KFit Will Dominate Asia After Securing $12 Million In Funding

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia —  KFit, Asia’s leading mobile fitness-sharing platform has raised $12 million in funding, which it says will be used to accelerate large-scale expansion.

Led by early stage venture capital firm Venturra Capital, who recently announced plans to focus on emerging tech companies throughout Southeast Asia, the series A investment comes less than 12 months after KFit completed a $3.25 million funding round led by Sequoia – funding that has enabled the business to expand at a staggering rate.

Speaking about the latest round, Stefan Jung at Venturra Capital explained that the decision to invest in KFit was made after spotting the enormous opportunity the business model provides gyms and studios that are looking to market their businesses to an engaged and active consumer base.

“[KFit] has truly redefined the fitness paradigm in Asia Pacific, by helping gyms and studios attract demand in a way that is affordable for members and sustainable for the businesses,” Jung said.

The easy-to-use booking platform, which launched in April 2015, giving users access to over 300,000 different fitness activities from a selection of studios and gyms throughout Asia, currently stands as the fastest growing mobile fitness-sharing platform in the region. In the last six months alone, KFit members have reserved over 250,000 classes, with one reservation made every minute.

KFit say the latest funding will be used to expand in the region as well as to invest in technology, operations and marketing. However, planned expansion will go beyond fitness, with new categories, activities, and pricing models set to be implemented later this year. According to TechCrunch, KFit was valued at negative $320,000 in Q3 2015.

Currently, KFit can be used in 10 cities across the Asia Pacific region, including Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Hong Kong and Perth, with the majority of the big fitness brands already on board in each city.

However, Joel Neoh, Founder of KFit says the next phase of expansion will see the business bringing even more exciting partners onto the platform, which he believes will help transform their customers’ health, as they discover even more experiences across the region.

Additionally, Neoh, who formerly headed up crowd-discount site Groupon’s Asian market, argues that by expanding KFit’s reach, more gyms and studios will have the ability to promote their brands and fill classes, making it simpler than ever to generate incremental revenue for their businesses.

Keen to distance KFit from its competitors, Neoh argues that its business model strives to grow awareness and access to fitness rather than promote discounts for consumers who already work out. Instead, “We’re focused on growing the overall pie,” he said in an interview.

A pie that looks set to include related categories including spas, beauty services and massages, which will see KFit go head-to-head with a whole host of new and rapidly growing beauty-based platforms including Vaniday, which recently announced expansion throughout Asia, backed by €15 million of investment from Rocket Internet.