Bootstrapped MevoLife is looking to create a holistic fitness ecosystem
From apps dedicated to suit different fitness regimes, to trackers and merchandise, MevoLife aims to keep the user motivated with unique reward mechanisms.
At a glance
Startup: MevoLife
Founders: Khyati Mahajan and Manish Mahajan
Year it was founded: 2016
Where is it based: Delaware, US
The problem it solves: Fitness ecosystem under one platform
Sector: Fit-tech
Funding raised: Bootstrapped
Many years of experience in the app development business combined with her passion to stay healthy, led Khyati Mahajan to launch MevoLife in 2016. MevoLife is a fitness technology startup that aims to bring the fitness ecosystem an array of offerings.
Headquartered in the US, MevoLife’s marketing office is based in Gurugram, and is targeting both the American and Indian markets. Initially, the idea was to create a fitness solution that covers all major aspects related to health and fitness.
Khyati highlights she started off with an app for MevoLife given her knowledge and expertise in handling clients and user demands in the domain.
Initial days
The main problem faced by health and fitness apps is that users lose interest after a while.
Khyati says, “Being an avid fitness follower myself, I started trying out various apps available and found some of them quite interesting. After using them for some time, I came to a point of fatigue having to deal with over five apps to maintain my needs from the available features. I had no way to sync all the fragmented data from all these apps at one place. It became very overwhelming, boring and stopped making sense, and eventually, I came out discouraged.”
In order to solve this, Khyati introduced the concept of ‘fitness with benefits’ with the MevoFit app, which rewards users with fitness credits for achieving their goals. The credits can be used to buy MevoFit merchandise.
A Commerce and Law graduate, Khyati started her professional career as a legal trainee in 2005. Khyati’s husband Manish Mahajan, 38, is the co-founder of MevoLife.
Manish, a serial entrepreneur, had over six years of experience in different sectors like retail and telecom before he started out on his entrepreneurial journey. In 2005, Manish launched his first venture, Aims Migital Technovations, where Khyati serves as Director - Business Development and Client Relationship. He launched Aims Retail Services in 2008, which has operations in distribution, and trading of mobile phones and other electronics. Manish is a commerce graduate from Delhi University and holds a PG Diploma in Fashion Designing and Clothing Technology from NIFT.
Besides Khyati and Manish, MevoLife’s core team comprises of Disha Sethi, 28, who is the Product Head, Trilok Singh Bisht, 28, who leads Graphics, the web and AWS server management is looked after by Pradeep Garg 39, and Yash Kumar, 32, is MevoLife’s Mobile Lead.
MevoLife is currently bootstrapped, and has a 30-member team. Though the company was incepted in 2016, its merchandise and trackers were introduced in the market only last year.
Creating a fitness ecosystem
Currently, MevoFit has a wide range of offerings spread over two categories – Power apps and MevoFit gear (which comprises fitness trackers and merchandise).
In Power Apps, MevoFit has reportedly built over 50 specialised apps to suit different needs of fitness enthusiasts. From weight loss, running, jogging, to healthy recipes, and BMI tracker, the category is dedicated to power apps helping users meet their desired goals.
Under MevoFit gear category, MevoFit Drive claims to be an affordable fitness tracking wristband available at a starting price of Rs 1,790 on their website and ecommerce marketplaces such as Amazon and Flipkart. The band, sourced from a Dubai-based supplier, is light-weight, water resistant and offers hassle-free wireless charging with an inbuilt USB. It can track sleep cycle, calories, steps, and distance, among others.
MevoFit Drive’s multi-sport modes provide workout summary and real-time stats for different activities like running, yoga, basketball, and many others. Besides these fitness tracking features, the band also offers smart features like camera control, and can reportedly send out anti-lost, call, and social media notifications.
“I am in love with this band. Since I was on a tight budget, I was looking for a low-cost tracker, but a good quality one, and then I came across this online. Since I like to do different fitness activities every day, the band’s multi-sport modes are convenient and the stats motivate me to push myself more daily,” says Fashion Designer Pooja Sabharwal, a fitness enthusiast and MevoFit Drive user.
When it comes to fitness merchandise, MevoFit offers fitness gear and fitness apparel, active wear, and fitness accessories like gym bags sippers, and others.
The fit-tech market
The Indian fitness market was estimated to be worth Rs 95,000 crore in 2017. After sensing a huge potential, around 20-25 prominent fit-tech platforms have mushroomed in the last couple of years.
Fit-tech, which is being cited as a sunrise sector, witnessed several investments last year. From Delhi-based FITPASS’ seed funding, to Bengaluru-based HealthifyMe’s $1-million Series-A follow-up funding, Fitso’s $200,000 funding and Cure.fit’s $3-million Series-A follow-up funding, fitness seems to hold a lot of promise for investors.
Besides these platforms, fitness wearables are a huge trend now, with global brands like Fitbit and Garmin entering the Indian market through ecommerce marketplaces such as Amazon and Flipkart. However, these products come with a high price label and several Indian startups, including Goqii, Actofit, and Boltt, among others aim to change the scenario by offering affordable fitness trackers.
Decoding future plans
Going ahead, the platform plans to roll out two new offerings - MevoFit Club and MevoFit Health Pro to strengthen its existing ecosystem. MevoFit Club is a platform that will connect experts (dieticians and fitness trainers) with MevoFit apps consumers, helping them get access to expert advice on the go and achieve their fitness goals with ease.
MevoFit Health Pro will reportedly bring together health clubs and businesses like gyms, fitness studios and medical establishments, aimed at providing the Health and Fitness industry a platform to manage and grow their businesses by leveraging backend technology for their services.
Besides these new offerings, MevoFit is also working to scale up its existing offerings. The platform is working on three new devices - MevoFit Slim, Ultra, and Bold, which would be soon added to its fitness tracker category. In terms of apps, the platform is looking for nearly 100+ apps, and more than 100 SKUs for fitness merchandise floating into the market by the end of this year.
“The user response to our offerings and revenues in the past few months has been overwhelming, and has been growing strongly and has exceeded Rs 1.5 crore in total sales. We expect to cross Rs 10 crore within a year,” adds Khyati.