It was during the height of coronavirus that three long-term Dubai residents and friends saw an opportunity in consumers’ increased interest in wellness and nutrition as the pandemic brought health concerns to the forefront.
As a result, Fadi Ghaly, Varun Kapur, and Ahmed Wasfie came up with the idea for Count’d, an on-demand healthy meal app, which also connects with users’ fitness tracking wearables, allowing them to manage their health and fitness goals from one place.
Officially launched in July, Count’d, which allows users to browse and select meals curated from restaurants in Dubai, was initially bootstrapped and raised funds through friends and family.
In a wide ranging interview with Arabian Business, Count’d’s CEO Ghaly discussed the start-up’s growth plans, funding strategy and the advice he would give young entrepreneurs.
How did the idea for Count’d come about?
The idea for Count’d has gone over a number of iterations over the past year, which has been an interesting process in itself.
The insights we leveraged in developing Count’d comes from our experience in the food and wellness industry, a customer research process, numerous discussions with industry professionals and the global trends we are witnessing.
Our vision is to be a part of the global wellness movement, and truly make it easy for our users to build healthy eating habits and achieve their goals.
We understand that coming out of Covid-19, people are looking to eat healthy and be mentally and physically fit. However, many do not have the time or the energy to plan and prepare their meals. We realised that this is a major issue for working professionals, and even families who perhaps have young children.
L-R: Ahmed Wasfie, Fadi Ghaly and Varun Kapur.
We have also noticed the rising trend of wearables and the general interest in tracking calories, hence we decided to build a platform that integrates all aspects of a person’s food and wellness journey into one simple-to-use platform.
Our subscribers can now have all meals filtered based on their calorie and macro requirements, with all metrics being seamlessly tracked (without the need for manual entries), with a large variety of healthy meals curated from the leading restaurants in the city.
What is the market demand for it? What is its competitive edge?
Dubai and the UAE have made it a national priority to have a healthy population, which we see with all the great government initiatives such as the Dubai Fitness Challenge where over one million Dubai residents participate.
We have hundreds of gyms, wellness centres, yoga studios and healthy restaurants all catering to the wellness economy. Hence it is quite clear that the market demand is extremely large. As per a recent study by a large consulting firm, 55 percent of people who order food online eat healthy, a market-size of over $1 billion in the UAE alone.
We have a number of competitive advantages ranging from the variety of healthy meals, flexibility in terms of delivery, ability to swap meals and have meals catered to people’s dietary preferences, seamless tracking of calories and other health metrics with fitness tracker integrations.
Count’d allows users to browse and select meals curated from restaurants in Dubai.
Customers now have the option to subscribe to one, two or three healthy meals per day. Orders can be pre-scheduled for the entire month, with all calories and macros accounted for. We are building a motivational brand with an effective user experience.
This is just the beginning for us, as we are truly committed to revolutionise the healthy eating experience for our subscribers.
What is your business model? How does Count’d generate revenue?
Count’d earns revenue through selling healthy meal subscriptions. We currently offer plans for five days (weekly plan) and 20 days (monthly plan).
Do you plan to raise capital through series funding?
Yes we plan to raise funds from local and international VCs. We are operating in a fast growing market and have a number of opportunities that we would like to take advantage of in terms of technology development, new market entry and research and development (R&D). We would truly appreciate the support of the investment community to empower our vision.
Subscribers can now have all meals filtered based on their calorie and macro requirements.
Where is Count’d operating now? Are there plans for expansion and business growth?
We are currently only operating in Dubai, and plan to start operating in Abu Dhabi by October 2021. In 2022, we will enter Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain followed by other international markets. Our business model is very scalable and we look forward to building Count’d into a global brand.
What advice would you give young entrepreneurs in the region who want to set up their own business?
It is extremely difficult to build a start-up as a solo entrepreneur today. There is just too much that needs to be done for which specific skillsets and experience is needed.
Hence we highly recommend building a solid core team, starting with one or two co-founders. This process in itself can take a while as you may realise that there is no synergy with the existing team. Take it all in your stride, as this is the first of many challenges that will arise.
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