes and coaches including Commonwealth Athlete Sally Jones (IronMan – Triathlete, BTEC in Sports and Exercise Science (UK) & Certified L3 Personal Trainer from REPS UK), Automatically Timed 200 metre Hurdles World record breaker and three-time Olympian Andy Turner, Mr. Manoj Pingle (Olympian & Arjuna Awardee), Mr. India Rahul Kadam, Chetanya Velhal (IronMan Coach, Triathlete, India’s Fastest Ultracyclist, RAAM qualified, MS Biotech), Kunal Mahour aka The Steele (India’s only representative at the World Street Workout & Callisthenic Championship), amongst others. Furthermore, MultiFit has also recently instituted an advisory board comprising 10 International Athletes and Olympians to advise on its growth.

Starting out with one MultiFit studio in Pune in 2015, Dr. Samir Kapoor has spearheaded the brand’s growth to enable a deeper penetration in Pune as well as take MultiFit’s concept of functional training across India. The functional fitness chain has 32 operational functional fitness studios across 10 cities (including its studio at Manchester, UK and Abu Dhabi, UAE), and 20 more set for launch over the next 5-6 months across India, UAE & UK. It has already built a community of more than 75000 Multi-Fitters (members), and has set a target of 100 fitness studios in India and 20 Fitness studios across the UK, Middle East and South Asia by end of next year. Additionally, MultiFit also runs India’s only Tri & Endurance Academy, namely MATES – MultiFit Academy for Triathlon & Endurance Sports.

MultiFit has been at the forefront of innovation and transformation in fitness. The brand has been a fitness and/or Strength & Conditioning partner for Pune FC, Premier Futsal, Basketball Federation of India (BFI) & Puneri Phaltans (Pro-Kabaddi League), sponsored International level athletes in major competitions such as IronMan, been the only gym in India to offer genetic-based nutrition mapping, and has its own trainer training institute - MESA (MultiFit Exercise Science Academy).

Over the last one year, MultiFit has also bagged three prestigious industry awards in India namely Fitness Excellence Award 2018 (Excellence in Multi-Discipline Training Fitness Club), India Business Award 2018 (Best Functional Fitness Studio Brand) and the Business Leaders’ Summit & Awards 2018 (Fastest Growing Fitness and Wellness Company of the year).

FMCG Major Marico To Invest in Mumbai-based Fitness Startup Revofit for 23% Stake

FMCG major Marico has announced that it will acquire up to 22.5% stake in Mumbai-based Revolutionary Fitness Pvt. Ltd, which owns health and fitness app Revofit, and incubated at Ant Farm, the startup accelerator founded by former Times Internet chief executive Rishi Khiani.

The move is expected to help Marico get a stronger foothold in the digital space, especially at a time when it is looking to expand its footprint in the nutraceuticals and wellness space with brands such as Saffola.

Reportedly, Marico will initially pick up 12.66% stake in Revolutionary Fitness Pvt. Ltd. The remaining 9.84 per cent stake will come into play once Revofit achieves certain milestones which have been specified in the agreement of investment.

Incorporated in 2014, Revofit helps urban, health conscious, working professionals build healthy habits and enables easy access to all health needs, be it diet, fitness, nutrition or exercise, the company said in a statement. The startup had a revenue of Rs.1,97,198 in financial year 2016 and Rs.2,31,043 in financial year 2017, according to Abneesh Roy, senior vice-president-institutional equities-research analyst, Edelweiss Securities Ltd.

Apart from the app, it also operates an offline business as it is also involved in the development and sale of ready-to-eat food through its online platform and at its physical locations. The startup may launch FMCG products in the future.

“I am delighted with the partnership with Revofit, a next generation digital wellness platform,” said Saugata Gupta, MD and CEO of Marico. “This complements Marico’s aspiration to participate in the nutraceuticals and wellness space. This win-win alliance offers a wider choice to consumers looking to incorporate wellness, fitness and nutrition into their daily lifestyle”.

This is not the first time Marico has invested in a startup, as earlier in January 2017, Bengaluru-based medical technology startup Yostra Labs Pvt Ltd has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Marico.

