Fitness chain Cult.fit is preparing for its public market debut with a clear spending plan: strengthen the brand, support its fitness centres and reduce debt.
Cult.fit has earmarked Rs 75 crore for brand marketing and business promotion from the proceeds of its proposed initial public offering, signalling that customer recall and brand visibility will remain central to its next phase of growth.
The fitness company plans to raise Rs 950 crore through a fresh issue of equity shares. Alongside this, existing shareholders are expected to sell up to 17.86 crore equity shares through an offer for sale.
A larger portion of the fresh issue has been set aside for operational commitments. Cult.fit plans to use Rs 217.5 crore for lease and rental payments related to its existing fitness centres. Another Rs 120 crore has been allocated for repayment or prepayment of certain borrowings. The balance will go towards general corporate purposes.
The Rs 75 crore brand allocation comes at a time when Cult.fit’s marketing spending has already been rising in absolute terms. Its marketing, branding and related professional expenses increased to Rs 170.5 crore in FY26, compared with Rs 149.1 crore in FY25.
The more interesting signal, however, is in the efficiency of that spend. Marketing and brand-related expenses fell as a share of revenue from operations to 9.91 percent in FY26, from 12.27 percent in FY25 and 20.34 percent in FY24. For an IPO-bound consumer business, that suggests the company has been able to grow revenue faster than its brand spend.
Cult.fit’s customer metrics also show stronger repeat behaviour.
Membership retention improved to 50.88 percent in FY26, up from 45.87 percent in FY25 and 40.85 percent in FY24. Referrals accounted for 38.68 percent of new paid memberships, making existing users an important acquisition channel for the company.
This referral-led growth is significant because it can reduce dependence on paid marketing over time. In a competitive fitness market, where customer acquisition can be expensive and churn can be high, stronger retention and word-of-mouth can become a useful advantage.
The company’s marketplace and franchised gym network has also become a larger part of the business. Revenue from this segment rose to Rs 559.7 crore in FY26, from Rs 399 crore in FY25 and Rs 281.5 crore in FY24.
Marketplace and franchise operations contributed 46.73 percent of revenue from services in FY26, compared with 44.88 percent in FY25 and 42.03 percent in FY24. As a share of total revenue from operations, the segment stood at 32.53 percent in FY26, compared with 32.83 percent in FY25 and 30.39 percent in FY24.
Founded in 2016 by Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori, Cult.fit operates more than 700 fitness centres across India. In FY26, the company reported revenue of Rs 1,720 crore and reduced its net loss by 48 percent to Rs 252 crore.
For Cult.fit, the IPO is not just a fundraising exercise. The proposed use of proceeds shows a business trying to balance three priorities at once: keep the brand visible, support its physical fitness network and clean up parts of the balance sheet before entering the public markets.
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