CureFit plans incubator program for startups in healthy foods space

Bengaluru: Health and fitness startup CureFit is now eyeing the consumer products space. The Bengaluru-headquartered company is in the process of starting an incubator programme for consumer product startups that are in the business of creating "healthy food and snacks", it said.

The idea is to invest around $5 million across 8-10 startups in the next two years as CureFit looks to co-create products that can be sold through its Eat.fit vertical. The company also intends to offer consumer insights and tips on branding and marketing to these startup entrepreneurs, while it is also open to acquiring some of them based on the requirement. It will be a 6-12 month program.

This development comes following the acquisition of Rejoov, a brand for cold-pressed juices, by Eat.fit.

“For the last 6 months started, we have been piloting packaged health foods by partnering with brands,” said Ankit Nagori, co-founder of CureFit.

“The opportunity in the healthy FMCG products is huge, but the smaller brands face challenges with respect to funding, shelf space and selling channels. Which is why we decided to launch this programme.”

Nagori expects the packaged healthy snacks to form a quarter of Eat.fit’s revenue over the next 1-2 years.

This move highlights a trend in slightly mature start-ups that turn to smaller brands to co-create products or become a selling channel for them. Platforms such as Swiggy are known to have provided spaces in their cloud kitchens to smaller brands. Similarly, Myntra has also worked with brands over the years. Flipkart, too, recently launched a fund for early-stage startups that would help accelerate the growth of e-commerce in India.

CureFit was founded in 2016 by Mukesh Bansal, who was co-founder of fashion retailer Myntra, and Nagori, ex-chief business officer at Flipkart. Bansal and Nagori worked closely at Flipkart after the company bought Myntra in 2014. It now operates gyms under Cult.Fit, healthy food offerings under Eat.Fit, mental wellness through Mind.Fit and diagnostic centres through Care.fit.

Nagori said while its gym vertical with 130 gyms is the largest contributor of revenue to the company, the food vertical forms the largest user base with close to 30,000 daily orders being processed by Eat.fit.

CureFit has had a strong history of acquiring companies as it has grown its presence in different verticals and cities. In November, it acquired mental health platform Seraniti for an undisclosed amount to bolster its mental wellness vertical Mind.fit.

The company last raised $120 million in June in a round led by Chiratae Ventures, Accel Partners and Kalaari Capital along with participation from Accel Partners US and Oaktree Capital.