Exclusive: CureFit Lays Off 120 Employees In A Restructuring Exercise

Zomato-backed fitness startup CureFit laid off about 120 employees earlier this week in a restructuring exercise, joining the long list of Indian startups which have fired employees amid the unrelenting funding winter.

The Bengaluru-based healthtech unicorn’s restructuring exercise impacted employees across its brands like Sugar.fit, Carefit, Cultfit, among others, sources told Inc42.

The startup confirmed the development in a statement but did not disclose the number of employees impacted by the exercise. 

“As part of our regular annual operating planning process, we have reduced some redundant positions with the aim of streamlining operations. This is aimed at improving productivity and setting us up for full profitability in FY25. We have done this with thoughtful consideration and with the interest of creating long term value for our stakeholders,” it told Inc42 in the statement. 

Earlier in 2020, Curefit had laid off around 800 employees in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Founded in 2016 by Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori, CureFit runs physical fitness platform Cultfit, mental health platform Mindfit, primary care vertical Care.fit, among others. However, Nagori later left the startup to work on his new venture – D2C cloud kitchen aggregator Curefoods. 

CureFit entered the unicorn club in December 2021 after raising $145 Mn at a valuation of over $1.4 Bn. The funding round was led by foodtech giant Zomato (in a cross selling deal) alongside Singapore’s sovereign fund Temasek and South Park Commons, among others. As a part of the deal, CureFit also acquired Zomato’s fitness facility arm Fitso for $50 Mn. 

After the fund raise, the startup went on to acquire the Indian business of international gym chain – Gold’s Gym.

CureFit managed to improve its financials in FY23, with its revenue jumping to INR 694 Cr and loss reducing to around INR 500 Cr. 

The startup has raised over $600 Mn in funding till date. It counts the likes of Tata Digital, Accel, Kalaari, Temasek, and Chiratae Ventures among its backers.