The last thing your columnist wants to know is the true gruesome extent of his middle age spread, but there are plenty of exponents of the body beautiful who want an accurate measure of weight loss.
MyFiziq has devised an app that not only measures overall body weight more accurately than the standard BMI (body mass index) or tape measure, but also measures specific bodily regions across 72,000 data points. “It can even adjust for breathing,’’ CEO Vlado Bosanac says. The app is based on creating an on-screen avatar, in effect an updated pic of the user’s body.
The app has been available on the Apple store for some months now, with 8500 users to date.
But the company realises that no-one (except for Apple itself) makes money from direct consumer apps, with MyFiziq’s real prospects based on ‘business to business to consumer’ partnering deals.
A former competitive bodybuilder, Bosanac knocked on the door of 27 fitness-related companies to solicit interest. “I can put my hand on my heart and say there wasn’t a company that said they didn’t get it,’’ he says.
In June the expended shoe leather paid off and the company signed a deal with Singapore’s Gold Quay Capital, which entails Gold Quay injecting $2m of cash into MyFiziq and then spending a further $3m to fund a version of the app for medical diagnostics.
The key target markets are health and life insurers, who would love to receive the updated and reliable vital statistics of their customers for risk assessment purposes (Australian health insurers can’t price on health risks but the rules are different elsewhere). Doctors and hospitals are also obvious targets.
On the fitness side the company also cites global brands “whose interests are aligned with the product”. These include Nike, UnderArmour (sports clothing), Adidas/Reebok and Asics and one can assume they are potential partners.
MyFiziq burnt $766,000 in cash in the June quarter and is yet to record any revenue.
The company raised $6m in its August 2015 IPO at 20c apiece and now has $1.2m of cash, but with a $1.5m down payment from the Singaporeans due any day. The company also expects a “substantial” R&D refund.
Bosanac says the company doesn’t need to pass the hat around and – like the fitness freaks – is in good shape despite the languishing share price.
But a deal with a global fitness giant would really get investors’ hearts pumping.
