Healthcare startup, HealthifyMe, is looking to tap into the health-conscious consumer segment as part of its continued expansion in Singapore, Malaysia and other markets, amid changing needs and lifestyles influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic.
HealthifyMe serves as a one-stop digital health and fitness platform that provides personalised solutions to help users achieve their fitness and nutrition goals. It offers localised health content, calorie tracking, meal plans, fitness workouts and health advice – all of which are powered by a team of online nutritionists, personal trainers and an artificial intelligence fitness coach.
The company adopts a holistic approach to health and wellness, accounting for nutrition and a balanced diet, rather than just exercise, to lead a healthy lifestyle. It has developed scientifically proven programmes which factor in one’s calorie intake and the right physical regime to achieve one’s fitness goals, including successful weight loss and diabetes management programmes.
The platform now has a user base of 500,000 in both countries and over 40 dieticians and personal trainers. HealthifyMe plans to quadruple its user base to two million people within the next two years and to employ 150 dieticians and personal trainers by 2022.
Besides targeting individuals, the startup intends to partner companies to launch corporate health and wellness programmes for their employees, the startup is also planning to expand reach to Indonesia, Australia and the Middle East within the next two years.
It is also exploring Western markets such as the UK, the US and Canada. Tushar Vashisht, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of HealthifyMe, said, “ We are especially delighted since, in less than 2 years, we managed to build a large community of 500,000 like-minded users in both countries who are deeply passionate about health and fitness.
“Our focus has always been to offer highly localised experiences to users in each market, and we have worked hard to curate local health content, a database of over 10,000 local dishes and their calorie values, and a team of fitness experts who speak the local language and understand the market. We will continue to expand our food library, quality of coaches and technology support for both existing and new markets to meet the needs of consumers,” he added.
Vashisht also noted that HealthifyMe has seen a 30 percent organic surge in user traffic, engagement and retention amid Covid-19 lockdowns in its markets, as gyms and fitness centres closed and more people began exercising at home.
Moreover, the platform’s user engagement grew from five sessions per week to 7.5 sessions, while the number of foods users tracked on the app daily increased from four to eight logs.
During this period, the company launched HealthifyMe Studio, where users can learn how to do home-based workouts through live sessions with trainers. It now offers 50 daily classes conducted by trainers from all over the world – including sessions on strength conditioning, yoga, dance fitness and classes catered to senior citizens as well as children.
Some unique features were also introduced to help users improve their immunity and adopt a healthy lifestyle during the pandemic. They included free immunity assessment tests and trackers for sleep and handwashing, which are habits that affect one’s immunity system.
Users who achieved a low immunity score were offered a free consultation session with a HealthifyMe coach. The HealthifyMe app also provides localised content which can be tailored to the individual user’s needs and lifestyles. For instance, the calorie counter in Singapore and Malaysia is based on a database of 10,000 local foods typically consumed in both countries, such as nasi lemak, char
kway teow and roti prata, with 100-200 new dishes added every day.
Additionally, HealthifyMe’s team of nutritionists and fitness coaches provide customised fitness advice and diet plans. Complementing the human coaches, HealthifyMe has developed Ria, a personal healthcare assistant which makes use of artificial intelligence to provide personalised fitness advice based on users’ lifestyle habits
HealthifyMe was founded eight years ago in Bangalore, India, and now has over 20 million downloads worldwide. It has received over US$35 million in funding from leading venture capital firms such as IDG, Inventus, Sistema, Samsung NEXT and Blume.
