GOQii

GOQii
Industry Fitness Technology
Founded Menlo Park, California (February 26, 2014)
Founder Vishal Gondal
Headquarters Menlo Park, California
Area served
 India

GOQii is a Menlo Park, California-based fitness technology venture that offers a wearable fitness band paired with remote personalized coaching.[1] Vishal Gondal founded the company after selling his former startup, Indiagames, to Disney in 2011 for approximately $100M.[2][3][4] After closing its beta Beta program in April 2014, GOQii became commercially available in India in August 2014.[5][6]

The company also has offices in Mumbai, India and Shenzhen, China and plans to expand its services to the Middle East, the United States, and Singapore by the end of 2014.[7][8][6][2][9][10]

Development

Prior to founding GOQii, CEO Vishal Gondal had tried various fitness bands on the market, only to be dissatisfied with the results.[6] The idea for GOQii developed when Gondal noticed that he wasn’t simply using the devices exclusively, but also sharing the collected data with a personal trainer who would then provide him with customized advice.[9][7][5][10]

GOQii has raised funding from Angel Investors including Amit Singhal of Google, Neeraj Arora of WhatsApp, Marco Argenti of Amazon Web Services Mobile, Anil Godhwani of Habitera, Steve Luczo of Seagate, Mike McNamara of Flextronics, Kanwaljit Bombra of Dell, Vijay Vashee of Microsoft, and Bollywood actress Madhuri Dixit Nene.[6][9][7][3][10][1][11][2][5]

The company embarked on a beta program with 1000 subscribers in early 2014 before launching commercially in India in August.[4][6][11][8]

In January 2015, the company launched a limited US beta only open to 500 initial customers in the U.S. Selected applicants receive 12 months of personal training through unlimited chat and monthly video calls over the company's mobile app, along with a free wearable device.[12]

Areas served

GOQii is currently only available in India, but plans to extend its product to the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates by the end of 2014.[7][10][1][8][2]

Product and services

GOQii offers a wearable fitness band which collects users’ activity and sleep data.[9] A personal coach assigned to the user reviews this data and connects with the user via mobile app to guide them towards their health and fitness goals.[9] The band itself is free, and users pay a subscription fee for personalized coaching.[7][11] The device, which has an OLED display and humm vibration module, tracks steps, distance, time, calories, active time, and sleep.[7][3][10]

GOQii App and coaching system

GOQii band users are connected to a team of coaches via the GOQii app.[6] The members of the coaching team have a background in personal fitness, nutrition, and cognitive behavioral therapy.[10] The coaches analyze the data the GOQii band collects to help users make “sustainable and incremental changes” towards a more healthy lifestyle.[6][7] Each coach is responsible for between 100 and 150 users and has the ability to remotely vibrate the device.[7][1]

The coaching plan includes pre-scheduled monthly calls, real-time chats, and daily texting.[6][9][7][3][10][1][4] The GOQii companion app allows users to share their stats on social media and tracks Karma points.[3] The app also supports a Hi-5 feature wherein a coach can congratulate a user for being on track.[3]

Karma points

Users earn Karma points when they meet their daily goals; for every 390 steps, GOQii “players” earn one karma point.[7][1] The users can then use these points, which third party donors match in dollars, to donate to their chosen charity.[3][1] GOQii has partnered with Oxfam India to facilitate this process.[6][9][4] Through the GOQii app, donors can select how much they wish to donate to a certain cause.[9][3][2]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 James Temple (Feb 26, 2014). "Introducing GOQii: Startup Pairs New Fitness Tracker with Human Coaches". Recode. Retrieved Aug 12, 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Sainul K Abudheen (Aug 4, 2014). "Vishal Gondal’s GOQii bags funding from WhatsApp’s Neeraj Arora, Amazon exec". VCCIRCLE. Retrieved Aug 12, 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Nikhil Subramaniam (March 4, 2014). "GOQii band adds the human element to wearable fitness trackers". FirstPost. Retrieved Aug 12, 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Luis D. (Feb 26, 2014). "GOqii sport wearable ditches apps, pairs with actual fitness coaches". Phone Arena. Retrieved Aug 12, 2014.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Ashish Sinha (Aug 4, 2014). "Exclusive: GOQii Raises Funding From WhatsApp’s Neeraj Arora and AWS’ Marco Argenti". NextBigWhat. Retrieved Aug 12, 2014.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 Nandagopal Rajan (March 3, 2014). "GOQii". Indian Express. Retrieved Aug 12, 2014.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 7.9 Megan Rose Dickey (May 5, 2014). "After Selling His Startup to Disney for Millions, This Founder Is Giving Away Fitness Trackers for Free". Business Insider. Retrieved Aug 12, 2014.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Sambit Satpathy (Aug 1, 2014). "GOQii smartband goes on sale in India, prices start at Rs 6,999 for six month plan". BRG. Retrieved Aug 12, 2014.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 Mahafreed Irani (Feb 28, 2014). "Indian entrepreneur launches fitness band GoQii, backed by Bollywood star Madhuri Dixit Nene". DNAIndia. Retrieved Aug 12, 2014.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 Parmy Olson (March 17, 2014). "Meet the Wearable Gadget Tha". Forbes. Retrieved Aug 12, 2014.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Harshita Rastogi (Aug 4, 2014). "GOQii gets new investors in WhatsApp’s Neeraj Arora and Amazon’s Marco Argenti". BGR. Retrieved Aug 12, 2014.
  12. ↑ By Jonathan Shieber, TechCrunch. “Health And Wellness Wearable GOQii Launches US Beta.” January 22, 2015. February 2, 2015.