Health and fitness platform secured $30 million in a pre-Series D funding round led by LeapFrog Investments, Khosla Ventures, Finnish development financier FinnFund, and Dutch investment firm Van Lanschot Kempen.
Existing investors Unilever Ventures, Blume Ventures, Chiratae Ventures, and Healthquad also participated in the round. The investment is a mix of equity and venture debt, the startup said in a statement.
The Bengaluru-based firm will use the fresh capital towards developing its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered product. It earlier introduced the AI-powered virtual assistant Ria in 2017 to offer nutrition and fitness advice in over 10 languages. With the integration with generative AI, HealthifyMe now wants to assist nutritionists to give more personalised advice to customers, it said in a statement.
The Chiratae Ventures-backed healthtech firm said in January 2021 it witnessed gross margins grow from 30% to 70% by combining AI with human experts over the years, and expects generative AI to be a game-changer in driving scale and profitability.
The company is also looking to upgrade Smart Plans, its AI-enabled health offering, which contributes to half of the company’s current paying subscribers, it said. Last year, it introduced a glucose monitoring patch, competing with a similar product by Nexus Venture Partners-backed Ultrahuman.
HealthifyMe aims to achieve an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of $50 million in the next few months with the target of becoming the largest health and fitness app outside of the US and China, according to the company. It crossed $25 million revenue run rate for January 2021, which is a 100% growth over the last year.
The firm competes with Fireside Ventures-backed Cult.fit and Fitterfly, and Trifecta Capital-backed Goqii which offer various services under the health, wellness, and fitness categories. Cult.fit has raised more than $600 million in funding so far. It has 200 employees, with a physical presence in Bengaluru, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
HealthifyMe was founded in 2012 and has raised more than $100 million so far. It caters to over 35 million customers in 300 cities, and has over 1,000 coaches to train users for weight loss, inculcate better eating habits, and mental wellness.
“We’ve already demonstrated how blending human coaching and AI, enriched with users’ health data, can transform millions of lives. Now, with generative AI, we’re supercharging our mission to ‘healthify’ a billion people,” Tushar Vashisht, Co-founder and CEO, HealthifyMe, said.
“This funding represents a vote of confidence in a future where everyone can access superior health and fitness outcomes, globally and affordably. We’re spearheading this revolution, and we’re thankful for the unwavering support from our investors,” he added.
