What the business is
Bengaluru healthtech unicorn running Cultfit fitness, Mindfit mental health, Care.fit primary care and Sugar.fit
The bet
Trimming redundant roles can streamline operations and get a Zomato-backed fitness unicorn to full profitability in FY25
Starting capital
More than $600M raised in total, per Inc42
How it started
Founded in 2016 by Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori, CureFit runs Cultfit, Mindfit and Care.fit among others. It became a unicorn in December 2021 with a $145M round led by Zomato, Temasek and South Park Commons, and bought Zomato's fitness arm Fitso for $50M.
What happened
After that round it bought the Indian business of Gold's Gym. In FY23 revenue rose to INR 694 crore and the loss narrowed to around INR 500 crore. In January 2024 it cut about 120 roles across Sugar.fit, Carefit and Cultfit among others, per Inc42's sources; in 2020 it had laid off about 800 during Covid-19.
How it ended up
CureFit confirmed the restructuring in a statement but did not give a number. It said it reduced some redundant positions in its regular annual planning to improve productivity and set up full profitability in FY25.
What has to be true
The funding winter was forcing Indian startups to cut costs
FY23 loss was still around INR 500 crore on INR 694 crore of revenue
Management targeted full profitability in FY25
Its annual operating planning flagged redundant positions across brands
What can be applied
Even after narrowing losses, a unicorn with a loss near INR 500 crore on INR 694 crore revenue still cut staff to reach its profitability target.
Aftermath
As of 2024-01-23 CureFit had cut about 120 roles per Inc42 sources, with the company giving no figure, and was aiming for profitability in FY25. Inc42 said the layoffs joined a long list of Indian startup cuts.
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