Tushar Vashisht (born 3 April 1985) is an Indian entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of consumer health app HealthifyMe. He is a former investment banker, was an early employee at Aadhaar and is a University of Pennsylvania graduate.
Tushar Vashisht | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 3 April 1985 Karnal, Haryana, India |
| Residence(s) | Bangalore, Karnataka, India |
| Alma mater | University of Pennsylvania |
| Known for | Founder of HealthifyMe |
Early life
editVashisht was born in Karnal, Haryana, to SN Vashisht, former Director General of Police of Haryana, and Dr. Suneeta Madan, daughter of veterinary scientist ML Madan.[1]
Vashisht did his K-12 in different schools in Haryana before graduating from Sardar Patel Vidyalaya in New Delhi in 2003. He spent his first two college years between Delhi College of Engineering and Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology,[2] before transferring to and graduating with a BAS in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania in 2007.[3]
Career
editVashisht began his career from Wall Street as an intern for BlackRock. He joined Deutsche Bank full-time as corporate finance analyst in San Francisco before shifting to Singapore.[4][5] In 2009, he joined the Aadhaar project headed by Nandan Nilekani in Bangalore, where many of the future board members and early investors of HealthifyMe were his colleagues.[6]
Inspired by his own weight gain within a year of returning to India,[7][8] Vashisht started HealthifyMe in 2012, with Mathew Cherian and Sachin Shenoy as co-founders with "a vision to help Indians be healthier and fitter using online tools". According to him, it is India's "first comprehensive calorie tracker".[3] The company would later add digital nutritionists and trainers as subscription service.[9] In 2019, it launched AI-powered "Smart Plans" recommended by its digital nutritionist "Ria", based on customer habits and medical conditions.[10] The company went on to raise four rounds of funding including a series B funding of US$ 18 million in 2018.[11] In 2019, HealthifyMe was reported to be the top rated Indian startup on Google Play Store.[12]
While at HealthifyMe and during their poverty line experiment, Vashisht advocated for better nutrition policies for Indians.[13] He advocated for better protein subsidy for the masses in 2011–12 in front of the Planning Commission and National Advisory Council, as well as on other forums.[14] In 2018, he gave a presentation during the India-Russia Business Summit, in front of Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.[citation needed]
Poverty experiment
editIn 2011, Vashisht lived on ₹100 a day and ₹32 a day for a month, alongside Mathew Cherian. The duo documented their experience on a blog and went on to advocate for the improvement of the average and poor Indian, especially in the field of nutrition, travel, employment and addiction. They concluded that ₹ 32 was insufficient to survive on, while ₹ 120 a day was the income level required to exit poverty.[13][14][15][16]
Music
editVashisht is a trained Hindustani classical singer and was a member of Penn Masala between 2005 and 2007. His composition "Pehchaan" was the title song of the album released in 2007.[6] The song was featured on America's Best of College A Capella in 2008.[17]
References
edit- ^ Vashisht, Tushar. "Note to my dad". Tribune India. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
- ^ "DCE Alumni who also went to Sardar Patel vidyalaya". DCE Alumni.
- ^ a b Rai, Saritha (29 January 2013). "Fighting Fat at India Inc., One Dosa at a Time". New York Times. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
- ^ "TEDxGolfLinksPark". TED. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
- ^ "Barefoot - The other side of life". The Hindu. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
- ^ a b Sharma, Supriya. "Redrawing the line: Tushar Vashisht, Mathew Cherian made a difference by contributing in Nandan Nilekani's Unique Identification Authority project". India Today. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
- ^ Dhillon, Amrit. "HealthifyMe app tracks nutrition in thousands of Indian dishes". The National. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
- ^ "The way to greener pastures". Tribune India. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
- ^ Bagchi, Shrabonti. "Staying fit has never been easier". Economic Times. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
- ^ "Healthifyme wants to improve your diet with its Ria2.0 AI assistant". Indian Express. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
- ^ Salve, Priyanka. "The HealthifyMe puzzle: AI makes fitness cheaper and easier, but can it chisel a healthy business model?". Economic Times. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
- ^ Dash, Sanchita. "This startup helping 9 million Indians lose weight may soon turn profitable". Business Insider. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
- ^ a b Rai, Saritha (20 October 2011). "Living Like the Other Half". New York Times. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
- ^ a b "Is India's poverty line of 65 US cents a day fair?". BBC. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
- ^ Khan, Atir. "US-based Indians find it 'dangerous' to live on Rs 32 a day". India Today. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
- ^ Rai, Saritha. "Two entrepreneurs in Bangalore try living on $2 a day". NDTV. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
- ^ "BEST OF COLLEGE A CAPPELLA 2008". Varsity Vocals. Retrieved 5 January 2020.