Exclusive: GFC leads $3m+ seed round in Indonesian health and wellness startup

Global Founders Capital (GFC), a Berlin-based VC firm, has led a seed round of over US$3 million in Fit Hub, a Jakarta-based health and wellness startup.

Other participants in the round include US-based VC firm Goodwater Capital and Singapore-based investment firm Trihill Capital, as well as a handful of angel investors like Bukuwarung co-founder Abhinay Peddisetty, Hangry co-founder Robin Tan, Koinworks co-founder Benedicto Haryono, Super co-founder Steven Wongsoredjo, and Impack Ventures’ Phillip Tjipto.

Founded in late 2020, Fit Hub calls itself “Indonesia’s most affordable gym,” offering premium facilities at an affordable price. With memberships starting at 250,000 rupiah per month (US$17), it also offers free classes and training on various exercises such as weight training, zumba, yoga, body combat, and k-pop dance. The company currently has 20 offline branches across five cities.

While the identity of its founders has not been publicly disclosed, a company spokesperson Tech in Asia contacted says the company was founded by “entrepreneurs with strong experience in the space”.

Part of the freshly raised capital will be used to expand Fit Hub’s offline business to 50 branches across 15 cities by the end of the year, the spokesperson adds. More than half of the funding, however, will be used to experiment on its online strategy and develop its online platform.

The company offers an app that enables users to book personal trainers, classes, renew memberships, and get promotions. However, the company says it looks to offer “way more things,” and eventually envisions being a health and wellness ecosystem and a super app.

Fit Hub plans to build an online community of like-minded people by rolling out free workout videos. It also aims to tap into commerce by selling items like healthy food, healthy drinks, apparel, and home workout equipment.

“When we get into this online sphere, we will need the VCs’ help,” the spokesperson says.

Potential market-mover

For VCs themselves, the gym industry has never been a hot investment target – at least in Indonesia. While fitness centers have started to mushroom around the country’s big cities over the past few years, they are seen as a high-capital-expenditure business that targets a relatively small market.

Notably, East Ventures is an investor in The Fit Company, which operates a chain of gyms called Fitstop. But the firm has several other business units, including an ecommerce site for fitness equipment and a healthy instant noodle brand.

However, Fit Hub has shown that it has the potential to expand the size of the market, according to its backers.

“We were fully aware of the low penetration rate of gyms during our due diligence, but we saw that 40% of Fit Hub’s members are first-time gym-goers, which shows that they are converting people who regularly exercise at non-gym facilities or attract people to get their first gym membership,” says Melvin Hade, Asia-Pacific partner at Global Founders Capital.