What Made Bengaluru-Based Fitness Aggregator To Acqui-Hire Oyofit Gympik on an acqui-hiring spree.

Mental wellness is an increasingly important part of big Corporates, with exercise not just for physical fitness but to reduce stress level. Nutrition is also viewed more widely, with diet foods giving way to natural foods that give the whole body a positive boost.

With an aim to flex its arms towards Corporate Wellness programme, Bengaluru-based Gympik Health Solutions Private Limited has acqui-hire Oyofit, a city-based fitness startup for enterprises and individuals.

Founded in 2015 by Shivank Agarwal and Ruchik Garg, Oyofit offers gym membership for individuals and corporates with exclusive fitness practices like DreamOrbit, HackerRank, AirRescue, MoveInSync, FxCart, HackerEarth, RazorPay, Jet Airways, Furlenco and HomeLane.

"If you look at the startup ecosystem in fitness, Oyofit is one of the players which have been working with a B2B focused strategy. They send the memberships and other things to the corporates. This is a good vertical and we are gradually setting getting into this space. We're working on towards it with a very extensive corporate wellness plan," said Amaresh Ojha, Founder and CEO, Gympik.

Significantly, before Oyofit, Gympik has acquired FitnessPapa, another startup known for offering a monthly membership program called "FitnessPapa Passport'.

The former has elaborate plans to establishing its niche in parts of the country. Very soon it will flex its arms in the northern region of the country, initially in Delhi-NCR region.

Commenting on its strategy of acqui-hiring, Ojha noted, "The problem most startups are facing right now is absorb the right team who have the right understanding of the business. Since the team (Oyofit) has already been working with big Corporates and they have a little synergy with them, they really understand what the big corporates need to lift fitness quotient of their employees. Rather than me hiring a new team and training them to get required things done, we saved on time by acqui-hire the Oyofit team."

Further, without disclosing the monetary terms of acqui-hire deal, Ojha added, "The entire team of Oyofit will join Gympik and we'll obviously have a controlling stake in the venture."

"It will be an opportunity for Oyofit to be part of Gympik and build the corporate wellness category which has tremendous potential in the coming years," noted Shivank Agarwal, Co-Founder, Oyofit.

Reportedly, the Indian fitness and slimming industry, which was pegged at $ 0.78 billion in 2012, is stated to grow at a CAGR of 25 per cent, says International Chamber for Service Industry (ICSR).

Fitness aggregator likes Gympik has a vision to create technology driven solution for online fitness choices of individuals that enable them to lead a healthy life. The startup has raised an undisclosed amount in the pre-series A funding in 2016 from Roundglass partners and has rapid expansion plans to offer the extended corporate wellness programme to drive healthier change at workplaces and build a healthy and fit working community in India.