Cult.fit Gets SEBI Nod for IPO With ₹950 Crore Fresh Issue as FY26 Loss Nearly Halves

Fitness company Cult.fit has received the Securities and Exchange Board of India's observations on its draft IPO papers, which allows it to go ahead with a listing on BSE and NSE. SEBI issued its observations on 12 October 2026, Indian Startup News reported.

The offer

The IPO combines a fresh issue of up to ₹950 crore with an offer for sale of up to 17.86 crore shares by existing shareholders. The company has not announced a price band, dates or total size; reports citing The Economic Times have put the total at ₹3,500 crore to ₹4,000 crore, depending on final terms. Cult.fit may also raise up to ₹190 crore in a pre-IPO placement, which would reduce the fresh issue.

Sellers include Chiratae (up to 2.81 crore shares), Temasek (2.47 crore), Fitness First (1.96 crore), Tata Digital (1.59 crore), co-founder and executive chairman Mukesh Bansal (1.60 crore) and actor Hrithik Roshan (6.33 lakh), along with Accel, Kalaari and other early investors. Axis Capital, Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, JM Financial and Morgan Stanley are the lead managers.

What the money is for

The fresh funds will go towards repaying debt, opening new Cult Elite and Cult Neo centres (about ₹277 crore), lease and licence payments (about ₹218 crore), investment in its sportswear arm Cultsport, and brand marketing.

The numbers

Cult.fit's revenue from operations grew about 42% to ₹1,720.61 crore in FY26 from ₹1,215.5 crore, and its net loss nearly halved to ₹251.9 crore from ₹480.8 crore. Adjusted EBITDA was ₹144.8 crore, an 8.41% margin, against a negative margin the year before. It ran 708 fitness centres in 77 cities on 31 March 2026, of which 218 were company-run, 288 franchised and 202 independently owned partners on its platform.

Founded in 2016 by Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori, and led by co-founder and CEO Naresh Krishnaswamy, Cult.fit was valued at about ₹13,668 crore after a Temasek-led round in March 2026, according to Entrackr estimates.