Later in March 2017, Marico acquired 45% stake in Zed Lifestyle, a male grooming firm selling product under brand name 'Beardo', for an undisclosed sum in an effort to widen its portfolio with niche and high margin products.

Notably, Marico also runs a website -- fitfoodie.in, where it shares videos and recipes to enable a healthier lifestyle.

[Via - Times of India]

India Is 2nd Largest Market Globaly For Investments In Fitness Tech Startups

From the year 2010 to now, the Indian technology startups landscape has seen a phenomenal growth towards creation of innovative startups. It now houses 4,750 tech startups — the highest number in the world after the United States and Britain [Read More]. Now according to a new study by CB Insights, India is the second largest market globally for investments in fitness tech startups, bagging $63 million.

US-based companies have received the highest funding with about 64% ($1.5 billion) of total global deal share $2.4 billion since 2013 from VCs.

After the US (64%), came in India with 7% deals, Canada with 5%, UK and China with 3% each, and Germany with 2%. Large deals above $1 million in India, include CureFit ($46 million), HealthifyMe ($7 million), HUG Innovations ($5 million), Boltt Sports Technologies ($1million), Fitternity ($1million), MobieFit Technologies ($1 million), Fitpass ($2 million). The largest fitness tech deal outside the US went to Munich-based fitness startup eGym, which produces cloud-connected gym equ ipment, in a $45 million series C round in the first quarter of 2016. The round saw participation from Bayern Kapital, High-Tech Grunderfonds, Highland Europe, and HPE Growth Capital.

The most well-funded fitness tech company outside of the US is also eGym, which has raised $60 million total in disclosed funding across two rounds a $15 million series A in the third quarter of 2014 and $45 million series C last year.

"Notable deals include Bengaluru-based CureFit's recent $25 million series B funding in the third quarter of 2017 and Malaysia-based fitness subscription startup KFit's $12 million Series A round in the first quarter of 2016," it added.

Founded by former Myntra and Flipkart executives -- Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori, CureFit is one of the better known startups in the industry and has signed on actor Hrithik Roshan in a Rs100-crore endorsement deal. The startup has both online and offline channels for healthcare.

To recall, CB Insights -- in a separate report also revealed that India is home to the second highest number of unicorn startups in the world, outside of the US [Read More Here].

Abhinav Bindra's Shooting Star Pumps In $1 Mn In FITPASS

The all-access pass to gyms and fitness studios, FITPASS has raised $1 million led by professional shooter, Abhinav Bindra and his business partner, Gaurav Marya, Chairman, Franchise India. The fresh funds invested through Bindra’s venture fund – Shooting Star and Franchise India Brands Ltd. will be used to expand the full-suite of FITPASS’ service offerings across 10 cities in the next 6 months.

Abhinav Bindra, is a fitness conscious athlete who is committed to making India fitter. To him fitness has a more holistic meaning and that’s what he says attracted him to FITPASS. Aligned to FITPASS’ mission to make fitness affordable and accessible, Bindra said, “FITPASS is possibly the most promising venture in the Indian fitness domain. Arushi and Akshay’s passion, the company’s continued growth and their holistic approach to fitness have been influencing factors in my decision to invest in them.”

Available on iOS & Android, Delhi-based Fitpass connects consumers with the gyms and studios around them and gives unlimited access to lakhs of fitness workouts. With the membership of fitpass, anyone can try different workouts in their suitable locations every day. FITPASS subscribers can work out at any gym/fitness studio, anytime and can freely choose from a variety of available workout options - Gym Workouts, Yoga, Zumba, Pilates, Spinning, Kickboxing, Crossfit, MMA and many more. In addition, users can also consult their dedicated personal nutritionist and follow highly curated A.I. led coaching plans on the FITPASS app to achieve faster results.

“Our tech-first approach has helped us achieve astounding growth rates without burning our funds. The focus has been on data-driven operations and using tech-led solutions to limit human intervention. The latest infusion of capital will allow us to significantly enhance the user experience and digitize the fitness economy. It’s going to be game-changing,” said Akshay Verma, Co-founder, FITPASS.

