Wearables and implantables will take away the importance of smartphones soon, said Vishal Gondal, founder and CEO of California-headquartered Goqii, a company that makes a wearable fitness band. In an interaction with Deccan Herald on the sidelines of the second day of CeBIT India 2015 conference, Gondal said the era of mobile will be disrupted by wearables and Goqii is ready to take up the opportunity.
“We have seen the decade where desktops made phenomenal impact and that paved the way for smartphones. Now the next wave is happening in the form of wearables and implantables,” he said.
Gondal said his start-up Goqii began its operations by way of helping people change their lifestyle in a unique way. “We aim to help users change their lifestyle, from sedentary to active, with a combination of wearable technology and advices from fitness coaches. Our business model is centred on the human element, that is coaches and nutritionists,” said Gondal.
Free band, paid coaching
Coaches and nutritionists can join the Goqii platform and advise their clients. “We are in the wearable space because we know the business model. We believe that our hardware is only a commodity and the importance lies in how we use the data to further coach individuals and therein lies the success of our company,” he said.
The wearable band comes for free and users can choose a coaching subscription offer for three months, six months, or annual subscription for Rs 3,999, Rs 6,999, and Rs 11,999 respectively. The company has already launched two models of wearable bands till now.
He said sitting at any part of the country, coaches and nutritionists can advise their clients and earn around Rs 30,000 per month. “The company has also started an open device platform where all wearables can be aggregated and fitness coaches, including dieticians and yoga instructors, can give advice,” he said.
The startup, which has seen investments from Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma and Google India head Rajan Anandan, counts Satyajit Chaurasia, a Bollywood coach, as one of the first professional coaches on its platform.
The company which started its operations in early 2014 manufactures its devices in Shenzhen, writes software in India, and designs products in California.
“Right now our focus is India and the US. We are also present in the APAC and Gulf regions. We are registering high double-digit growth rate and plans to rope in 10,000 coaches in India within a couple of years,” he said.
Published 30 October 2015, 19:48 IST