With this acquisition, the Mumbai-based fitness aggregator and the company’s fitness platform remain a separate entity
The acquisition allows Curefit to expand its recently introduced Cult Pass feature for access to Cult gyms and other fitness centers
Last year, Curefit laid off more than 1,500 employees
As part of 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 an enterprise platform for fitness and fitness aggregators that claims to serve more than 11 million users on the platform with 500,000 paid customers and over 100 large corporate customers in India. The company also claims to have a network of over 5,000 gyms, boutique fitness classes and luxury swimming pools in India in 17 fitness forms and 15 cities.
Mukesh Bansal, co-founder of Curefit, said in a press release that with Fitternity on board, Curefit will improve its existing gyms and studios, update their operations with better technology, and focus on giving them access to the right tools and solutions provide adaptation to the post-Covid scenario with changing consumer habits.
This is Curefit’s second acquisition this year acquired the US-based fitness tech startup Onyx in January to improve its computer vision technology for home fitness products.
The Bengaluru-based company announced that Fitternity will continue to exist as a separate platform from Curefit. The acquisition allows Curefit to expand its recently introduced Cult Pass feature for access to Cult gyms and other fitness centers.
“In the first 30 fitness studios of the Cult Pass, sales could be increased 2-3 times. We are confident that the top 1000 gyms on the combined platform will have high technical capabilities and will generate 50 to 100% more business with the existing infrastructure, ”said Naresh Krishnaswamy, Business Head at Curefit.
Curefit fitness centers were badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic – most of the centers either had to be closed or semi-operational. It switched to virtual classes and home fitness, a stage where it was also laid off 1500 employees. The focus was also on industries like Carefit for Remote Healthcare Services and the grocery store Eat.fit, which became an independent entity in 2020.
Commenting on the acquisition, Mukesh Bansal, co-founder of Curefit, said: “Fitness in India is still in the early stages with penetration below 1%. In the next 10 to 20 years, like in the west, this value will rise to 15 to 20%. With increasing health awareness, the demand increases and we have to build a high quality supply. With Fitternity on board, Cure.fit will improve existing offline gyms, bring them up to date with better technology and focus on enabling them to adapt to the post-Covid scenario when expectations of the Change consumers. “
With this acquisition, the company is also keeping an eye on Fitternity’s customer base. According to MarketResearch, the corporate wellness and fitness market is in India expected INR 2153 Cr to touch by 2021, from INR 1459 Cr in 2019, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.75% over the forecast period 2020-2025. The growth of the industry is expected to be driven, among other things, by the increasing number of diseases related to lifestyle as well as by a lack of nutrition, exercise and rest.
Fitternity Co-Founder and COO Vora added, “For Fitternity, this transaction will significantly advance our user offering and drive the growth of our partner network beyond recreation to unlock the true potential of fitness retail in India.”
