Fitness needs a holistic approach and we all know that. That is the reason we take gym subscriptions, buy fitness devices and install monitoring apps. And not to mention the 'how to' videos we watch endlessly to make maximum out of our investment. When Rhea Nihal Singh and Raunaq Singh thought of integrating all the elements into one platform, it culminated in a one-stop home-based fitness platform Flexnest. Analytics Insight has engaged in an exclusive interview with Rhea Nihal Singh Anand and Raunaq Singh, Co-Founders, of Flexnest.

1. Kindly brief us about the company, its specialization, and the services that your company offers.

 Founded in 2021, Flexnest is a Gurugram-based fitness startup that provides premium home equipment and solutions. The company integrates smart equipment, such as bikes, rowers, ellipticals, and treadmills with content solutions to allow consumers to work out from the comfort of their homes using the Flexnest App. The app includes trainer-led cycling, rowing, walking classes, virtual sessions, live sessions, and strength equipment classes. The company is a complete home fitness solution, including hardware (equipment), software (the app), and content integration.

Flexnest is an end-to-end fitness solution provider that helps consumers with exceptional equipment, world-class content, an exclusive community, and progress measurements.

2. With what mission and objectives was the company set up? In short, tell us about your journey since the company's inception.

Flexnest began to provide customers with the greatest smart in-home fitness equipment. When the company was incepted, there was no other D2C brand that provided a large set of quality workout equipment, particularly for home usage, which was our prime objective. In addition, there was no other brand that offered comprehensive hardware/software/content solutions like Peloton. Thus, we effectively addressed the void. We founded the firm during a pandemic when individuals were isolated at home and had to make fitness sacrifices. Our primary focus was building a complete portfolio of connected equipment to enable a well-equipped home workout regime.

3. Mention some of the awards, achievements, recognitions, and clients' feedback that you feel are notable and valuable for the company.

Our greatest accomplishment lies in going from 0 to 5 million USD in 12 months while being bootstrapped.

Awards and recognitions:

•Forbes 30 Under 30, Asia 2022 – Rhea & Raunaq Singh Anand

•Images – Most Admired D2C Brand of The Year (Health & Wellness)

•Top 100 D2C Brands – Sutra HR

•Top 500 Challenger Brands – Yourstory

4. How do you see the company and the industry in the future ahead?

The global home fitness equipment market is expected to grow from $10.73 billion in 2021 to $14.74 billion in 2028, at a CAGR of 4.6 percent, buoyed by the launch of smart workout equipment such as bikes and treadmills, a Fortune Business Insights report said. According to a similar study conducted by Research and Markets, the global home fitness equipment market is expected to reach $8.34 billion by 2025. The global trend of connected fitness is quite similar. Flexnest currently has 40 SKUs and plans to increase that number by the end of 2022.

Flexnest went from 0-$5 million (over INR 37.88 crore) in annual revenue generated in the last year since its launch and is currently projecting annualized revenue of INR 100 Cr between April 2022 and March 2023.

5. Kindly mention some major challenges the company has faced till now.

At Flexnest our vision has been to offer a complete solution and not just equipment to our consumers; so, we actually had to build multiple companies within Flexnest. Today Flexnest is a hardware company, a software company, a media company, and a D2C consumer brand. No fitness company in India has offered a solution so holistic and comprehensive to date. We had to build strengths in completely different verticals all at the same time, which was a big challenge. E.g., design and manufacture products, develop software technology (App), set up media product studios to shoot classes, and Pan-India distribution infrastructure – all in parallel.

To add to this, we had to overcome all these challenges in the middle of the biggest pandemic this world has ever seen – with supply chain disruptions, WFH culture, etc. Our company was incorporated on 1^st October 2020 and launched and started revenues in January 2021.

6. What is your biggest USP that differentiates the company from competitors?

Flexnest is changing the way people work out from their homes. Usually, people buy equipment from brand A, use videos/content from brand B, and measure their progress with brand C. Flexnest is different, we can do all of them. Flexnest is not just about buying equipment. It provides a complete solution for home fitness through hardware (Equipment) and software (content – classes, videos) integration.

Flexnest allows you to buy equipment, do classes with Flexnest trainers, and measure your progress through the Flexscale, all while being part of a community. It is a fully integrated, immersive workout experience that India has never seen before. Flexnest has hardware (equipment), software (App's on the iOS and Android stores), content (shot in our studios with world-class instructors), and a community of like-minded people who work out together, share their stories and motivate each other; and that's how we complete the loop. We offer the highest quality fitness classes streamed to our users' homes across India.

7. Kindly brief us about your role at Flexnest and your journey in this highly promising sector.

I am the Co-Founder of the company and a fitness enthusiast. My husband – Raunaq and I started this company in the middle of the pandemic. Flexnest was incepted to address primarily two problems which we noticed. Firstly, there was no D2C brand that offered a full portfolio of premium fitness equipment exclusively for home use. And secondly, there was no brand offering integrated hardware/software/content solutions like Peloton, Mirror, Tonal, etc., in the west. Flexnest addresses both these issues effectively.

The idea came to us when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. When we started, we realized that while connected fitness was booming around the world, in India it was non-existent. If our phones and TVs can evolve to smartphones and smart TVs with limitless possibilities, why not our fitness equipment? We saw the opportunity of changing the way Indians worked out and embarked on our journey. We realized that if working from home could become the future, so could the work out from home.

8. What are your growth plans for the next 12 months?

Our goal is to become the one-stop shop for all fitness needs. We aim to provide additional linked goods and a full line of smart equipment. Between April 2022 and March 2023, a yearly revenue of INR 100 Cr is targeted. We want to pave the way for future growth by fulfilling significant milestones along the way.