Zomato’s Investment Turns Curefit Into Unicorn

Zomato’s Investment Turns Curefit Into Unicorn

SUMMARY

In the cross-selling deal with Curefit, Zomato sold its sports facility platform Fitso for $50 Mn and infused an additional $50 Mn for a 6.4% cumulative stake

The resultant deal values the startup at $1.56 Bn — making it the 35th Unicorn in 2021, and 77th Unicorn overall

To date, CureFit has raised close to $460 Mn; it last raised $75 Mn from Tata Digital in June 2021, post which cofounder Mukesh Bansal also joined Tata Digital as its president

On November 10, food delivery aggregator Zomato


Sector
Food Tech
Stage
Undisclosed
Total Funding
$4.59 Bn+
announced a slew of agreements as well as its Q2 FY22 earnings. Among noticeable agreements, the foodtech announced that it sold its fitness facility arm Fitso to fitness startup CureFit for $50 Mn.

Additionally, the startup invested another $50 Mn in CureFit. In the cross-selling, Zomato has acquired a total shareholding of 6.4% worth $100 Mn in the fitness startup.

The deal, thus, values the Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori-led company at $1.56 Bn — making it the 35th Unicorn in 2021, and 77th Unicorn overall. Recently, D2C beauty platform MyGlamm entered the coveted $1 Bn+ valuation club after raising $150 Mn in its Series D round.

Zomato and CureFit have not responded to Inc42’s queries on the valuation development.

Zomato Plans Priority Play Through Shutdowns & Divestments

In its quarterly report, Zomato outlined the need for the foodtech to focus on its core businesses viz., food ordering and delivery, dining-out, and B2B supply chain biz, Hyperpure. Thus, Zomato has shut down all of its international businesses. For a long term play in auxiliary segments, the startup is looking to back D2C startups in partnership with Shiprocket — a move similar to its backing grocery startup Grofers.

Among other auxiliary businesses, Zomato also owned sports facility centres. In January 2021, Zomato had acquired full-stack sports facilities provider and discovery startup Fitso in a deal reportedly worth INR 80 Cr – INR 100 Cr.

Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal in a blog post outlined that as Zomato is looking to divest (not just shut down) its non-core businesses. Thus, it worked out a way to stay in the fitness and wellness segment, by selling its fitness arm Fitso “to someone for whom it is core” — CureFit.

Selling Business To Core Health Player To “Cultivate Long Term Partnership”: Zomato

Founded in 2016 by Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori, CureFit uses an online-offline model to offer physical fitness (Cult.fit), mental fitness (Mind.fit), nutrition (Eat.fit), with a primary care vertical (Care.fit).

It, too, has been on an acquisition streak, with a bleak spell in 2020 where it had to lay off over 1,600 employees and scale down operations. Notable acquisitions include:

  • Martial arts and holistic fitness startup Cult (through which it rebranded as Cult.fit)
  • Mumbai-based fitness centre chain Tribe Fitness
  • Bengaluru-based yoga chain a1000yoga
  • Online healthy-food delivery company, Kristy’s Kitchen
  • International fitness chain Fitness First
  • Mumbai-based fitness aggregator Fitternity
  • US-based fitness tech startup Onyx
  • Bengaluru-based connected fitness startup, TREAD
  • And now, Zomato-owned sports facility startup Fitso

“This will help us potentially explore cross-selling benefits between Zomato and Curefit, as we see food and health becoming the same side of the coin in the long term,” Goyal said in a blog post.

To date, CureFit has raised close to $460 Mn. It last raised $75 Mn from Tata Digital in June 2021, post which Bansal also joined Tata Digital as its president.

CureFit is physically present in 21 cities across India. With a franchise model leveraging Cult Centre, a Cult Gym or both, the company aims to be present in 50 cities by FY22.

According to an Inc42 Plus report titled, India’s Healthtech Landscape In A Post-Covid-19 World, the Indian healthcare market is expected to grow 4x, from $144 Bn in 2019 to $638 Bn by 2025. The report also outlined that CureFit was a leader in the healthtech segment in India.

The preventive healthcare category, which includes wellness and fitness startups, is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13% between 2020-25 and is expected to reach a market size of $170 Bn by 2024.

Some major players in the health, fitness and wellness space are startups such as Stratfit, Growfitter, Fitnapp, and HealthifyMe, HealWell24 and Malaika Arora-backed SARVA Yoga.