HealthifyMe raises $12 mn to build AI capabilities, expand overseas

Mobile app-based health and fitness platform HealthifyMe has raised $12 million in fresh funding led by Sistema Asia Fund along with participation from Samsung NEXT, the arm of Korean giant Samsung that’s focused on building and investing in cutting edge solutions.

HealthifyMe plans to utilise the capital to widen its portfolio of offerings beyond access to nutritionists and fitness experts and bring in health food, diagnostics and insurance products. It also want to grow its service beyond India and into similar emerging market.

The company says it will also continue to invest and grow its AI platform which currently handles 73 percent of all queries about health and fitness that users of the app have. AI, it says has helped it reduce its reliance on having a huge team of specialists and thereby helping it earn better margins.

“Our annual revenue run rate is $4.5 million, not our GMV, and this is pretty significant for a digital startup. This has been possible only because of AI and that’s why Samsung has invested in us and it validates what we’re doing,” said Tushar Vashisht, CEO of HealthifyMe.

In the coming year, HealthifyMe plans to grow its base of users from four million to double digit millions, while doing the same with its revenue. In terms of profitability, Vashisht says the company has been breaking even operationally since November, but will assess whether it wants to prioritise profitability over growth at a later date.

HealthifyMe, which began calculating the calorimetric value of Indian foods to offer its users more analytical and precise measure of what they should eat and how much they should work out, now says it would like to do the same in markets similar to India. The service has already been on offer to non-resident Indians in the United Arab Emirates and has seen good traction.

When it comes to Samsung’s investment in the company, Vashisht says the deal does not include a strategic partnership with the giant, but does open doors for it in the future. “Definitely it allows us access to specialists within Samsung that can help us with AI improvements and also helps us with distribution using Samsung’s might, whether it’s phones or smart devices. But this will take its own course and there’s no strategic partnership yet,” he said.

Apart from Sistema and Samsung, the round also saw participation of Singapore’s Atlas Asset Management and Japan’s Dream Incubator. Existing investors in the company IDG Ventures India, Inventus Capital, Blume Ventures and Dubai based NB Ventures also participated in this funding round.