SUMMARY
With this acquisition, Mumbai-based gym aggregator and corporate fitness platform will remain a separate entity
The acquisition will allow Curefit to scale up its recently launched Cult Pass feature for access to Cult gyms and other fitness centres
Last year, Curefit had laid off off more than 1500 employees
On an acquisition streak in 2021, Bengaluru-based health and fitness startup Curefit has acquired Mumbai-based fitness aggregator Fitternity for an undisclosed amount.
Founded in 2014 by Neha Motwani and Jayam Vora, Fitternity is a corporate fitness and gym aggregator platform, which claims to cater over 11 Mn users on the platform, with 500K paid customers and 100+ large corporate clients in India. The company also claims to have a network of over 5000+ gyms, boutique fitness classes and luxury swimming pools in India across 17 fitness forms and 15 cities.
Mukesh Bansal, cofounder at Curefit said, in a press statement, that with Fitternity on board, Curefit will improve its existing gyms and studios, bring their operations up to speed with better technology and focus on giving them access to the right tools and solutions to adjust to the post-Covid scenario amid changing consumer habits.
This is Curefit’s second acquisition this year after it had acquired US-based fitness tech startup Onyx in January to improve its computer vision technology for at-home fitness products.
The Bengaluru-based company said that Fitternity will continue to exist as a separate platform from Curefit. The acquisition will allow Curefit to scale up its recently launched Cult Pass feature for access to Cult gyms and other fitness centres.
“The first 30 gyms on Cult Pass have seen a 2-3X increase in revenue. We are confident that the top 1000 gyms on the combined platform will be deeply tech-enabled and will realise 50-100% more business from the existing infrastructure,” revealed Naresh Krishnaswamy, business head at Curefit.
Curefit’s fitness centres had been heavily impacted by Covid-19 pandemic — most of its centres had to either shut down or become semi-operational. It transitioned to virtual classes and at-home fitness, a phase during which it also laid off over 1500 employees. It also began extensively focussing on verticals such as Carefit for remote healthcare services and the food business Eat.fit, which became an independent entity in 2020.
Talking about the acquisition Curefit cofounder Mukesh Bansal said: “Fitness in India is still in initial stages at sub 1% penetration. Over the next 10-20 years, this will increase to 15-20% like in the west. With increasing health awareness, demand is increasing, and we need to put up quality supply. With Fitternity on board, Cure.fit will improve existing offline gyms, bring them up to speed with better technology, and focus on empowering them to adjust to the post-Covid scenario amid changing consumer expectations.”
With this acquisition, the company is also eyeing Fitternity’s base of corporate customers. According to MarketResearch, the corporate wellness and fitness market in India is expected to touch INR 2153 Cr by 2021, from INR 1459 Cr in 2019, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.75% during the forecast period 2020-2025. The growth of the industry is said to be driven by the rising number of lifestyle-related diseases, along with lack of proper diet, exercise and rest among others.
Fitternity cofounder and COO Vora added: “For Fitternity, this transaction enables a significant evolution of our user proposition, while driving growth for our partner network beyond just recovery to achieving the true potential of the fitness retail business in India.”
