The Fit Company raises seed funding from East Ventures

• The wellness tech startup has combined five business lines within the sector
• Aim is to leverage on technology as an enabler to every facet of a healthy lifestyle

THE Fit Company, a holding company that focuses on active and healthy lifestyle products, announced on Jan 29 that it had secured an undisclosed amount of seed funding from East Ventures.

The investment will accelerate The Fit Company’s mission to build a technology-enabled ecosystem consisting of wellness-oriented products and services that simplify one’s journey in becoming a more active and health conscious individual.

The Fit Company chief executive officer Jeff Budiman, explained during a press conference at Fitstop Kuningan, “We are really excited to receive the support from East Ventures. As a company, East Ventures has an impeccable track record in growing and expanding a company and we cannot wait to start. This is only the beginning of our journey”

“Indonesia has big potential through its young consumer population - close to 60% is below 30-years-old, and they increasingly spend on discretionary items. This new consumption behaviour presents a huge opportunity for a new ecosystem, especially in the health and wellness category,” explained East Ventures managing partner Willson Cuaca.

He added, “As Indonesia's infrastructure for on-demand and O2O platforms has been solid, it could expand the growth in this category by offering holistic products and services: activity, FMCG, tools and equipment, and ready to eat F&B; in one platform. We believe The Fit Company team has the right vision and strong execution capability to unlock Indonesia's wellness economy potential.”

Holistic wellness

According to the Global Wellness Institute , the potential market of the wellness economy (including health tech, fit-tech, and healthy food) is estimated to be US$4.2 billion in 2017 and grew 6.4% annually.

Realising the importance of the holistic wellness technology ecosystem in Indonesia, The Fit Company founders decided to group all their businesses under one roof and become the first wellness tech startup in Indonesia. According to CB Insights, a wellness tech startup is a startup that focuses on holistic healthy living characterised by physical, mental, social, and spiritual well-being.

“After a period of sustained innovation in terms of products we realised that the whole pipeline of the so-called ‘wellness economy’ is there for the taking. Currently, no one in the market addresses the issue of an active lifestyle holistically. Its either they provide only training or only food but never the whole pipeline.

“With this knowledge, the idea of combining all of our products and services into one ecosystem arose. The Fit Company’s main ambition is to leverage on technology as an enabler to every facet of a healthy lifestyle and provide on-demand solutions as well as guidance on wellness needs.”

The Fit Company has five business lines consisting of Kredoaum (fitness tech distributor), 20Fit (MicroGym), Fitstop (gym), Fit Lokal (healthy food), and Fitmee (healthy instant noodles made from konjac).

The concept grew organically as they evolved as a business. It was first started in 2014 by Jeff Budiman, Prianka Bukit, and Bambang Bukit when they created Kredoaum and 20Fit to tackle the issue of daily physical exercise.

They found a huge need for a more efficient and personalised training methods for urbanites. 20Fit’s Electro Muscle Stimulation (EMS) training technology provides a strong value proposition for customers. It cuts down training time to only 20 minutes with the same impact as a three-hour conventional gym session. To date, 20Fit has 16 studios spread across various areas in Jabodetabek.

After a period of sustained growth, in 2017 the founders discovered that one of the biggest challenges for their members is not exercising but their eating habits. Thus the idea for Fit Lokal was born. Fit Lokal is a restaurant chain with the concept of providing healthier and low-calorie comfort food option.

They further realised the love of Indonesian for instant noodles. However, as the second-biggest consumer of instant noodles according to WINA , Indonesians still lack the option for healthy instant noodles. Thus, they created Fitmee, a low-calorie instant noodle made from konjac.

To date, Fit Lokal has three restaurant within one year of operation. Fitmee has a monthly sales growth of 20%. In 2018, The Fit Company began to expand to conventional gyms by opening Fitstop. The first Fitstop is at the Menara BTPN Kuningan.