HealthifyMe is an Indian digital health and wellness company, which provides an app with services such as calorie tracking and advice on nutrition and fitness. It is available on the Android and iOS platforms, and can be used with wearable technology such as activity trackers.[1][2]
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| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | |
| Genre | |
| Founded | January 2012 |
| Founders |
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| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people |
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| Website | www |
The company was founded by Tushar Vashisht, Mathew Cherian and Sachin Shenoy in 2012.[3]
History
editEarly years
editHealthifyMe was founded in 2012 by the founder and CEO Tushar Vashisht and Mathew Cherian, initially putting together an Excel sheet of foods and their calorie values and then build a software platform around it. The first version of the software was released in 2012.[4] A year after its foundation, Sachin Shenoy joined the company as head of engineering.[5]
The company launched an Android app in 2013, with an iOS app released shortly afterwards. The Android app earned Google Play Store's "Top Developer" badge in 2015, and was named amongst the "Best Apps of 2015".[6]
Funding and recognition
editIn 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.[7]
In May 2015, electronics manufacturer Micromax invested an undisclosed amount in HealthifyMe.[8] 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.[9] It then raised $6 million as a part of their Series-A round in April 2016[10] from IDG Ventures, Inventus Capital Partners & Blume Ventures.[11]
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.[12][13]
In November 2024, the company closed a $45 million financing round to expand into the United States.[14][15]
Launch of AI nutritionist 'Ria'
editIn late-2017, HealthifyMe launched "Ria", an 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.[16][17][18]
By early-2018, the company had more than one million monthly active users.[19] 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.[20][21]
Foray into overseas markets
editIn 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.[22][23] The company expanded its operations to Singapore and Brunei in the fourth quarter.[24]
Growth and feature launches
editIn February 2019, it was reported that HealthifyMe had more than 8 million users across all markets.[25] 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.[26]
In January 2020, the company partnered with Swiggy enabling users to order healthy foods from nearby restaurants picked by its nutritionists.[27] In February 2020, the company reported that its revenue had reached ₹100 crore and active user base doubled to 16 million in a year.[24] 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.[28]
Product
editHealthifyMe operates on a freemium model, providing nutritional and fitness advice from nutritionists and fitness coaches to users with premium subscription.[29] 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.[30] 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,[31] and was integrated as an Alexa skill for Amazon Echo speakers and Alexa built-in devices in 2019.[32][33]
Partnerships
editHealthifyMe 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.[34]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "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.
- ^ "Can HealthifyMe Burn Calories In A Profitable Way?". Forbes India. Retrieved 2023-09-07.
- ^ "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.
- ^ Devarakonda, Mythili (2024-11-18). "Indian AI healthcare app Healthify closes $45 million financing round, plans for US expansion". The American Bazaar. Retrieved 2024-11-20.
- ^ "Healthify raises $20 million in round led by Khosla Ventures, LeapFrog Investments". The Economic Times. 2024-10-25. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 2024-11-20.
- ^ "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.[permanent dead link]