SocialBoat, a women’s health app, has announced raising an angel round of US$ 200K from Plan B Capital. Other angel investors who have committed to the venture include Abhijit Kane (Co-founder, Postman), Videt Jaiswal (Co-founder, Airblack), Bhuvan Gupta (Co-founder, OfBusiness) and Prateek Sharma (Managing Partner, AheadVC), Neeraj Gupta (Angel Investor) among others. The funds will help SocialBoat scale its technology platform, strengthen its tech team, invest in brand building, and partner with health coaches at scale.
SocialBoat was founded in December 2021 by Swapnil Vats and Rahul Jain to provide affordable and personalized fitness & health programs to over 100M women in India. Presently over 60% of women in India are diagnosed with PCOS after ignoring personal health for years. Nearly 80-85% of them develop obesity and are at high risk of developing infertility, diabetes and cancer.
Most healthcare providers and fitness companies have shied away from women’s health and primarily focus on a male centric body or aesthetic fitness goals like weight loss, abs etc. SocialBoat bridges this gap by creating 360 degree fitness programs that cater to women specific goals like – managing PCOS, postpartum care and mobility and general healthy living.
These programs are designed by gynecologists, fitness coaches and nutrition experts and are presented to the user in the form of an engaging game. In the game, SocialBoat’s AI gives short tasks like 10 min HIIT workout, eat a green salad or go for a 4km walk to the users. As they finish the tasks, they get points and can use them to unlock next levels and win exciting prizes.
Additionally, there is a championship where users can participate in teams with their friends. The game structure has made healthy living ‘addictive’, with users spending more than 50 minutes a day on the app and 80% of them achieving their goal.
SocialBoat acquires users by enabling existing fitness communities like – running clubs & cycling groups to create teams in the SocialBoat game. The team acts as a micro pod, where users get a sense of community as they achieve their fitness goals. Some popular teams on the app are created by influencers like Aarja Bedi (Women Strength COach), Greesha Dhingra (Fertility Yoga Trainer), Coach Ravinder (NCR’s largest running group) and organizations like AVIVA India, AIESEC and Punjab Engineering College.
Presently, there are over 5000+ users, 850+ communities and 500+ success stories on the app. The app is 5/5 rated on Apple App Store and Play Store and was recently ranked #2 on ProductHunt.
“We believe that adding the fun game lens to fitness has made the subject a lot more approachable. It also gives the user a sense of winning. This psychological trigger can make healthy living as addictive as a video game” said Rahul Jain, Co-Founder SocialBoat.
“We have recorded an organic growth of 145% MoM led by influencers who invited their followers to their teams. In 2023, we aim to scale to tier II cities and explore fitness content in vernacular languages.” said Swapnil Vats, Co-Founder, SocialBoat.