Fitness center chain Cult.fit said it has picked up a majority stake in F2 Fun & Fitness, thereby becoming the master franchise partner for Gold’s Gym in India. Cult.fit is a part of Cure.fit Healthcare which recently announced an investment from Zomato taking the company's valuation to $1.5 billion.

In a press statement, Cult.fit said it will invest in increasing revenues from existing Gold’s Gym centres, and facilitating centre expansion via franchisees in coming years. Gold's Gym is the second largest fitness chain in India operating more than 140 centers across more than 90 cities, the statement said.

Among the most acquisitive startups, Cure.fit had also acquired the Indian business of Fitness First in May 2018. Cult.fit will enable all Gold’s Gym centres with its technology and customer app. The Bengaluru-based startup will also look to expand the US gym brand across geographies such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal and Bhutan.

Founded in 2016 by Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori, Cult.fit provides fitness-related services through a mix of online and offline channels. These include offline group workouts at Cult.fit centres and other gym- or equipment-based workouts at partner gyms and fitness centres across the country as well as online training.

While Bansal has taken on an additional role of steering Tata Digital, Nagori now runs a separate cloud-kitchen platform Curefoods, which recently raised $62 million in capital.