Earlier,, in December 2016, FITPASS had raised $1 million, from Mumbai Angels and a consortium of Delhi and Bengaluru-based angel investors to grow horizontally and add service verticals, data-driven highly personalised fitness management tools for its users as well as to rollout bespoke enterprise products to its partner gyms/fitness studios.

Sector Overview

The Indian fitness services market is estimated at $16.6 billion per annum by PwC and is the fastest growing services market (25% per annum). With 2/3rds of India being under the age of 35 years, the demand for fitness services is growing at an exponential rate driven by a multitude of factors: medical, personal, fashion, self-confidence, image, etc. While disposable income among Indians has grown by 200% over the last 5 years, India is now counted amongst the most unfit countries in the world. In fact, one in three Indians is classified as medically unfit or suffering from a preventable lifestyle disease – 430 million Indian suffer from hypertension and blood pressure, more than 182 million suffer from diabetes and over 65 million Indians suffer from obesity. WHO attributes physical inactivity and unhealthy diet as the primary reason for rising lifestyle diseases in India.

 

Fitness Startup Stratfit Raises Funding from Bodhtree Consulting

Bodhtree Consulting Limited announced a strategic partnership and investment in Stratfit Fitness Technologies Pvt. Ltd. The deal was facilitated through FundPitch, a “Discovery and Information Sharing Platform” which provides validated financial information about target companies raising capital investment. The platform is intended primarily for entities which operate through stock exchanges.

Stratfit in addition to the in-depth research and domain knowledge brings expertise in ML and AI using cutting edge technologies and frameworks, enabling Bodhtree expand their competence in the newer technical arenas and domain. While Bodhtree being a CMMI level 5 company brings its development capabilities and quality processes to the table.

Bodhtree discovered Stratfit on FundPitch that does the matchmaking not just on the basis of investments but the value that comes from both the sides,  which in this case was enormous – Bodhtree invested through convertible debentures.

The Stratfit valuation is estimated at $13 Million.

Stratfit is promoted by Daniel McKee, USA based Celebrity trainer and Olympic certified coach, Nagarjuna Akkineni, leading film personality along with other senior professionals from the industry.

Stratfit that is result of 15+ years of research in fitness science done by Daniel, is the world’s first strength training platform and marketplace, with an inbuilt governance system enabling the elite coaches to build long term training program into a simple instant messenger-like user interface.

The app provides step by step instructions, becoming a virtual personal trainer to the users.

Stratfit provides the most efficient monetization opportunity to coaches, gyms, celebrities and personal trainers and other entities in the fitness ecosystem and a platform to all the mentioned entities to collaborate and succeed together

FundPitch – promoted by Equivas Capital is a platform that connects select companies raising capital with interested investors and domain experts for advice and a range of service providers including legal, secretarial, accounting, financial, technology and more.

IIT Delhi Alumni Launches App For Runners & Cyclist To Stay In Shape

After the era of McDonald's and Pizza hut, and the trend of eating out often, people had the sudden realization that they aren't as fit as they would want to be. All the burgers and pizzas began to take a toll on their well-being in the form on increasing blood sugar, cholesterol, obesity and what not. The people now want to be in good shape, they want to engage in physical activities and add a dash of adventure in their lives. Just as this trend started spreading like lice in primary school, we had startups coming up to help us with our newfound interests, and so is the story of FitSo.

THE IDEA

Most people when they start exercising for the first time, they take to running or less common cycling. These are the two most basic forms of exercise that anyone can find time for without much hassle. FitSo is a mobile app for runners & cyclist that enables people who are looking to get fit or are fitness enthusiasts connect with each other. It is a social networking platform for fitness enthusiasts. It is a way for them to stay connected and up to date in different activities happening around them, and apart from that the users can also hire professional coaches and much more.



The thought behind this whole idea was the need for a strict routine and a motivational factor. Both of these are very important if someone genuinely wants to get in shape. However, with faster life and work, people do not get time to find the right trainer and like-minded group to sustain their healthy routine. In a bid to aid these set of people, FitSo came into existence. Fitso allows its users to seamlessly connect, train and discover activities of their interest while on the go.

