Cult.fit files papers for Rs 3,500-4,000 crore IPO; fresh issue at Rs 950 crore

Fitness and active lifestyle platform Cult.fit has filed its draft red herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for an initial public offering pegged at Rs 3,500-4,000 crore, people aware of the matter said, thus becoming another venture-backed consumer internet company moving towards the public markets.

The IPO will comprise a fresh issue of shares worth Rs 950 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 178.6 million shares by existing investors and individual shareholders, according to the DRHP. The total offer size will be finalised after the price band is set. Cult.fit plans to list on the BSE and the NSE.

Chiratae, Temasek, Fitness First, Mukesh Bansal, Tata Digital, Bruno Eduard Raschle, Schroders Capital, Accel, Epiq Capital, Kalaari and Valecha Investments are among the selling shareholders under the OFS.


Chiratae, through IDG Ventures India Fund III and Chiratae Trust, will sell up to 28.1 million shares, while Temasek will sell up to 24.7 million shares, Fitness First will offload up to 19.6 million shares, Bansal up to 16 million shares and Tata Digital up to 15.9 million shares. Actor Hrithik Roshan will also sell part of his stake.

Cult.fit may undertake a pre-IPO placement of up to Rs 190 crore, which would reduce the size of the fresh issue, the company said.

Expansion plans
The company plans to use Rs 276.6 crore from the fresh issue to set up new Cult Elite and Cult Neo centres, Rs 217.5 crore for lease, rent and licence payments for identified existing centres, and Rs 120 crore to repay or prepay borrowings. In addition, it will set aside Rs 75 crore for brand marketing and business promotion, and Rs 23.4 crore to invest in subsidiary Cultsport to set up new exclusive brand outlets. The balance will be used for general corporate purposes.

Cult.fit calls itself India’s largest fitness and active lifestyle platform by the number of centres, citing a Redseer report. As of March 31, it had 708 fitness centres across 77 cities and 987,020 paid members. The network includes Cult-branded gyms and group workout centres, franchised gyms, marketplace gyms and Gold’s Gym-branded centres.

Financial performance
For FY26, Cult.fit reported revenue from operations of Rs 1,720.6 crore, up 41.6% from Rs 1,215.5 crore in FY25. The chain’s loss narrowed to Rs 251.9 crore from Rs 480.8 crore a year earlier and Rs 888.5 crore in FY24.

Adjusted Ebitda stood at Rs 144.8 crore in FY26, compared with an adjusted Ebitda loss of Rs 33.5 crore in FY25 and Rs 140.2 crore in FY24. The company's adjusted Ebitda margin improved to 8.41% from a negative 2.76% in FY25. People aware of the matter said Cult.fit is targeting profit-after-tax profitability by FY28.

The fitness services business contributed Rs 1,197.8 crore, or 69.6% of FY26 operating revenue, while products contributed Rs 522.8 crore, or 30.4%. Services reported segment profit of Rs 210.1 crore in FY26, while the products segment posted a segment loss of Rs 57.4 crore, narrowing from Rs 79.9 crore in FY25.

Same-centre sales growth for fitness centres stood at 13.19% in FY26 and 14.67% in FY25, according to the DRHP.

The products business sells fitness equipment, accessories, apparel and footwear through CultStore, online marketplaces, quick-commerce platforms, business-to-business retail channels and exclusive brand outlets.

ET reported in March that Cult.fit had raised $47 million from Singapore’s Temasek through MacRitchie, marking its first major funding in two years. In 2024, the company had raised Rs 84.5 crore in a round led by Valecha Investments. Overall, the company has raised more than $650 million and was last valued at around $1.4 billion.

Cult.fit does not have an identifiable promoter, according to the DRHP. Bansal is managing director and executive chairman, while Naresh Krishnaswamy is a whole-time director and chief executive officer.

Axis Capital, Goldman Sachs India, Jefferies India, JM Financial and Morgan Stanley India are the book-running lead managers.

The filing comes as venture-backed consumer internet companies test public markets again, with investors placing greater emphasis on scale, governance and profitability. For Cult.fit, the IPO will test investor appetite for a fitness-led platform that has no listed peer in India combining offline centres with a technology-led membership and products business.