HealthifyMe is an Indian digital health and wellness platform that provides services such as calorie tracking, one-on-one nutrition and fitness coaching, and diet and workout plans. Developed for both Android and iOS platforms, the app takes a holistic lifestyle tracking approach to keep users engaged and motivated.
| File:HealthifyMe Logo.png | |
| Company type | Private |
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| Industry | |
| Genre | |
| Founded | January 2012 |
| Founders |
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| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people |
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| Website | www |
Users with premium subscriptions get to choose from a team of in-house certified nutritionists, fitness trainers and yoga coaches. Alternatively, the users can access the AI-driven nutritionist Ria for assistance. HealthifyMe also combines these services with wearable technology as the app syncs with activity trackers.[1][2]
The company, founded by Tushar Vashisht (University of Pennsylvania alumnus), Mathew Cherian (MIT graduate) and Sachin Shenoy (former Google engineer), is based out of Bangalore, India.[citation needed]
History
Early years
HealthifyMe was founded in 2012; founder and CEO Tushar Vashisht cites his personal weight loss after working for Unique Identification Authority of India (UID) in 2010 that spurred him to start the company. Vashisht, along with co-founder Mathew Cherian, initially began putting together an Excel sheet of foods and their calorie values and then decided to build a software for it. The first version of the software was released in 2012.[3] A year into establishing the company, Sachin Shenoy joined the team as co-founder and head of engineering.[4]
The company launched its Android app in 2013, with an iOS app releasing soon after. The Android app earned Google Play Store's "Top Developer" badge in 2015, while also being named among "Best Apps of 2015".[5]
Funding and recognition
In May 2015, the company launched a campaign, HealthifyIndia, in collaboration with Godrej Nature's Basket, Manipal Hospitals, Medanta and Apollo Centre, to promote healthy living amongst Indians and create awareness of lifestyle disorders. It was reported that HelathifyMe's website had become the most visited health website in India, with 40 lakh visitors.[6]
In May 2015, electronics manufacturer Micromax invested an undisclosed amount in HealthifyMe.[7] On 17 June 2015, it was announced that HealthifyMe closed its pre-Series A round with an undisclosed amount from a group of individual investors.[8] It then raised $6 million as a part of their Series-A round in April 2016[9] from IDG Ventures, Inventus Capital Partners & Blume Ventures.[10]
The app continued to be named among "Best Apps - Made in India" in 2016 and 2017. In December 2017, the company received the Google Play "Editor's Choice" award in the Health & Fitness category.[11][12]
Launch of AI nutritionist 'Ria'
In late-2017, HealthifyMe launched "Ria", a AI nutritionist which learned from 10 million messages and over 200 million food and workout logs. Ria was announced as the world's first AI-powered virtual nutritionist. [13][14][15]
By early-2018, the company had more than one million monthly active users.[16] In February 2018, HealthifyMe raised a Series B funding round of US$12 million led by Sistema Asia Fund and Samsung's AI focussed fund - NEXT (their first investment in India). Atlas Asset Management (Singapore), Dream Incubator (Japan) and existing investors (IDG Ventures, Inventus Capital Partners & Blume Ventures, NB Ventures) also participated in the funding round.[17][18]
Foray into overseas markets
In November 2018, HealthifyMe announced that it has raised US$6 million from Innoven Capital and existing investors. It also expanded its operations to Malaysia, having mapped over 900 South East Asian foods, and obtained more than 15,000 subscribers within the first month. The company also announced its plans of expanding to Singapore, Indonesia and the Middle East over the next two quarters.[19][20] The company expanded its operations to Singapore and Brunei in the fourth quarter.[21]
Growth and feature launches
In February 2019, it was reported that HealthifyMe had more than 8 million users across all markets.[22] Later in 2019, the company launched "Ria 2.0", including the feature, "Snap", using which users can take a picture of their food and the AI can identify the dish and log the calories, provided the dish is among the 10,000 dishes tracked by it. It also launched "Smart Plans" in which users get a customised diet plan recommendation from Ria.[23]
In January 2020, the company partnered with Swiggy enabling users to order healthy foods from nearby restaurants picked by its nutritionists.[24] In February 2020, the company reported that its revenue had reached ₹100 crore and active user base doubled to 16 million in a year.[21] The company announced its entry into mental wellness segment, with the introduction of "HealthifySense", allowing users the access to counselling. It also announced a pilot with Fitternity to provide access to gyms and fitness studios as well a grocery ordering feature in partnership with Milkbasket in select locations.[25]
Product
HealthifyMe operates on a freemium model, providing nutritional and fitness advice from certified nutritionists and fitness coaches to users with premium subscription.[26] The company claims to have access to the world's first and largest Indian food database. It has developed a calorie counter for regional foods and an exercise tracker for logging in physical activities.[27] It also shows the count of proteins, carbohydrates, fats and fibre. The AI-driven digital nutritionist Ria can create personalised diet plans and workout routines. Ria reportedly handles 80% of user queries,[28] and was integrated as an Alexa skill for Amazon Echo speakers and Alexa built-in devices in 2019.[29][30]
Partnerships
HealthifyMe also works in partnership with various medical institutions such as Medanta, Apollo Hospitals and Manipal Hospitals, with the aim to treat and prevent clinical obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular problems and other lifestyle diseases.[31]
The company has also made its presence in the "corporate wellness space", serving clients like Philips, Cognizant, Unilever, PMC and General Electric.[32]
See also
References
- ^ "HealthifyMe to hire more coaches and reach 50L users". Deccan Herald. 12 January 2016.
