 "Ravi Menon, health care professional")
Thirty-year-old entrepreneur Preetam Satish was struggling to lose weight for a couple of years. Being a part-time Ninjutsu (Japanese martial arts) teacher, he says just exercise is not the appropriate way of shedding the extra kilograms. In his search for a service to deliver him meals wherever he was, he stumbled upon Grow Fit, an application that sends you low-calorie meals to help you stay in shape.
The only hitch is that the menu is pre-set; Satish would like to make the choice of the food he consumes.
The start-up delivers ketogenic diet meals, which is recommended by their personal nutritionist, who also checks on the user time-to-time.
Founded by Jyotsna Pattabiraman in February 2016, the Bengaluru-based start-up last month raised $4.5 million in Series-A funding from the Manipal Education and Medical Group, the PE arm of the Manipal Group, the SAR Group and Grover Trust.
Concept
Grow Fit uses data science, behavioural insights and machine learning to identify and validate strategies for customer success. The health start-up provides one-on-one communication with experts in mental and physical health, sleep disorders, skin and hair problems, nutrition and exercise, among others.
The average plan, inclusive of breakfast, lunch and dinner, will cost you approximately Rs 24,000 per month for a vegetarian diet, and Rs 28,000 a month for a non-vegetarian diet.
The meals are available in Bengaluru, but other services like packaged food is available across India.
Opportunity
According to the World Health Organisation, over 6 million lives are lost in India every year from lifestyle diseases and the World Economic Forum estimates the economic burden of these diseases will cross over $4.58 trillion.
The company aims to narrow this gap by bringing more diseases under its umbrella and providing solutions for them. These range from fertility issues to stress management, all through its app.
“Health care interventions that the company focuses on are a large pain-point for customers, not just in India but globally as well,” says Dr Ranjan Pai, CEO and MD at MEMG, which has invested in Grow Fit.
“As prosperity increases globally, our nutritional habits have to compensate for our sedentary lifestyle and dependence on fast foods. Grow Fit has a relevant model that could address this gap and be effective anywhere in the world,” says Pai.
Revenue
GrowFit is expanding its customer base by 30 per cent and doubling its subscription revenue every month while food subscription is growing five times. About 60 per cent of its users come from Tier-II and Tier-III cities like Lucknow and Medak.
Customers have the option of free or personalised plans. A free plan is a generic plan that is right for a person’s body mass index. Customers can opt for personalised plans for nutrition, therapy and stress management, sleep and cosmology.
Road ahead
The company has 25,000 customers in Bengaluru and plans to enter 10 cities, including Hyderabad, Jaipur and Mumbai. It has tied up with a few companies and is in the process of finalising tie-ups with hospitals.
The start-up has 10 patent-pending products, and will use the recent funding to introduce new products and in data science and artificial intelligence. In future, it will launch plans for fertility, for pregnant and lactating women, joint health, and stress management.
It also plans to integrate different sources of data from wearables and medical reports in order to make the app a comprehensive companion for wellness.
Expert Take: India’s healthy food market still nascent
Ravi Menon, senior health care professional
The wellness and health care market opportunity is growing rapidly globally, driven by rising awareness levels, changing demographics, and sharply rising prevalence of lifestyle illnesses like diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease. Euromonitor has projected the healthy foods market to hit $1 trillion in 2017. In India, this is still a nascent market opportunity, but one that is growing exponentially and has significant unmet need.
Grow Fit addresses this exciting market opportunity, offering a full-stack solution to Indian consumers embarking on their health journey. They offer a range of meal programmes, ingredients and mixes, and prepared snacks and drinks that make it easy for customers to choose solutions that fit their needs. What is particularly noteworthy is Grow Fit’s strategic focus on science and data. This is important as health-related interventions need to be data-led and have strong scientific rigour in order to be effective. Grow Fit is taking a Silicon Valley approach to health.
There are challenges that the company will need to surmount. The obvious one is institutionalising quality and consistency as the company grows. Indians are very finicky when it comes to food and rarely trade taste for health. Variety and fit with the diverse Indian palate will be critical to ensure customers stay with plans and do not exit early. I would advise them to ensure availability of plenty of options, especially as they expand geographically and cater to diverse tastes, while ensuring that scientific rationale and design are not compromised.
