Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

Indian health platform wants to nourish mind, body and soul

The Indian start-up Cure.fit began in 2016 as a fitness app like many others, offering gym memberships and exercise classes to young adults in Bangalore.

But it has since transformed into one of India's top health platforms, with meal and grocery deliveries, online workouts, mindfulness classes, appointments at its health centers and even an online store for fitness gear.

The spread of coronavirus spurred the business to further reinvent itself, from one primarily reliant on physical gyms to an international online fitness platform.

This summer Cure.fit announced its digital expansion into the US, where it has begun offering online fitness and therapy sessions.

"Lockdown has expedited these efforts," Shamik Sharma, Cure.fit's head of international business, tells CNN Business. "When we saw the demand for our app in the United States, we launched rapidly," he adds.

Quick reaction to Covid-19


Like businesses all over the world, Cure.fit was forced to re-strategize in response to the pandemic.

It shut the doors to all of its 250 plus fitness and health centers in March, when India locked down parts of the country. So far, it has reopened 30 centers, in compliance with government regulations, with more scheduled to open in the coming months. But some centers are expected to close permanently, says the company.

It has had to cut jobs and furlough workers — Cure.fit declined to comment on the number of staff affected, but Reuters and TechCrunch have reported that at least 800 employees have been laid off in the past few months. In the same May report, Reuters pegged Cure.fit's staff count at 5,000 across India, citing an anonymous source.

The company, which has raised more than $400 million in funding, was at risk of coming to a complete standstill — before March, at least 60% of Cure.fit's revenues were generated by its physical fitness studios, according to the company.


Instead, lockdown has accelerated the company's pivot to online.

"When our gyms closed, we immediately knew that our customers would miss in-person classes so we created live classes through our app," says Sharma.

The Cure.fit app hosts more than 200,000 sessions daily in India, with instructor-led online classes ranging from strength to pilates, cardio and yoga.

During the pandemic, this platform has thrived. Since the start of India's lockdown, the company says it has signed up 1.5 million users in the country and amassed 100,000 paid subscribers since launching a paywall in May.

In the US, the company has reported 75,000 downloads since testing for the app began in May. Cure.fit currently offers its live sessions there for free, but plans to introduce a subscription model by the end of the year.

India's healthcare apps


While the virus has prompted more interest in healthcare apps, India already had a well-developed market. Pre-pandemic, the market for such apps was projected to grow in value from 27 billion rupees ($360 million) in 2018 to 138 billion rupees ($1.8 billion) by 2024, according to a report from Netscribes, an India-based technology and market research firm.

This is primarily credited to technological advances, including falling device and mobile data costs, says Lalatendu Sahoo, a senior consultant at Netscribes.

"People are also becoming more and more health conscious," says Sahoo, particularly younger generations living in big cities. "They are more familiar with the internet, they're more comfortable with mobile devices ... and they are really trying to add the wellness factor into their day-to-day life," he adds.

Cure.fit wanted to attract this millennial market by selling a whole lifestyle through its range of food, therapy and fitness services.

"The idea was to build a one-stop solution for anything health and wellness," Ankit Nagori, who co-founded Cure.fit with Mukesh Bansal, tells CNN Business.
"We want to build a community of fitness enthusiasts who would like to lead a healthy lifestyle and promote healthy living," he adds.

Cure.fit wanted to attract this millennial market by selling a whole lifestyle through its range of food, therapy and fitness services.

"The idea was to build a one-stop solution for anything health and wellness," Ankit Nagori, who co-founded Cure.fit with Mukesh Bansal, tells CNN Business.
"We want to build a community of fitness enthusiasts who would like to lead a healthy lifestyle and promote healthy living," he adds.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×