Cure.Fit Strengthens Mental Wellness Biz With Acquisition Of Seraniti

Bengaluru-based fitness startup Cure.Fit has acquired mental health platform Seraniti for an undisclosed amount to add to its mental wellness vertical Mind.Fit.

Mind.Fit is the dedicated mental wellness vertical offering online and offline yoga, meditation and therapy services. After the acquisition, Seraniti clinics at Bengaluru and Pune have rebranded under the Cure.Fit banner as Mind.Fit.

Cure.Fit will onboard Seraniti’s team of 15 therapists and its 8,000 customers. Serviced by 15 therapists, Seraniti currently undertakes over 500 active sessions a month in both its Bengaluru and Pune centres. With the acquisition, Cure.Fit will have more than 70 centres under Mind.Fit.

Founded in 2016 by Dr Shyam Bhat, Bengaluru-based Seraniti leverages technology to provide empathic, effective counselling, and psychotherapy services. Dr Shyam Bhat has worked as a mental wellness expert for Cure.Fit.

Cure.Fit has been an investor in Seraniti since 2016. “We believe the acquisition is a win-win for all our clients, as it will improve convenience (eight additional locations and video sessions), offer a robust digital platform and ensure effective treatment by the best of therapists and psychiatrists,” Seraniti said on its website.

It said all its mental healthcare operations were acquired by and rebranded to Mind.fit starting November 1.

The Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori-led company has reportedly paid off the angel investors who had invested in Seraniti for the acquisition.

Mind.Fit claims to be India’s largest Yoga Chain with a membership of about 11,000, conducting 160 classes/day across its more than 70 centres. Seraniti is Cure.Fit’s second acquisition for the Mind.Fit vertical after the integration of a1000 yoga in 2017.

Ankit Nagori, co-founder, Cure.fit, said, “Mental wellness is one of the core pillars of the Cure.fit model. The addition of Seraniti is an important milestone as it fortifies the Mind.Fit portfolio and allow us to enhance awareness and access to quality preventive and therapeutic mental health management to our growing customer base. Since our products are designed to work cohesively for all-round wellbeing, our customers are nudged to assimilate the same approach as a part of their fitness routine.”

The Cure.Fit platform integrates physical fitness (Cult.Fit), mental fitness (Mind.Fit), healthy food (Eat.Fit), and its latest offering — a primary care and diagnostics vertical called Care.Fit.

In a bid to scale up, Cure.Fit has taken to an acquisition-led strategy, buying out startups like Tribe Fitness, Seraniti, Kristys Kitchen and a1000yoga. In August 2017, Cure.Fit also signed on Hrithik Roshan as its brand ambassador.

Cure.Fit is backed by marquee investors such as Accel Partners, IDG, Kalaari, Ratan Tata, and UC RNT.

Mental Health: Startups Take Up The Onus To Address Taboos

Mental illness has long been more of an invisible illness. “I will never understand why every organ in your body get support and sympathy when it is ill, except for your brain,” as it is rightly said.

As the Indian startup ecosystem gets on the high ground and becomes a testimony to investor attention as well as innovation, the startups have also taken up the charge to bring a change to this stigma and bring around a better understanding and support for those in need of mental support and guidance.

In the fast-paced lifestyle, changing relationship dynamics across personal and professional life, workload and stress, mental health issues have started to show and get the much-deserved attention.

Amongst those who are enabling mental wellness and support the sector are Innerhealth, which is bringing therapy and consultation through online platforms like web and video chats and phone calls; YOURDost, an emotional wellness platform that connects individuals in need with experts like psychologists, life coaches, and psychiatrists;  Wysa, an AI-enabled mental health chatbot; Trijog,  a social enterprise in the mental health space among others.

With technology and digital media making mental health care as ubiquitous and accessible as the internet itself, players like Mind.Fit and Seraniti coming together is a huge step forward to support the segment and growth for understanding mental wellness.

[Cure.Fit was part of Inc42’s 42Next — a list of the 42 most innovative startups creating an impact in the Indian startup ecosystem.]