Hrithik Roshan Invests $878.2K In Fitness Startup Cure.Fit

Bengaluru-based fitness startup Cure.Fit has raised $878.2K (INR 6 Cr) from Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan.

In August 2017, Cure.Fit had signed on Hrithik Roshan as its brand ambassador. The five-year contract is valued at $14.63 Mn (INR 100 Cr).

According to the MCA filings, Hrithik invested directly in Cure.Fit and also through his entity, Extreme Brands.

A query sent to Cure.Fit didn’t elicit any response till the time of publication.

Cure.Fit: Revolutionising  Fitness

Established in 2016 by former Flipkart executives Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori, Cure.Fit serves as a holistic healthcare platform with a focus on mind, body, and nutrition.

With its vision to make holistic health and well-being easily accessible to people, the Cure.Fit platform intelligently integrates physical fitness (Cult.fit), mental fitness (Mind.fit), healthy food (Eat.fit), and to-be-launched primary care (Care.fit), all on one app.

In addition to 34 Cult centres and seven Mind.Fit centres around Bengaluru and a number of centres in Delhi/NCR, the fitness startup has also developed an app for Android and iPhones, which was launched in May 2017. The app allows members to book classes, order healthy meals, and work out at home as well.

Till date, Cure.Fit has raised more than $45 Mn in funding across multiple rounds from a clutch of investors such as Accel Partners, IDG Ventures Kalaari Capital, and UC-RNT Fund, among others.

Cure.Fit now has a presence in Bengaluru, NCR, and Mumbai, and has over 40,000 members.

Recently, Cure.Fit acquired Fitness First in India. With this deal, Cure.Fit also merged its subsidiary, Cult Fitness, with the Fitness First business in India. The joint entity will now operate under the Cure.Fit platform.

The consolidated business will have more than 50 fitness centres across the country, to begin with, and will add five fitness centres every month.

Cure.Fit has also acquired startups like Tribe Fitness, Seraniti, Kristys Kitchen and a1000yoga.

Bollywood Acting As Catalysts For Startups

Other Bollywood stars have also invested and tied up with different lifestyle brands. Aamir Khan has invested in furniture startup Furlenco, while leading actresses Alia Bhatt and Jacqueline Fernandez invested in fashion portal Stylecracker and juice maker and online portal Rakyan Beverages respectively.

Among early investors in the lifestyle sector from Bollywood are Karishma Kapoor, Ajay Devgn, and Shilpa Shetty. Karishma Kapoor had invested in a kids clothing and accessories portal Babyoye in 2011.

After cricket stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, and MS Dhoni, Bollywood stars’ endorsements have been counted as a big catalysing power for companies for a long time.

Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan, and Hrithik Roshan are some of the names that are in demand for brand endorsements in the startup ecosystem.

Booming Fitness Industry In India

The sports, fitness, and wellness industry in India is poised to be a $90 Bn industry by 2022, growing with a CAGR of 17%.

The driving factors for this growth include demand levers like affluence, sedentary lifestyle, and increasing awareness about health and fitness, backed by robust supply drivers.

Among major players are startups such as Stratfit, Growfitter, Fitnapp, and HealthifyMe.

With its recent acquisition and funding boost, Cure.Fit is ready for the next level of growth in the fitness industry.