NEA, Cheetah Mobile invest $ 13.4 million in GOQii

GOQii, an app-based marketplace for fitness coaches, has raised $ 13.4 million (Rs 89 crore) in Series-A funding led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA).

Chinese internet firm Cheetah Mobile, Great Wall Club, a Chinese private network that invests in mobile firms and angel investors, Pravin Gandhi of Seedfund and Ilkka Paananen, chief executive of co-founder of Finnish gaming startup Supercell have joined the funding round.The company plans to utilize the capital to accelerate growth in overseas markets of US and China.

"This additional funding is a great vote of confidence in GOQii's focus on accelerating revenue growth, as well as in the long term potential of our company. This funding also reflects the robustness of the sector", said Vishal Gondal, founder and CEO, GOQii, in a statement. Gondal also has joined the round on his personal capacity.

GOQii has adopted a hardware agnostic approach in the wearable fitness space, despite providing its own fitness band for free when someone subscribes to its virtual coach service. The firm's platform works just as well with devices manufactured by leading brands such as FitBit, Jawbone, etc.

Going forward, GOQii is looking at expanding its reach in markets such as USA and China, which have a much stronger base for wearable fitness devices and services than India. The market for wearable devices according to research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) will grow to 76 million units in 2015, over three times that in 2014.

"We believe that GOQii is redefining the wearables market globally and with its combination of technology, world's leading experts, coaches and karma points on a single platform is uniquely positioned to lead in it," said Bala Deshpande, Senior Managing Director, New Enterprise Associates India Pvt. Ltd.