FITPASS Raises $1M in Seed Funding

FITPASS, the all-access pass to gyms and fitness studios, has raised $1 million in seed funding from Mumbai Angels and a consortium of Delhi and Bangalore based Angels.

FITPASS, a pioneer in the fit-tech space in India, breaks all the barriers to fitness for its consumers. Priced at only Rs.999 a month, this all-access app based pass is not only significantly cheaper than a regular gym membership but also provides its users freedom from long term contracts and yearly upfront payments. Available on iOS & android, FITPASS is economical, convenient and offers every workout imaginable, ranging from gym workouts, yoga, zumba, pilates, spinning to kickboxing, MMA and many more. With the highest density and largest partner network of gyms and fitness studios, FITPASS users can work out anywhere, anytime close to their homes, offices, neighbourhood markets, etc. Co-founder Arushi Verma points out that “with fitness being increasingly top of mind, FITPASS’ model has low customer acquisition costs, loyal users and low churn rates, contributing to a strong and sustainable business model”.

FITPASS has been at the forefront of innovation to create a sustainable health and fitness ecosystem in India. Despite bootstrapping for 12 months, FITPASS successfully established itself as the undisputed category leader. While pure information portals such as Fitternity and Gympik raised capital early on, FITPASS has far surpassed such indirect and other direct competitors with its tech-first approach, which has allowed it to grow rapidly without burning cash. A data driven company, FITPASS believes in solving everything through tech with limited human intervention to enhance the user experience.

Publicly available data on Appstore and Google confirm that FITPASS commands the highest number of app downloads in India and is the #1 ranking web platform in the country compared to its competitors. FITPASS attributes its ever-increasing traction to its holistic offering from easy access to workouts to personalised diet plans, health and nutrition products, fitness accessories and everything else one needs to get fit and stay fit.

A participating investor expressed that “unlike many start-ups, FITPASS is both cash generative and profitable. Every 10,000 users means Rs.1 crore in topline for the company! With the fitness industry growing at 25% year-on-year and the spend on fitness estimated at c.$16.6 billion, FITPASS’ one-stop-shop offering makes it an attractive investment.”

FITPASS co-founder, Akshay Verma, explains how fitness is an assistance oriented service segment that requires a lot of customisation and enhancement for each individual user – “there is no one size fits all in fitness.” With regards to the utilisation of fresh capital, Akshay further adds – “this curated assistance can only be provided through deep tech – we are working on this and will be launching many exciting features offering highly personalised fitness management tools to our users. Simultaneously, there is an exciting product being rolled out for our partners that allows them to bring new approaches for their customers and make data driven informed business decisions for themselves. We are changing the game in India!”. With 1,250+ gyms and fitness studios currently in its partner network in Delhi NCR, scaling up their operation and expansion to other cities is also a priority for FITPASS.

The investor also added that “the FITPASS team has great potential as it is made up of real product people focused on generating insights, understanding the problems and investing time into finding efficient solutions.”