SUMMARY
Cure.fit will eventually launch Gym.fit independently
Cure.fit has settled by paying close to the deal value in cash
Book Your Game has withdrawn its case against Cure.fit
Nearly two months after reports surfaced that Bengaluru-based gym booking marketplace Book Your Game (BYG) has sued Bengaluru-based fitness and wellness tech startup Cure.fit, the case is said to have been closed.
An ET report, citing people aware of the development, said that Cure.fit has settled the dispute outside the court. The report added that Cure.fit has settled by paying close to the deal value in cash, while both parties mutually decided to not go ahead with the deal. As a result, Book Your Game has withdrawn its case against Cure.fit.
With the case sidelined, Cure.fit will eventually launch Gym.fit independently, the report added.
The Case: A Failed Acquisition Plan And More
On August 7, Bengaluru City Civil Court had restrained Cure.fit from launching, promoting, marketing or selling any product or service using the ‘Gym.Fit, CultX, and Sports.fit’ names, in any manner. Cure.fit was set to launch a national gym subscription called Gym.Fit, which aggregates gyms across the city.
At the time, BYG alleged in its petition that Cure.fit had offered to acquire it for about INR 5 Cr in June, but subsequently retracted after exchange of crucial data and intellectual property. The petition further said that ”employees of BYG began to be inducted as employees of Cure.fit.
Cure.fit formally welcomed the employees, as established by email dated 11-06. Based on express promises by Cure.fit, and in good faith, BYG and its employees complied with instructions of Cure.fit to begin sharing confidential information.”
BYG operates an app that provides customers access to more than 2,000 gyms via pay-per-use sessions. It also provides Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions to gyms.
Cure.fit 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). The company enables bookings for its classes through a smartphone app, where users can sign up for new classes or sessions.
Following the allegations, Cure.fit had said that the transaction never progressed to definitive closure or to a formal on-boarding of BYG employees. A fair breakaway fee was also offered to BYG, it said. “Gym.fit is an internal Cure.fit initiative with nothing to do with BYG. During diligence, we found some potential legal and compliance issues in BYG’s operations and hence decided to call off the proposed deal,” the company added.
Cure.fit has raised about $245 Mn over multiple rounds from investors such as IDG Ventures, Chiratae Ventures, Accel Partners, Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan, Piramal Group’s Anand Piramal and Kalaari Capital.
Over the past few years, Curefit has made a number of acquisitions, which seems to be the company’s core strategy for expansion into various verticals and scaling its platform. For instance, fitness startup Cult was acquired by the company in August 2016 for $3 Mn. Since then, it has acquired startups such as Tribe Fitness, Seraniti, Kristys Kitchen, and a1000yoga.
