Fitpass Business Ventures Pvt. Ltd, which operates online fitness marketplace Fitpass, has raised $1 million (Rs 6.5 crore) in a funding round led by Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra and his business partner Gaurav Marya, chairman, Franchise India, said a press statement.
The investment was made through Bindra's venture fund Shooting Star, which he launched in March last year, and Franchise India Brands Ltd.
The Delhi-based startup will use the funds to expand its service offerings across 10 cities over the next six months, the statement added.
Founded in 2015 by the brother-sister duo of Akshay and Arushi Verma, Fitpass claims to have on-boarded names like Gold’s Gym, Elemention, Snap Fitness, Crush Fitness, Studio 60 and Her Fitness, among others. Users can opt for yoga, pilates, zumba, crossfit, kickboxing, spinning, or regular gymming.
Fitpass is currently available as an app on App Store and Google Play Store.
"Our tech-first approach has helped us achieve growth without burning funds. The focus has been on data-driven operations and using tech-led solutions to limit human intervention,†Akshay Verma said.
An alumnus of Oxford University and Columbia University, Akshay worked as an investment banker at UBS before venturing out on his own. He previously founded SkillHippo, a community for teachers to reach out to students. Arushi was formerly a research associate with ASER Centre and a consultant with the World Bank.
Fitpass had secured $1 million in seed funding from Mumbai Angels and a clutch of angel investors in December 2016.
Several gym and fitness centre discovery platforms have raised funding in the past six months.
Earlier this week, gym discovery platform FiTraQ raised an undisclosed amount of funding in a bridge round.
Earlier this month, Mumbai-based health and fitness discovery platform Growfitter Pvt. Ltd secured $600,000 (Rs 3.9 crore) in a pre-Series A round from venture capital firm SQue Capital.
In January, mobile marketplace for gym memberships, Fitnapp, raised pre-Series A funding from Noida-based real estate developer SD Group.
Gympik, FitMeIn and Fitternity are other leading fitness centre aggregators.
