BWDisrupt interacted with Co-Founders Akshay Verma and Arushi Verma about their growth story since its inceptionFITPASS is your all access pass to 1250+ gyms and fitness studios in Delhi NCR. Available on iOS & android, FITPASS users can freely workout whenever they want, wherever they want and however they want - gym workouts, yoga, zumba, pilates, crossfit, kickboxing, MMA, spinning and many many more. Priced at Rs.999 a month only, FITPASS makes fitness economical, convenient and fun.
How was it started?The whole world is talking about getting fit! Three years ago celebrities and cricketers were opening restaurants but today, they launch gyms and share fitness videos. Fitness is top of mind now but, in India, fitness is inaccessible to us! Outdoors is a very restrictive option with no running tracks, no cycling tracks, pollution, poor air quality, weather, etc. On the other hand, gyms and fitness studios charge a year’s fee upfront, can get monotonous, become inconvenient due to fixed schedules and lengthy travel times. Working out just doesn’t work out for us! This is why we conceptualized FITPASS – to democratize fitness and make it super economical, convenient and fun! We make working out work out!
Please tell us about the unique feature/services of your startup?FITPASS breaks all the barriers to fitness:
o Economical – FITPASS is significantly cheaper than a standard gym membership + no long term contract. Rs.999 a month only
o Convenient – With FITPASS, you can always workout at a time & place of your choice. Workout close to your home, office, neighbourhood market, etc.
o Variety – Meet all your health and weight-loss goals. Choose from gym workouts, yoga, zumba, pilates, crossfit, kickboxing, MMA, spinning and many many more workouts.
Gyms/Fitness studios love us too:
o FITPASS helps gyms/fitness studios increase their utilization rates and earn additional revenue, At zero cost.
o FITPASS also provides cloud services to help gyms/studios manage their business needs and generate cost savings.
How is it different from its competitors?FITPASS is bolstered by a team with the strongest pedigree Oxford, Columbia, IIT, St.Stephen's and Delhi University, with its teeth cut in UBS Investment Bank, McKinsey, the World Bank, Zomato, KPMG, Times Group, Gala Coral etc. - we have established ourselves as the undisputed category leader in the Indian fitness market. We understand the problem we are solving – both for the users and for our partner gyms/fitness studios. This combined with our heavy focus on technology driven solutions and data driven algorithms have enabled us to scale rapidly while players have come and gone in our space. Ideas don’t solve problems, the team executing it does!
What's your current funding Status?We are funded but we are not at liberty to disclose details just yet – we will release details very soon!
Please share with us your Monetization model?
• Monthly FITPASS – Rs. 999
• Quarterly FITPASS – Rs. 2499
• Additionally, FITPASS users able to purchase best quality nutritional and health supplements, sportswear, athletic merchandise, etc. at the exclusively lowest prices on our FITSHOP (through our app itself)
What is the traction so far?o #1 ranking web platform in the Indian fitness service market
o 30,000+app downloads (iOS & android): highest in the Indian fitness market
o Double digit conversion rate – very high for e-commerce and especially so for a Rs.999 minimum purchase (avg. conversion rates for ecommerce: 0.5-1%)
o 35 % month-on-month growth
o User profile: 90% users between 18-34 years of age
What are your plans for Fitpass?
Fitness consciousness is rapidly rising in India. Today, in India, Gyms is a more searched word than Bollywood on Google. FITPASS will be all that you need to get fit and stay fit! We will make fitness and everything related to it super accessible and affordable to the Indian consumers. Along with geographic conquests, you will also see FITPASS releasing several tech enabled solutions to help users meet all their health, fitness and weight-loss goals.
What are your plans for marketing?
People believe people! Our referral program has led the way for us. Aside from this, we like to showcase our offerings at platforms where consumers voluntarily seek to consume curated information. Social media has been our go-to advertising avenue for its effectiveness. Look out for exciting campaigns very soon!
What was the most challenging part of your journey till now?
The biggest challenge which we faced was the misplaced thought among people that Indians don’t want to be fit and only consume food & fashion. This is absolutely not true! We are successfully bringing in the age of “fit-tech” We at Fitpass are successfully defeating this regressive thinking everyday by enabling thousands of users to access fitness economically and at their convenience. Every challenge is just an opportunity for us to do what we do best!
What is the Market size & opportunity you are looking at?
The Indian fitness services market is estimated at $16.6 billion per annum by PWand is the fastest growing services market (25% per annum).
Indian is getting richer and unhealthier – 10% of Indians are diabetic, 5% are obese and 33% suffer from hypertension & blood pressure. But only 0.5% Indians have a health club membership – “it’s time to move from food-tech to fit-tech.”
Disposable income has grown 200% over the last 5 years. This increase is greater in urban areas where lifestyle diseases and fitness consciousness are rapidly on the rise. Urban population – c.400 million. Delhi represents the biggest Indian market opportunity – 16% of India’s market
The larger health, fitness & wellness ecosystem can only exist if people can actually get fit. And that’s the problem we’re solving. We’re making fitness affordable and accessible.
BW Reporters
Soumya is a young writer and journalist, with bachelors in Multimedia and Mass Communication. She is an alumini of the Asian College of Journalism, and finds politics and sustainability intriguing beats to work with.
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