Hyderabad, 10th September 2019: India’s leading full-stack sports facilities provider, Fitso raised $ 1.5 million in pre-series A funding led bySRI Capital and participation from Sprout Capital, IPV Capital, Pankaj Chaddah (Co-founder, Zomato), Ashish Gupta (Co-founder, Helion Venture Partners)
With this fundraise, Fitso will increase the numbers of indoor all-weather swimming pools. It will invest in expansion, good talent and technology to boost the operations.
Fitness has always been an integral part of Indian culture and sports is the best way of being fit. Supporting Honorable Prime Minister- Shri Narendra Modi’s Fit India movement, Fitso is encouraging people to make the best use of technology to stay fit and healthy.
Fitso is a full-stack sports facilities provider which is bringing health and happiness to people’s lives through sports. Fitso’s primary product SEALs offers coaching and access to all-weather swimming pools in Delhi-NCR through the year and has now been launched in Hyderabad as well. Fitso also provides multiple new sports programs for Badminton, Tennis and others which have been very well received. It is planning to launch an All-in-One pass to provide its subscribers access to all of its facilities across sports.
“As the name suggests, Fitso’- “Fitness with Sports” sets us apart from the other players in the industry who are focused on fitness through workouts with expensive equipment and are venue oriented. We found a gap in an unorganized and conventional sports segment. To fill that gap, we are making fitness accessible and affordable using technology for people who want to play sports to get fit, by eliminating the need for a gym membership or expensive equipment. We focus on providing a facility to play sport under the guidance of a qualified coach. Fitso has seen families buy a Fitso subscription together. We plan to become the biggest brand name in the sports-oriented fitness segment” said Naman Sharma, Co-founder Fitso.
The overall fitness industry is estimated to be $ 12 bn in 2018 as per a Redseer report. This is projected to increase at 18% CAGR to $ 32 bn by 2022, of which recreational sports will contribute $ 20 bn. This growth will be driven by an increase in the number of Health Conscious Individuals, estimated at 90 mn in 2018 and projected to increase to 130 mn by 2022. Fitso stands apart with its unique full-stack model to provide a quality experience in sports. Compared to workouts, sports are more recreational,allows learning a new skill set and long term in nature.
In 2015 Saurabh Aggarwal, an ex-Flipkart employee and IIT Delhi graduate, teamed up with his friends and IIT batchmates Naman Sharma ex- Zomato employee and RahoolSureka ex- Yepme and UrbanClap to launch Fitso.
Shweta Singh, Partner at SRI Capital said, “India has a gap in demand and supply of good quality sportsfacilities. There is a latent demand for a service like Fitso,from people of all age groups,which takes the hassle away from engaging in sports by making sports accessible to all.”
Pankaj Chaddha, Founder of Zomato said, “India as a nation increasingly becoming more health and fitness conscious. We need startups like Fitso to make sports more accessible to people.”
Sports are hugely under-served in India – many people want to play, but cannot due to substandard management of facilities and non-market ready coaches which lead to an unsatisfactory experience. Fitso solves these problems by taking over and standardizing the facilities, implementing best practices in facility management using tech and providing highly trained coaches for great user experience. Fitso started with swimming and now has 20,000+ happy subscribers in Delhi NCR.
About Fitso
Fitso started in August 2015 and they have been on a roller coaster ride ever since. From its beginning as a running/cycling partner finding an app to a complete fitness solution along with personal coaches, to their current avatar where they are a full-stack sports experience provider, they are exploring the endless opportunities on this road while at the same time they are sticking to their core value of making people fit. Fitso was founded by 3 IIT Delhi alumni – Naman Sharma(ex- Zomato), RahoolSureka (ex- UrbanClap, YepMe), Saurabh Agarwal (ex- Flipkart and Ironman Finisher).