Mobile health and fitness startup HealthifyMe gets healthier, scoops up $6M funding

Mobile health and fitness startup HealthifyMe has raised $6 million in Series A funding led by IDG Ventures India, Inventus Capital and Blume Ventures. The fresh round of funds will be used to further develop its digital coaching platform, strengthen advertising, marketing and product team. The company plans to hire 40 engineers, designers and product managers by the end of this year.

The funding comes a year after seed round which was led by angel investors and Micromax. Within 12 months, the user base of HealthifyMe app has scaled from 30,000 to 5 lakh across Android and iOS. Moreover, the company’s statement said that HealthifyMe became the only health app in India to receive Top Developer Badge - Google Play’s highest recognition for quality and innovation.

HealthifyMe has strong engineering and product ethos. The feedback we got from customers and corporate partners was extremely positive. HealthifyMe is going to set the benchmark for wellness delivery in India, and we are proud to support it,” says Rutvik, Director, Inventus Capital.

A flashback

Co-founded by Tushar Vashisht, Sachin Shenoy and Mathew Cherian in 2012, HealthifyMe is a Microsoft Ventures incubated startup. With 150 employees including 100 coaches, the company is currently present in Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai.

HealthifyMe’ free app enables users to keep a track of their calories, set personal fitness goals and measure progress. The app syncs with all the leading wearables including Fitbit, YuFit and MiBand along its own fitness band RIST. It has also partnered with medical institutions such as Medanta - The Medicity, Apollo ACODE and Manipal Hospitals and has been proved effective in treating obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular problems and other lifestyle diseases.

Dr Sudarshan Ballal, Chairman of Manipal Hospitals says “In collaboration with HealthifyMe, we are able to monitor and manage patients' diet, weight and deliver counselling digitally. The program is integrated with preventive health check programs and is helpful in better management of non-communicable or lifestyle diseases - the curse of modern living."

HealthifyMe is growing at 20 per cent month on month. It has three revenue streams: premium subscription model (starts at Rs 800 per month), corporate wellness and healthcare programmes. As part of its subscription services, it connects users with nutritionists and trainers who review their progress, provide diet or fitness plans. Its gamified social platform for corporate engages employees holistically around healthy eating, running, weight and hydration. HealthifyMe’s corporate clients include PMC Sierra, Indegene, Philips, GE and Cognizant.

“We use technology and human services to target weight-loss and our programs are effective in prevention of lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, hypertension. With these funds we plan to impact five million users and tie up with over 500 corporate and healthcare partners. We will continue to invest heavily in our technology and product,” says Tushar Vashisht, CEO HealthifyMe.

Health and fitness boom

The wellness industry is valued at Rs 490 billion, dominated by weight loss and beauty treatment services. A Deloitte-IHRSA report indicated that there are 4.8 million fitness seekers across Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru.

Riding high on healthy diet and fitness tracking, startups like GOQii, Orobind, GetActive and MobieFit have largely drawn the attention of the investors. GOQii raised $13.4 million in Series A funding; Orobind raised an undisclosed amount in pre-series A funding; GetActive raised an undisclosed amount of funds in 2014 and MobieFit raised one million dollars.

The space has also seen a few collaborations- online home services provider Housejoy acquired Orobind and digital fitness solution Fitho Wellness got acquired by doctor search engine Practo.

Since the lifestyle and income level of people has witnessed significant changes, the industry in India has become a sunrise sector, and is set to grow by 20-30 per cent year on year.

HealthifyMe