On International Yoga Day, a list of startups that will make you yoga experts
The Indian fitness industry is currently worth Rs 7000 crore, with more people willing to spend on fitness and personal care. In a country and civilisation famous for providing a holistic approach to health, the yoga market is booming.
Yet, it is largely unorganised and fragmented unlike in the US, where organised players like YogaWorks, CorePowerYoga, Bikram Yoga, have helped the industry get over $10 billion. In India, yoga practice is estimated to be a $1 billion market in less than five years.
Thanks to celebrities promoting yoga on social media – whether it is Bollywood star Shipa Shetty, spiritual guru Baba Ramdev or the country’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself – yoga has become more popular in the last few years. As awareness about the need for a healthy lifestyle increases, youngsters as well as senior citizens are keen on following yoga.
New generation business models have been moulded out of this practice, with fitness-focused startups like CureFit and on-demand services app UrbanClap providing yoga training at studios and homes respectively. But there are many who have pursued yoga as not just a business but a passion they want to share with the world.
On International Yoga day, YourStory takes a look into startups which are focused on yoga, and doing it exceptionally well.
- Zorba Yoga, founded by Sarvesh Shashi in 2013, claims to be the largest yoga chain in India now. This Chennai-based startup now has a presence in 40 cities with more than 80 centres. Zorba claims to have re-introduced 25 new types of yoga. It has included disciplines like zumba, yoga, aerobics, meditation into novel training programmes, amounting to 14 different forms of yoga, 12 forms of meditation, 122 types of pranayama, various dance fitness modules, and dance meditation.
- Gurugram-based KarmaSpark brings yoga to India’s corporate workforce. Last year, it opened Yoga Hub, with three huge studios at DLF Cyber Hub in the city. Founded by ex-Snapdeal CMO and yoga mentor Runvijay, it has more than 50 class options daily. Their trainers are from the ‘IITs of Yoga’ like Bihar School of Yoga, Kaivalyadhama Institute, and Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga. It plans to expand to large corporate-retail hubs after fund raising. Total Yoga, founded in 2010 by Manish Pole and Neetu Singh, has created and patented a style that comprises three different forms of yoga. It has also pioneered several interesting concepts like yoga-and-running, Yoga to Blues Music, Desktop Yoga, Himalayan Yoga Retreats and Yogi Brunches. With centres in Bengaluru, Pune, Delhi, California and Shanghai, Total Yoga is looking to expand to Dubai, Singapore, and Thailand in the next phase. The monthly revenue in India alone amounts to Rs 8-10 lakh.
- YogaTrail, a global online yoga platform co-founded by Sven Earnst, Alex Klein, and Alex Jaton, connects yogis with yoga providers, thereby growing yoga professionals’ business and providing a common platform for yoga classes. It also updates users on what is happening in the yoga community. YogaTrail is backed by angel investors from Silicon Valley, South East Asia, and India, and has more than one lakh registered users across 100 countries.
