With $1m more in funding, HealthifyMe takes its battle against obesity beyond India

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Fitness and health-tracking app HealthifyMe is now one of India’s best-funded startups in the space, after it received US$1 million from Dubai-based investor Neelesh Bhatnagar. It’s the second fundraise for the Bangalore-based startup. Its overall funding now stands at US$7 million.

HealthifyMe plans to use the majority of the funds to expand to international markets – namely, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. It’s also looking to upgrade its tech and expand its management team in India.

The startup competes with other fitness apps such as FeetApart, MobieFit, and Obino. FeetApart raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Nielsen Singapore’s executive, Vishal Bali, and other angel investors in February. Orobind, GetActive and MobieFit have also raised funds in the recent past. Orobind was acquired by home-services startup Housejoy in February.

In December, five health and fitness startups received about US$5.5 million in funding, according to data compiled by Trak.in.

Launched in 2013 by Tushar Vashisht, Sachin Shenoy, and Mathew Cherian, HealthifyMe started as a calorie counter app. Its most exciting feature is a calorie counter specific to Indian meals. Western-made nutrition tracker apps typically do not include a breakdown of nutrition information that works with Indian food habits.

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The company monetizes by offering weight-loss programs and then connecting participants with over 150 nutritionists and fitness coaches for online consultations. It claims that its programs are effective in the prevention of lifestyle diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. The app just hit 1 million downloads on Google Play, the company said.

Google awarded the app a top developer badge earlier this year, which means it got the Google Play editorial staff’s vote of confidence. In 2015, it made the Google Play store’s list of top 50 best apps in the health and wellness space.

“Hitting 1 million users is a validation that our product is creating impact. We have achieved a milestone, now it will all be about scale and growth,” Tushar says.

HealthifyMe aims to get to 10 million downloads in the next 18 months.

One in four Indians risks dying of a non-communicable disease like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, or other lifestyle diseases such as obesity before they reach the age of 70. Most of these can be prevented by incorporating healthy habits into one’s routine, HealthifyMe said in a statement.

The startup had raised US$6 million in May led by IDG Ventures India, Inventus Capital, and Blume Ventures. The round announced today is an extension of that series A round.