- ^ "Track calories in Indian curries with HealthifyMe". Daily News and Analysis. 1 May 2015.
- ^ "Quantifying Indian food, with indigenous software". The Economic Times. 12 January 2016.
- ^ "HealthifyMe: Working out in smartphone generation". Business Standard. 3 July 2016.
- ^ "A weight loss startup's journey to winning over Google and Microsoft". Tech in Asia. 11 February 2016.
- ^ "Health minister launches new campaign to make India fit". Daily News and Analysis. 1 May 2015.
- ^ "Micromax kicks off ecosystem plan with app investment". Mint. 9 May 2015.
- ^ "Micromax-backed startup HealthifyMe successfully completes second round of funding". Boy Genius Report. 18 July 2015.
- ^ "HealthifyMe raises Rs 40 crore from IDG Ventures, Inventus Capital & Blume Ventures". The Economic Times. 10 May 2016.
- ^ "IDG, Inventus, Blume back HealthifyMe". The Times of India. 11 May 2016.
- ^ Thakran, Shekhar. "Google Play Reveals 'Best of 2016' Apps, Games, Books, Movies, TV Shows". Gadgets 360 - An NDTV venture. Retrieved 2016-12-02.
- ^ "Google announces the best apps of 2017". Hindu Business Line. 5 December 2017.
- ^ "HealthifyMe, a Bengaluru-based health and fitness start-up has unveiled its AI-enabled nutritionist Ria". Indo-Asian News Service. 2017-10-13.
- ^ GANESH, VENKATESH. "HealthifyMe's AI-enabled app Ria can advice you on nutrition, fitness regimes". The Hindu Business Line. Retrieved 2017-10-13.
- ^ "HealthifyMe introduces AI-enabled nutritionist Ria". Indo-Asian News Service. 2017-10-13.
- ^ "With a million active users, AI nutritionist tucks into $12m funding". Tech in Asia. 9 February 2018.
- ^ "HealthifyMe raises $12M to develop its AI-powered nutritionist". Vator. 9 February 2018.
- ^ "HealthifyMe raises $12 million from Sistema Asia Fund, Samsung NEXT". Business Standard. 9 February 2018.
- ^ Jalan, Trisha. "HealthifyMe raises $6M, expands to Malaysia, and launches food marketplace". Retrieved 2019-02-06.
- ^ "Healthify Southeast Asia". New Straits Times. 19 November 2018. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- ^ a b Chenganna, Sangeetha (15 February 2020). "HealthifyMe revenues top Rs 100-cr level, active user base doubles to 16 million". Business Line. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
- ^ "Now, an AI-based health assistant to help you stay fit". Business Today. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
- ^ "Healthifyme wants to improve your diet with its Ria2.0 AI assistant: Here's how". Indian Express. 21 January 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
- ^ "Order healthy food on Swiggy via HealthifyMe". Outlook. 14 January 2020. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
- ^ Koshi, Luke (14 February 2020). "HealthifyMe forays into mental wellness, outlines its vision for 2020". The News Minute. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
- ^ Shaikh, Shadma (29 August 2016). "HealthifyMe plans to cut subscription prices". Economic Times. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
- ^ Abrar, Peerzada. "HealthifyMe gets angel funding". The Hindu. Retrieved 2017-03-19.
- ^ UN, Sushma (28 May 2018). "An Indian startup has created an AI-driven nutritionist for fitness freaks". Quartz. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
- ^ Hariharan, Sindhu (13 August 2019). "HealthifyMe's AI assistant Ria integrated with Amazon Alexa". Times of India. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
- ^ Bhargava, Mala. "Healthifyme tracks and coaches you to fitness". Business Line. The Hindu. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
- ^ "HealthifyMe: An app for healthy living". The Sunday Guardian. 2 May 2015.
- ^ "Is Indian Healthcare ready for Big Data and Analytics?". Consumer Reports.