Can Cult.Fit Build Durable Muscle?

The company wants to go public with a $2 billion valuation. But it faces fitness challenges

- Samiksha Goel

In early 2023, Baibhav Mishra started attending Cult.fit's group fitness classes at a center in Bandra, Mumbai. It quickly became part of his routine, until one morning when he and a few others showed up at 6 a.m., only to be halted in their tracks by a security guard. The gym had shut down.

"No email, no app notification, nothing," Mishra recalled. "I had paid 20,000 upfront for an annual plan for me and my partner." He says Cult.fit was unresponsive when he sought help and that pushed him to air his frustration on microblogging platform X.

Determined to squeeze out some value for his money, Mishra shifted to Cult.fit's Juhu center, a few kilometers away. Six months later, that one shut too. The next option? Lokhandwala, over 7 km away. "Some days, the auto fare was more than what I was paying per class," he said. But even that center closed its doors in April this year.

Mishra's story isn't an outlier. Social media is awash with similar complaints—of customers locked into year-long memberships only to find their neighborhood centers shuttered. While gym closures aren't rare in the fitness industry, Cult.fit's recent wave of shutdowns has raised eyebrows.

However, the company—officially known as Curefit Healthcare Pvt. Ltd—maintains it's a routine operational matter. "There will always be the bottom 5-6% that don't pan out," chief executive officer (CEO) Naresh Krishnaswamy told Mint. "That churn is what we do every year."

He insists that proper communication is ensured during center closures, with timely updates, nearby alternatives and refund or transfer options.