After raising $15M, CureFit invests $3M in Bengaluru-based fitness startup CULT

Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori’s startup CureFit today announced that it will be investing $3 million in Bengaluru-based startup CULT.With this investment, CureFit will own a majority stake in the startup, but CULT will continue to operate independently.

Fitness-focused startup CULT was founded in 2015 by corporate professional turned fitness trainer Rishabh Telang. The startup currently has two offline centres and has three more in the pipeline, which will open before the end of the year.

Furthermore, it plans to expand its reach to over 25 offline centres by the end of 2017, and to 200 centres in the next 5 years. Commenting on the funding, Rishab said,

CULT’s vision is to create a fitness revolution in the country by inspiring people to take up a fitness regime, and a healthier lifestyle in general. With this round of funding, we will be able to focus on expanding our footprint and use technology to provide a better experience to our customers.

With regard to the investment, Mukesh Bansal, co-founder of CureFit, said that CULT has a unique training model, which delivers a holistic fitness regime. He also added that traditional fitness formats are a thing of the past, and trainer-led group classes will change the face of the fitness industry in the near future. CureFit was founded by Mukesh, the founder of Myntra, and Ankit, a former executive at Flipkart, earlier this year. In the month of July, the startup, which will launch its platform in 2017, raised $15 million from Accel Partners, IDG Ventures and Kalaari Capital.

Bengaluru-based CureFit will enable users to manage their health proactively through a gamut of service offerings. The platform aims to juggle an innovative combination of engagement, coaching and delivery, through a mix of online and offline channels.

Healthcare and Fitness Segment

When compared with other segments like e-commerce and fintech, this sector is still lagging with regard to the adaptation of technology. However, Mukesh believes that healthcare is one of the largest growing segments in India and is estimated to be a $280 billion market by 2020, and Ankit believes that though there are multiple service offerings available in the market, they tend to be fragmented, and none cater to the end-to-end needs of users.

In this segment, the startup will be competing with players like HealthifyMe, GimPik and Gymer, among others. Other key players ruling the healthcare segment include Practo, Portea and Goqii.

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