Healthcare startup CureFit, founded by ex-Flipkart executives Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori has acquired a majority stake in Tribe Fitness Club, reports ET. The financials behind the deal were not disclosed. A spokesperson for CureFit confirmed the acquisition with MediaNama. Bangalore-based Tribe Fitness operators Gyms, and fitness studios along with specialized fitness programs like cross fit training, Yoga, Zumba, among others. The company commenced operations in June 2016 and was founded by Shwetambari Shetty.
Note that this is CureFit’s second acquisition: In August last year, it invested $3 million into fitness company Cult for a majority stake. At that time, Cult said it would run independently and use the funds for expanding and improving its technology. Two months before the Cult funding, CureFit raised $15 million from Accel Partners, IDG Ventures, and Kalaari Capital. However, while Cult launched commercial operations a while back, CureFit is yet to launch a consumer facing product or service. At the time of funding, the company said that it will offer “coaching and delivery through a mix of online and offline channels” with a full launch by 2017.
However, the ET report mentions that CureFit will launch commercially by end of 2017 with 20 centers in Bangalore. According to the report, the company also claims to have incorporated four different units under it, which includes CureFit Logistics, New World Inventions, CureFit Healthcare and Curefoods. Nagori was quoted in the report stating that the company “will continue to look out for partners and businesses who share our values and expand our portfolio”.
Competition
CureFit will look to complete with startups like HealthifyMe and Fitcircle who also aggregates fitness providers and healthcare professionals like nutritionists, doctors, etc. on its platform. Other startups in the fitness space include companies like Gympik and Fitternity that runs search and discovery portals by aggregates gyms in a locality. Ex-Jabong executive Rukaiya Kanchwala, who founded the fitness startup ClassVerse in June 2015, shut down the company in May last year, almost 10 months after launch citing high acquisition costs, as indicated by this Tech Circle report.
