Fitpass, a New Delhi-based startup which provides access to gyms and fitness studios, has raised $1 million in a new funding round, led by Shooting Star and Franchise India Brands.
The company’s co-founder Akshay Verma said that the fresh capital will be used to expand the network of gyms and fitness studios that are part of FITPASS to 10 cities in the next six months. He said,
We have already partnered with 400 centres in Bengaluru and will also launch in Mumbai and Pune soon. We have also seen good traction on the nutrition app and counsellor side while our gym ERP has a 93% conversion rate for the centres we work with. It usually takes a centre two months to turn into a paying customer for the FITPASS ERP.
The platform claims to have about 11,000 active paying members per month and has also partnered with 1,250 centres in Delhi-NCR.
It is available on web, iOS and Android, and seems to be a more cost-effective than any average gym membership and offers flexibility and convenience to users to workout anywhere, anytime.
The startup was founded by Akshay Verma, along with his sister Arushi Verma. Akshay studied at St.Stephen’s (Delhi University), Oxford and Columbia University, and worked as an investment banker in London for four years. Arushi is an alumnus of Delhi University and London University and previously worked with World Bank and Planning Commission of India.
The investment marks the fifth investment in an early-stage company by Shooting Star, which was set up in March 2016. The fund invests in partnership with consulting firm Franchise India in emerging sports academies, rehab, sports injury and health apps, among other sectors.
In March last year, Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra set up an incubation fund called Shooting Star LLP with an initial investment of $2 million. The incubation fund is created in an equal partnership with consulting firm Franchise India.
The fund invests in scalable formats with specialized domain expertise in areas like emerging sports academies, sports injury, rehab, tech, equipment and training, health apps, child development, holistic wellness, organic foods and dairy.
