Analysis of customer preferences for various features/services offered by health-tech platforms

Abstract

Founded by two former Flipkart executives, Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori, in 2016, Cult.fit started with an ambition of disrupting the preventive healthcare sector in India with the power of technology. With four business verticals across fitness, diet, mental wellness and medical consultation, the company saw massive growth in terms of customer acquisitions and revenue over the first couple of years. In FY 2018 and 2019, its revenue stood at 1.31B and 6.07B, respectively. However, the overall revenue reduced to ~3B in 2021. While most of its business verticals have taken a hit during the pandemic in 2021, the food business Eat.fit has shrunk to 10% of its size in the previous year. The pandemic has affected the food delivery business, but other players such as Zomato and Swiggy have witnessed a marginal drop in their revenue. The dip in the last couple of years poses a significant question of whether the early success of Cult.fit was just an anomaly in the Indian healthcare industry. The company has raised a series of fundings from investors, and a recent cash inflow of $145mn from Zomato adds more pressure on CEO Mukesh Bansal to put the firm back on the growth trajectory in the near future. What should be the company’s approach to sustain growth for a longer period of time? Should Cure.fit expand its business to the international arena, or should it focus on widening its services to more cities in India? While the healthcare industry is quite competitive, with a lot of start-ups emerging over the years, lower-tier cities in India inherently lack the motivation to actively pursue a healthy lifestyle. Or should they expand their portfolio in adjacent markets such as ready-to-eat products, workout apparel and equipment, etc., which the company has recently ventured into?