India-based health and wellness startup CureFit enters the unicorn category at a valuation of $1.5 billion after food delivery and restaurant aggregator Zomato acquired 6.4% stake in the company.
Zomato’s deal with CureFit is two-fold- it made a $50 million cash investment in CureFit Healthcare Ltd. and also sold Fitso, its sports facilities provider operated by Jojo Technologies to CureFit for $50 million.
The decision to sell Fitso to CureFit comes just months after Zomato acquired the sports discovery platform in January 2021 for INR 80 crore ($10M approx.).
“The divestment versus shutdown debate starts and ends with two questions – Can we sell the business to someone for whom it is core, and can they realise disproportionate returns from what we have built? Is the divestment process worth the value that we will realise from the divestment? Fitso checked these boxes on divestment and we are in the process of selling Fitso to Curefit (Curefit Healthcare Pvt Ltd) for $50 million,” said Goyal in a company blog on Wednesday.
The foodtech major looks to ramp up its health food play as it now plans to explore collaborations with CureFit.
“In order to cultivate a great long-term partnership with Curefit, we are also investing cash in Curefit. Net $50 million cash investment plus value of the Fitso business (worth $50 million) will give us a cumulative shareholding worth $100 million in Curefit (6.4% shareholding in Curefit). This will help us potentially explore cross-selling benefits between Zomato and Curefit, as we see food and health becoming the same side of the coin in the long term,” said Goyal.
About CureFit
CureFit was founded in 2016 by Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori that offers digital and offline experiences across fitness, mental well-being, and nutrition. The startup aims at making fitness simple and fun by giving workouts a whole new meaning with a range of trainer-led, group workout classes.
The startup secured about $120 million in 2020 in a funding round led by Teamsek Singapore government-backed firm, and other investors such as Ascent Capital and GableHorn.
Mukesh Bansal is also a co-founder of fashion ecommerce platform Myntra, which was acquired by Flipkart and Ankit Nagori, former Flipkart executive.
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