Misfit, the company which makes fitness-focussed wearable devices, is now finally entering the Indian market. The company has made an exclusive partnership deal with Snapdeal where the company’s fitness trackers will be available for sale online.
Misfit has two fitness trackers and sleep monitors – Misfit Shine and Misfit Flash. Founded in 2011 by Sonny Vu, Sridhar Iyengar and John Sculley, it has raised $64.4 million in funding from investors like GGV Capital, Xiaomi, Khosla Ventures, etc.
The Misfit Shine is priced at Rs. 5,499. The Misfit Flash is priced at Rs. 2,499 while the Misfit Link is priced at Rs. 1,999. They are compatible with Android as well as iOS.
Misfit Shine was launched via an Indiegogo campaign in 2012 which reached its goal of $1,00,000 within ten hours, and raised $846,675 in its campaign that lasted about two months.
Misfit Flash is a waterproof fitness band with battery life of about 6 months, launched in November 2014. Having a similar design to that of Shine, the Flash is priced half of the price of Shine. The company changed the material of the product to reduce the price.
The company while launching only its fitness bands in India, has however moved beyond fitness trackers in the U.S. and western markets and has launched several smart home products such as the Beddit Sleep Monitor and Bolt Smart Bulb.
As per IDC, the wearables market is expected to grow 173.3 % to 72.1 million units this year, up from 26.4 million in 2014. It also suggests that about 155 million wearable devices will be sold in 2019.
In India, it will compete with other wearable companies which have now entered Indian market such as Garmin, Fitbit, Jawbone, etc. All of them have tied up with eCommerce companies to sell their products.
Christy Trang Le, Misfit’s chief operation officer, said,
We put on a lot of sensors on the body so we understand about it, but it should go beyond that. No matter how accurate the data is, if you don’t wear the products, the reading will not be accurate. It has to not be a wearable product, it should be a lifestyle product. We are finding partners for use cases that are suitable for India.
Wearable 2.0 is not just about collecting data, about heartbeats, and fitness levels. It’s about control, safety and identification.