MEET THE MAKERS

Gurgaon-based FITSOs was founded by three IIT Delhi Alumnus Saurabh Aggarwal, Naman Sharma, and Rahul Sureka by the name of 'Jogo'

Naman Sharma: He worked at Zomato for four years before taking up the role of Technology and Product Head at FITSO.

Rahul Sureka: He worked at Yepme and UrbanClap and is now the startup’s Marketing and Strategy Head.

Saurabh Aggarwal: He worked at Flipkart in Business Development before quitting to pursue his passion for adventure sports.

 TARGET MARKET

Their current focus is on fitness enthusiasts and people who are looking to become fit and lead a healthy lifestyle. FITSO aims to make this a community where people can share interests and get involved. The second target is people who want to lose those extra pounds and become fit and healthy. For such people they are also building a platform where people can hire experts and trainers to help them meet their goals.

THE JOURNEY TILL NOW

FitSo has been live in Delhi and NCR for about four months now. They have recently launched the IOS version as well. In this short span of time they have had 10k installs and they are getting around 100 new installs on a daily basis. FitSo was initially called Jogo which means "game" and the app was being categorized in the games category which was creating confusion, and hence it was changed to FitSo.

THE ROAD AHEAD

They are currently active only in Delhi and NCR, next on their agenda is to expand to the rest of the country. They want to monetize the aspect where people hire trainers using the app. Currently this service is free, they plan to charge for it and use it as a source of revenue.

IIT Delhi Alumni Launches App For Runners & Cyclist To Stay In Shape

After the era of McDonald's and Pizza hut, and the trend of eating out often, people had the sudden realization that they aren't as fit as they would want to be. All the burgers and pizzas began to take a toll on their well-being in the form on increasing blood sugar, cholesterol, obesity and what not. The people now want to be in good shape, they want to engage in physical activities and add a dash of adventure in their lives. Just as this trend started spreading like lice in primary school, we had startups coming up to help us with our newfound interests, and so is the story of FitSo.

THE IDEA

Most people when they start exercising for the first time, they take to running or less common cycling. These are the two most basic forms of exercise that anyone can find time for without much hassle. FitSo is a mobile app for runners & cyclist that enables people who are looking to get fit or are fitness enthusiasts connect with each other. It is a social networking platform for fitness enthusiasts. It is a way for them to stay connected and up to date in different activities happening around them, and apart from that the users can also hire professional coaches and much more.



The thought behind this whole idea was the need for a strict routine and a motivational factor. Both of these are very important if someone genuinely wants to get in shape. However, with faster life and work, people do not get time to find the right trainer and like-minded group to sustain their healthy routine. In a bid to aid these set of people, FitSo came into existence. Fitso allows its users to seamlessly connect, train and discover activities of their interest while on the go.

MEET THE MAKERS

Gurgaon-based FITSOs was founded by three IIT Delhi Alumnus Saurabh Aggarwal, Naman Sharma, and Rahul Sureka by the name of 'Jogo'

Naman Sharma: He worked at Zomato for four years before taking up the role of Technology and Product Head at FITSO.

Rahul Sureka: He worked at Yepme and UrbanClap and is now the startup’s Marketing and Strategy Head.

Saurabh Aggarwal: He worked at Flipkart in Business Development before quitting to pursue his passion for adventure sports.

 TARGET MARKET

Their current focus is on fitness enthusiasts and people who are looking to become fit and lead a healthy lifestyle. FITSO aims to make this a community where people can share interests and get involved. The second target is people who want to lose those extra pounds and become fit and healthy. For such people they are also building a platform where people can hire experts and trainers to help them meet their goals.

THE JOURNEY TILL NOW

FitSo has been live in Delhi and NCR for about four months now. They have recently launched the IOS version as well. In this short span of time they have had 10k installs and they are getting around 100 new installs on a daily basis. FitSo was initially called Jogo which means "game" and the app was being categorized in the games category which was creating confusion, and hence it was changed to FitSo.

THE ROAD AHEAD

They are currently active only in Delhi and NCR, next on their agenda is to expand to the rest of the country. They want to monetize the aspect where people hire trainers using the app. Currently this service is free, they plan to charge for it and use it as a source of revenue.