CureFit launches incubation programme, buys juice brand Rejoov

Health and fitness startup CureFit, led by Myntra co-founder Mukesh Bansal and former Flipkart executive Ankit Nagori, announced the launch of an incubation programme for health food brands.

The three-year-old startup, which has allocated $5 million for the programme, will invest this sum over the next two years with a focus on packaged health foods.

As part of the incubation programme, CureFit will support companies in health and nutrition research, consumer insights, branding and positioning, go-to-market strategy and provide access to custom sales channels, including its Cult.fit centres and Eat.fit cafes.

“While a lot of great products are being created, entrepreneurs find it difficult to raise capital and find shelf space in the market. At CureFit we want to enable these entrepreneurs by giving them access to capital and shelf space,” co-founder Nagori said in the statement.

Some of the investment themes identified for the incubation programme include nutrition bars, juices and beverages, natural supplements, meal replacements, ready-to-cook products and meal kits, staples, and dairy products.

Separately, it also announced that it acquired cold-pressed juice brand Rejoov for an undisclosed sum.

In a statement, the company said that the acquisition took place in February, without disclosing any more details.

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

Its most recent takeover was in November last year, when it had acquired integrated mental wellness platform Seraniti.

In May last year, it bought premium gym chain Fitness First India, which was backed by hedge fund Oaktree Capital Management.

In 2017, it acquired Bengaluru-based yoga centre a1000yoga Academy and online food delivery startup Kristys Kitchen.

CureFit is backed by venture capital firms Accel Partners, Kalaari Capital and Chiratae Ventures, which was previously known as IDG Ventures India, as well as industry doyen Ratan Tata.

In July last year, the startup had raised $120 million (around Rs 825 crore then) in a Series C round of funding.

The company formally launched the flagship CureFit mobile app in May 2017. Another offering is Cult.fit, which runs offline centres that offer equipment-less workouts including strength and conditioning exercises, spinning, boxing, mixed martial arts, zumba and yoga.

Eat.fit is its subscription-based food delivery vertical while Mind.fit focuses on yoga and meditation. Its latest offering Care.fit offers a digital platform for doctors and health checkups.

For the financial year 2017-18, its net sales jumped to Rs 24.9 crore from Rs 3.1 crore in the previous year. Net loss expanded to Rs 96.8 crore in 2017-18 from Rs 18 crore.

CureFit’s total expenditure jumped nearly six-fold to Rs 120.3 crore in 2017-18 from Rs 21.9 crore the year before.