Move over Fitbits, these wearables track your health on a budget
With fitness becoming the new buzzword in modern lifestyle, we take a look at five wearable tech startups providing fitness-tracking bands.
India has joined the fitness bandwagon with the rest of the world. Consumers are now aware of the importance of exercise and diet to keep lifestyle diseases at bay. And people no longer settle for just sweating it out in the gym either; they are seeking newer and more innovative ways to work out, be it through zumba, air yoga or spin cycling.
In 2017, India’s fitness market was estimated Rs 95,000 crore. Sensing the huge potential, around 20-25 prominent fit-tech platforms have mushroomed in the last couple of years.
Fittech, which is being cited as a sunrise sector, witnessed several investments last year. From Delhi-based FITPASS’ seed funding, Bengaluru-based HealthifyMe’s $1-million Series-A follow-up funding to Fitso’s $200,000 funding and Cure.fit’s $3-million Series-A follow-up funding, fitness seems to hold a lot of promise for investors.
Besides these platforms, fitness wearables are becoming a trend, with global brands like Fitbit, Garmin entering Indian market via e-commerce marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart. However, these products come with a high price label.
Joining the club was fashion ecommerce market leader Myntra, which launched ‘Blink Go,’ a fitness wearable, last month. Developed at the Myntra Innovation Labs, ‘Blink Go’ is priced at Rs.4,999. Blink Go is built from the ground up on the Myntra Wearables Platform (MWP) that creates wearables, which can discover and communicate with each other. The ecommerce major also plans to launch five or six devices under MWP. It claims that the app automatically detects the switching between devices. All MWP-enabled devices can talk to each other. This helps the user make his or her own personal network with these devices.
Some of the new-age Indian companies also offer fitness trackers, keeping in mind the needs and price concerns of Indian consumers.
GoQii Life: Headquartered in California with offices in Mumbai and Shenzhen, GoQii was founded by serial entrepreneur and angel investor Vishal Gondal in 2014. The startup aims to create a smart preventive healthcare ecosystem with the combination of a fitness tracker, an app, and a care team including a personal coach, experts and a doctor to help you meet your health targets. GoQii’s wristband is free, but users need to opt for the platform’s subscriptions of three, six or 12 months, which includes all elements of its ecosystem (i.e. band, experts, coach and karma) available at Rs 1,999, 3,499 and 4,999 respectively. GOQii has raised $13.4 million so far.
Boltt: Launched in 2016, Noida-based Boltt is the brainchild of Ayushi and Arnav Kishore. The startup’s range of fitness wearables include a smart shoe and fitness tracking band, powered by artificial intelligence (AI). Boltt’s fitness trackers come with AI health coaching, and provide personalised audio coaching during workouts to help users achieve their fitness goals. Boltt’s fitness trackers are available in four varieties – Luxe, Beat, Verve, and Ace. While Luxe and Beat is priced at Rs 4,999 and 3,999 repectively, Verve and Ace are both available at a price of Rs 3,499. All editions come with a 12-month subscription to the Boltt app health coach.
2mpower Health Management Services: One of the earliest products from India to venture into wearable healthcare tech devices in 2013 is GetActive. Founded by Mohammad Hussain Naseem and Murtaza Beawerwala, the Bengaluru-based firm offers three fitness products, GetActive Tapp (fitness wrist band), GetActive Slim (activity tracker to help fight obesity, diabetes and other lifestyle diseases), and GetActive eZ (fitness tracker with large display). GetActive Tapp, available at Rs 4,999, can track steps, calories, BMI, allows virtual treks, and offers a buddy programme. It helps users access activity progress and updates via data analytics, and others. In 2014, the firm raised undisclosed amount of funding from a clutch of investors, including TV Mohandas Pai.
ActoFit Wearables: The Mumbai-based fitness tracking startup was founded by Pratik Saraogi in 2014. The startup offers products in the field of health, fitness and sports, aimed at providing insightful data to help users live more fulfilled lives. Actofit Rise is a smartwatch-cum-activity tracker that can reportedly auto-recognise over 75 gym exercises while providing notifications, camera control, among other features. The watch also includes an optical sensor for continuous heart rate monitoring. In 2016, the platform raised $750,000 in pre-Series A funding, led by Next Orbit Ventures Fund.
MevoLife: Launched in 2016 by Khyati and Manish Mahajan, MevoLife is headquartered in the US, with an office in Gurugram. Its core offering, MevoFit, is a platform aimed at helping users lose weight and get fit through its fitness apps, trackers, and merchandise. MevoFit Club is a platform for MevoFit app consumers to motivate each other, and MevoFit Health Pro targets the health clubs and healthcare businesses like gyms, fitness studios and medical establishments. MevoFit Drive Fitness Band, which is reportedly splash-proof and lightweight, offers features like reminders and alerts, activity and sleep tracking, multi-sport modes, and many others. The band’s starting price range is Rs 1,790.