Backed with an INR 5 crore (US$ 750k) round, Actofit is ready to commercially launch its much-awaited smart wrist-wear that tracks comprehensive indoor workouts and provides data driven actionable insight.Next Orbit Ventures Fund and Nilesh Jain, an Angel Investor, co-led the Pre-Series A round.
Actofit is an Indian wearable tech startup with a developed wearable wrist-wear and a complete software algorithm platform that tracks not only your steps & heart rate but goes deeper into advanced motion tracking to track comprehensive & granular workout statistics; creating seamless logs, allowing you to evaluate data to make informed decisions.
“Being a fitness enthusiast myself, I was amazed by how the engagement with a fitness tracker made one more aware about his fitness, but its lack of utility in a gym/crossfit studio handicapped its impact for the more serious indoor workout person, eventually turning it obsolete.” said Pratik Saraogi, Cofounder & CEO at Actofit who didn’t believe 10k steps, as marketed by the market leader wearables, to be an accurate metric to measure fitness, as not all exercises involve steps.
Through its versatility and innovation, Actofit is able to auto identify 75+ gym exercises, count sets & reps, measure continuous heart rate, estimate velocity, force and power for every exercise and can also be used for the rest of the day as a regular fitness tracker. It aims to help fitness enthusiasts track their complete workouts, evaluate forms and sessions, maintain optimum heart rate, and use the data to make informed decisions.
“The Wearable Tech Space is still a relatively young industry. With the adoption rate of Wearables already close to 50% in the United States, and the emerging markets catching up, we saw 78 million devices shipped last year. This industry is growing north of a 30% global CAGR and Actofit definitely is ahead of the curve. The potential it has in a global scenario is exciting, let alone the Indian markets” commented Ajay Jalan, Managing Partner at Next Orbit Ventures who is bullish on the scope and potential Actofit possesses. Next Orbit Ventures earlier funded Actofit a Seed round in July 2015 of Rs. 1 Crore.
“The funds will be used for the commercial launch of its dynamic products in the markets as well as for marketing, inventory building, team expansions and new product developments & partnerships. To be available in stores by the end of 2016, Actofit is the first fitness tracker that is more versatile and unique than anything that is available in the markets today. It comes out of a direct user requirement and we have been working with fitness experts & professionals while building this product.” Says Pratik Saraogi.
Actofit uses 9 axis motion sensors to track movement in the 3D space. Using machine-learning algorithms, Actofit has built an activity identification platform and has multiple pending patents. Although the product is launched in the fitness space, the software platform is capable and allows users to add or customize any kind of motion & track it, which has applications across different sports, yoga, physiotherapy and more.
“Fitness needs to be perceived as fun and games, I have no doubts Actofit, in its own way can create gamification and cause a disruption in the fitness arena. I trust the team, technology and the product, Actofit is the seamless integration of cutting edge technologies that raises the bar of wearable tech” – says Nilesh Jain, who has been mentoring the team and is interested to see how this turns out in a phase “where a lot companies today are focused on creating marketplaces for you to feed in information, and get help from the other side, but very few actually have a sensor network to pull in that information automatically and seamlessly. This would result in an exponentially higher user experience and a better stickiness.”
The basic idea here is to eliminate the need for manual entry of workout logs in your apps as well as to provide more relevant information which was previously not available to the individual. Logging that happened manually, is now automated with data science. We have seen fitness trackers with just step counters motivating users to take more steps and live healthier lives, it’ll be interesting to see how Actofit is able to increase motivational levels amongst gym goers, where about 2/3rd of gym members are not regular gym goers. Actofit is also aiming to integrate with third party mobile apps so that the startup’s data can be shared and used more widely and effectively. “This makes fitness a way of life, and not a destination” as per Nilesh Jain
The Company has partnered up with Indiegogo for the launch its PreOrders which is expected to kick of on 23rd October, 2016, and is expected to start shipping its first batch as early as Christmas 2016.
“The confidence shown by such successful and high quality investors is something that boosts our teams morale and validates our product. We have been working on developing the core technologies and perfecting the product for more than 2 years and I am sure we will be able to scale up the momentum, not just with their money, but their expertise, guidance and networks.” commented Pratik Saraogi.
