Health-tech startup CureFit gets $600K in new funding round

CureFit Healthcare Pvt. Ltd, which operates health and fitness platform CureFit, has raised Rs 4.18 crore (about $611,121) in a fresh funding round, a media report said.

The round saw a new set of investors backing the firm including Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal and Myntra-Jabong chief executive Ananth Narayanan, The Economic Times reported, citing data research platform Paper.vc.

CureFit, launched by Myntra co-founder Mukesh Bansal and former Flipkart executive Ankit Nagori, aims to address preventive healthcare through a combination of engagement, coaching and delivery, using both online and offline channels.

It has three verticals: Cult.fit, Eat.fit, and Mind.fit. Fitness chain Cult.fit’s offline centres offer equipment-less workout solutions, including strength and conditioning, spinning, boxing, mixed martial arts, zumba and yoga.

Eat.fit is a subscription-based food delivery vertical, while Mind.fit focuses on yoga and meditation.

An email query sent to a spokesperson at CureFit did not elicit an immediate response at the time of publishing this report.

CureFit last raised funds in August 2017, when it secured $25 million in a Series B round from existing investors Accel Partners, IDG Ventures, Kalaari Capital and UC-RNT Fund, a joint venture between Ratan Tata’s RNT Associates and University of California. Three months before that, the startup had secured $3 million (Rs 19.2 crore) in a fresh round of funding from UC-RNT Fund.

Accel Partners, IDG Ventures and Kalaari Capital had pumped $15 million into CureFit in July 2016.

The company posted net sales of Rs 3 crore in the financial year 2016-17 but its losses were six times that amount, filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) show. According to VCCEdge, the data research platform of News Corp VCCircle, CureFit recorded losses of Rs 17.98 crore in 2016-17. CureFit’s total expenditure stood at Rs 21.87 crore.

CureFit also acquired a few businesses as part of its expansion strategy.

In August 2016, it invested Rs 20 crore in Bangalore-based Cult Fitness Pvt. Ltd for a controlling stake.

Last July, it bought Bangalore-based yoga chain a1000yoga for an undisclosed amount.

In March 2017, it had acquired Bangalore-based online food delivery startup Kristys Kitchen in a cash-and-equity deal. The month before that, it bought a majority stake in fitness chain The Tribe.

In an interaction with TechCircle in March this year, Bansal claimed that the firm’s revenue was doubling every six months with a current monthly revenue run rate of $1 million.

“Within the next 18 months, we will hit 100 centres and we are doing 5,000 food orders every day within six months. We will open one new kitchen every month. By this year end, we should touch 25,000 orders a day,” he said.