Pakistani female fitness startup AimFit has raised $1 million in a seed spherical led through Indus Valley Capital, a Pakistan-centered VC fund commenced by LinkedIn’s former VP Growth Aatif Awan. The spherical consists of participation of an unnamed unicorn founder, the founding group of direct-to-consumer shoe startup Atoms, and a few other angel investors. According to our data, it is one of the biggest seed investments raised through a female-based startup in Pakistan.
Founded through sister-duo Mahlaqa and Noor Shaukat, AimFit operates a series of 4 health studios in Lahore and Islamabad, serving a network of over 5,000 contributors.The access to studios is available as magnificence bundles legitimate for a certain duration of time (e.g. a 12 class package legitimate for 1 month) or unlimited classes contract for 365 days wherein every month, the contributors pay a subscription fee.
Mahlaqa and Noor bootstrapped the startup for over six years to develop it to 4 of its personal studios in Lahore and Islamabad. They have a group of almost 50 teachers and an in-residence academy that trains and certifies the fitness teachers. In addition, AimFit has been strolling a closed female-only Facebook network with over 9,000 engaged contributors.
Mahlaqa Shaukat, the co-founder and CEO of AimFit, in a statement, said, “AimFit’s mission is to make Pakistan the fittest nation on the planet. We envision a Pakistan where a fit and healthy lifestyle is within everyone’s reach. With this goal, we’re working on developing a viral online fitness platform.”
Within 24 hours of closing their studios because of Covid-19 in March 2020, AimFit moved on-line, presenting pre-recorded on-line lessons starting from dance fitness to Yoga, priced at PKR 3,900 ($24). Mahlaqa explains, “Covid-19 expedited our on-line release and we now plan to double down on our omnichannel model through swiftly increasing across Pakistan over the approaching months, before focused on global expansion.”
With this contemporary investment, AimFit pursuits to release an online platform and enlarge its offline studios throughout Pakistan inclusive of country’s largest town Karachi.
Noor Shaukat, Co-founder and COO of AimFit, speaking to MENAbytes, said, “Empowering women is at the heart of everything we do. We know in our culture that women, as primary caregivers and nurturers put their own health on the back seat to look after others. All evidence clearly points out that a health-conscious matriarch is better for the family, society, and economy. The barriers to women adopting a healthy lifestyle are real though – an absence of information, motivation, skills, spouse & family support, accessibility to places for physical activity, cost-effective services, and free time are real challenges.”
“AimFit plans to remove these barriers using its dedicated online platform and flagship studio locations. Both will be geared to foster an engaged online and offline female community,” she added.
“As mothers to young children, Noor and I both fully understand the challenge for women to juggle a career and family as well as prioritize their health and well-being. We use our personal experience to help inform our product, service and management strategy,” she added.
The startup also revealed that their training center has trained more than hundreds of women, some of whom have even founded opportunities at other fitness centers in the country.
