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Meet the Indian Startups Vying to Be the Swiggy of the Health Space

Meet the Indian Startups Vying to Be the Swiggy of the Health Space 6ir6g

By Pranay Parab | Updated: 11 January 2017 16:30 IST

Highlights

Fitness apps are growing in India
People are willing to pay for fitness services
One of these startups are already profitable

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Around 18 months ago, a slew of fitness wearables were being launched in India, seemingly with the hope that probably not good enough to entice buyers. 6k212v

What's next? According to some, the next trend in fitness is going to be the disruption of gyms. The traditional gym or health club-based fitness model doesn't suit everyone - paying a fat annual fee upfront isn't something anyone looks forward to, particularly people who don't religiously make use of these hips.

The solution might be to put the focus on fitness, rather than statistics, or hips. Tushar Vasisht, co-founder of HealthifyMe, which has a fitness and nutrition app of the same name, believes that Indians care about fitness and are willing to pay for it. The app asks you to set a fitness goal and then assigns a coach to help you achieve the goal, in exchange for a subscription fee.

"We've gone from 1 lakh to 13 lakh s in the past 18-20 months. If you look at Google Play stats, we have over 1 million s," he says. "Our average revenue per (ARPU) [on Android and iOS combined] is $100 (roughly Rs. 6,700) and that is very, very high."

Vasisht believes these are two important factors that helped HealthifyMe secure $7 million (roughly Rs. 43 crore) in funding in 2016. Subscriptions cost between Rs. 899 per month to Rs. 1,499 a month, explaining the high ARPU.

The fitness industry in India is Goqii, and Bengaluru-based Curefit, both of which have raised over $13 million (roughly Rs. 88.4 crore) each, apart from startups such as Froyofit that have raised smaller sums. This goes to show that there's quite a bit of VC interest in this segment.

Fit is another fitness startup that secured funding recently. The Delhi-based company charges a flat fee - Rs. 999 per month - that gives you access to gyms around you. So far, Fit has only offered its service in Delhi-NCR, but with funds now in place, it plans to expand to Bengaluru.

Akshay Verma, co-founder of Fit says, "Fit has been profitable since the start about one year ago. The funding gives us a bit of a runway to expand to Bengaluru and eventually, Mumbai. We plan to offer fitness videos through the app to reach people in tier-2 and 3 cities."

Verma says Fit' growth has been driven by a demand for "new-age workouts such as crossfit, zumba, etc". He adds, "Fifty-five percent of our s are women. When it comes to workouts, women are more adventurous (they want to try new workouts)." That's a departure from the traditional gyms you see, which tend to have more men around.

"Nearly 5 lakh people work in Gurgaon and around 3.5 lakh of them are employed with BPOs," Verma says. "These people don't have Rs. 25,000 to pay upfront at gyms," adding that this is one of the biggest reasons for Fit' success. Offering reasonably-priced plans and making fitness advice available where and when people want it, has driven these apps.

HealthifyMe's Tushar Vasisht has similar thoughts. "In the 1970s, the penetration of health club hips in the US was around 1.8 percent. This rose to 20 percent in 2010 and is now falling again (due to online fitness startups)," he says. "In India, the penetration of health clubs is around 1 percent now. We will leapfrog the growth seen in the US and people will move straight to fitness apps," he adds.

The app s are finding value in these services, as is evident from reviews. HealthifyMe, with a 4.3-star average rating, seems to be among the better-rated apps on Google Play in India. For Fit, the app that lets you use gyms around you for a monthly fee, we found a few good reviews including one by Android Shoumojit Lahiri that reads, "I did find Fit an excellent and refreshing concept, been a member since January 2016. I never faced any problem with doing workout at gyms with 30k annual hip. Will recommend to all." But there are some like Krishna Fulera who complained about gyms not welcoming Fit customers. "The local gym that's nearest to me was listed here but the guy said he has not been getting paid by Fit so he won't honor their hip," Fulera wrote, which shows that there's still a gap between traditional gyms and apps that want to connect them with people.

Fit also offers enterprise solutions to gyms and health clubs. "Our software lets partners manage equipment, staff, check attendance, among many other things. We piloted this with 100 partners in Delhi and found that they are willing to pay Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 6,000 per month for these services," he adds. He believes that this and a growing demand for fitness-related services will help the company's growth in other cities as well.

HealthifyMe's Vasisht believes that Indians are more than willing to pay for convenience. "We want to do to fitness what Ola did to cabs. (Indians) are happy to pay a for convenience of health and fitness at your time and on your own phone," he says, adding that this is the reason behind HealthifyMe's growth.

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