Wellness portal AyurUniverse secures $1 mn in fresh funding

AyurUniverse, an online aggregator for ayurveda and yoga centres, said on Thursday that it had raised $1 million (around Rs 6.9 crore) in fresh funding.

In a statement, AyurUniverse said the Ladhani family, which also backs regional airline Air Deccan, had pumped in the money.

AyurUniverse was founded by Vijay Kumar Karai in 2016. The firm’s online platform lets users search for and book wellness packages.

It provides customised ayurveda and yoga packages for treating ailments, wellness and training.

The platform also offers a panel of doctors and yoga experts who offer online consultation with regard to Ayurveda.

AyurUniverse says it uses advanced artificial intelligence-based analytics to give its customers unbiased user ratings of wellness centers.

Karai said the fresh capital would go towards developing artificial intelligence and virtual reality technology to boost customer experience.

The firm currently offers 2,500 wellness packages across 300 verified wellness centres in India, Sri Lanka and Nepal. It claims to have clientele from more than 190 countries.

“This market includes two types of wellness tourists: those who take trips entirely for wellness purposes and those who seek to engage in wellness activities as a part of their trip,” said founder and chief executive officer Karai.

According to the statement, India’s wellness travel industry is estimated to be a $2.54 billion industry and will double in size by 2020.

In a recent development in the space, NirogStreet, an online platform that connects ayurveda doctors with patients, acquired Brahm Ayurved, a 60,000 member-strong community of ayurvedic doctors.

Last month, NirogStreet raised $300,000 (Rs 2 crore) in a seed round led by Japanese venture capital firm Spiral Ventures.

In January this year, KivaShots, an ayurvedic healthcare beverages startup, secured angel funding from several wealthy individuals.

VCCircle had reported in November last year that wellness firm VLCC Health Care Ltd, an established player in the slimming and beauty services space, was planning to aggressively ramp up its ayurvedic products portfolio.