Fitness start-up BookYourGame raises funds
Fitness start-up BookYourGame, run by Bookyourgym Fitness Pvt. Ltd, was launched in February this year, and plans to use the funds for marketing expenses
Bengaluru: Fitness start-up BYG (BookYourGame), which lets users book fitness centres for sessions without a membership, on Friday said it has raised an undisclosed amount of funding in a round led by Sanjay Verma, former chief executive officer (CEO), Cushman & Wakefield, Asia Pacific, and Amit Khanna, managing partner, Antuit-Europe.
The deal was conducted through deal-making platform LetsVenture.
The start-up, run by Bookyourgym Fitness Pvt. Ltd, was launched by two former Goldman Sachs employees in February this year, and plans to use the funds for marketing expenses.
Using the app, available on Android operating system, users can book classes and sessions at fitness centres near them, with the sessions being priced between ₹ 50 and ₹ 400.
The firm also sells a software-as-a-service solution for fitness providers that helps them engage with their members, and gives access to data and analytics.
In the future, the plan is to gamify the process so that users can compare their fitness levels with their friends or colleagues and proactively identify how users can meet their fitness goals with the help of sessions that are available near them.
“We had our idea validated almost immediately post launching in February 2016 and saw great initial ‘interest’. However our fund-raising efforts started in March, right after Flipkart’s valuation correction, and we saw very few investors ready to lead. We reached out and presented to roughly 55 investors before we got Amit Khanna to lead the round. Over the last 90 days, we reached a stage when we were 9 days from being bankrupt, had to borrow money from family, friends and their friends, while working 24x7 to preserve the dream,” said Devi Prasad Biswal, chief executive officer, BYG, in a statement.
“I believe there is tremendous scale opportunity in the space BYG is operating. The business model is scalable and provides real value to both the consumers and fitness service providers. I like the founders’ vision and their ambition to create a robust product and a global platform,” said lead investor Verma.
Other start-ups operating in this space include Fitternity, which raised $1 million, and Gympik, which raised $135,000 in seed funding.
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First Published:17 Jun 2016, 10:38 PM IST
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