Hyderabad-based Ekincare has spent nearly a decade building a full-stack corporate healthcare and wellness platform, offering everything from diagnostics and tele-medicine to fitness and mental health for large organisations. In the latest fiscal year, the company nearly doubled its revenue while significantly narrowing its losses — a turnaround move that suggests the business might be moving closer to profitability. The core question remains: can Ekincare translate its scale and service model into sustainable margins as it expands further?
Table of Contents
The Origin Story
Ekincare was founded with an ambitious vision: to turn employee health data and wellness services into a seamless proposition for companies. The team recognised early on that many employers lacked data-driven insight into wellness spending and outcomes. By creating a managed marketplace of wellness providers, diagnostics, tele-health and preventive services, the company aimed to help companies engage employees while managing costs.
Pivoting to the Corporate Segment
Initially, the platform dabbled in consumer-facing health-data tools, but found faster traction when a large enterprise asked it to analyse several thousand employee health records. That project revealed a clear pain point — companies needed consolidated services, bundled benefits and data insights rather than disconnected apps. So Ekincare shifted fully into the B2B employer wellness space, where customer acquisition cost per employee was far lower and retention could be higher.
How the Platform Works
Ekincare’s model functions as a managed marketplace, rather than owning all physical infrastructure. It aggregates many wellness service providers (labs, gyms, mental-health coaches, tele-consults), integrates them into one app or dashboard for employees, and bundles those services into packages that employers subscribe to on a per-employee basis. The company then uses technology (including data analytics and automation) to coordinate bookings, payments and usage.
Growth & Financials
Over recent years, Ekincare has demonstrated meaningful growth:
- Revenue increased significantly in the most recent fiscal year, nearly doubling from the previous year.
- Losses narrowed in the same period, indicating improved operational efficiency.
- The company is targeting near breakeven (EBITDA-breakeven) in the coming year, signalling a strategic shift from “growth at any cost” to “sustainable growth”.
| Metric | Most recent fiscal year | Previous year |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | ~₹ 93 crore | ~₹ 54 crore |
| Net Loss | ~₹ 20 crore | ~₹ 25 crore+ |
| Active Corporate Clients | ~1,400+ companies | ~400+ companies |
| Employee Coverage | Hundreds of thousands of employees | Lower base |
Strategic Moves & Operational Reset
Ekincare recognised that rapid expansion had come with rising costs—especially in staffing, partner management, tech and data infrastructure. In response, it took several strategic actions:
- Cut headcount significantly to reduce fixed payroll costs.
- Shifted more investment into the technology stack (automation, analytics) to reduce manual overhead.
- Strengthened partner relationships and renegotiated terms to improve margins.
- Refocused offerings around higher-value services and premium corporate clients to ensure better ARPU (average revenue per user) and lower churn.
Why the Timing Makes Sense
The corporate wellness market in India is gaining traction. Employers increasingly view health benefits not just as a cost but as a productivity lever. Preventive care, mental health, wellness coaching and digital-first services are becoming standard. At the same time, regulatory changes and rising healthcare costs push companies to seek partners who can consolidate services. Ekincare’s platform model fits this evolution well.
Challenges & Risks Ahead
Despite the positive momentum, there are several headwinds that Ekincare must navigate:
- Margin pressure: As more players — including insurers, wellness platforms and specialty players — enter the space, pricing may come under pressure. Bundled services and demos become expected, which can erode profitability.
- Service differentiation: Wellness is becoming crowded. To stay ahead, Ekincare will need to build strong differentiation (data insights, service quality, engagement metrics) and defend it.
- Scaling enterprise sales: Selling to large corporates is long-cycle and complex. Success depends on strong sales team, credibility and renewal rates.
- Retention and engagement: Employee wellness platforms often struggle to keep users engaged. If usage falls, clients may question ROI and churn may increase.
- Operational complexity: Managing many partner networks (labs, gyms, coaches, tele-medicine) across many cities adds complexity and cost. Maintaining quality as scale increases is a challenge.
Why It Matters for You
For Profit Journal readers, Ekincare’s journey illustrates several key startup and scale-up lessons:
- Building an ecosystem (platform + network + data) is harder but more defensible than a single-service model.
- Growth without profitability can be risky; the shift toward sustainable margins is timely and important.
- Market timing matters — as corporate wellness becomes mainstream, companies like Ekincare are well-placed.
- Execution matters as much as concept: managing costs, scaling operations and ensuring retention will determine whether the business succeeds.
- For investors and founders alike, this is a story of operating discipline, partner leverage and pivoting when needed.
Key Takeaways
- Ekincare has moved from early growth to disciplined scaling, showing meaningful improvements in revenue and cost structure.
- Its model as a corporate wellness marketplace provides scalability and recurring revenue via enterprise contracts.
- Success in the near term depends on earning profitability and demonstrating high client retention and service impact.
- The corporate wellness market in India offers headroom, but competition and margin dynamics make execution vital.
- For startups in similar ecosystems (healthtech, wellness, benefits), the lesson is clear: build the network, ensure repeatable revenue, and control cost growth.
FAQs
Q1. What does Ekincare do?
Ekincare provides a tech-enabled wellness platform for companies. It aggregates services like diagnostics, tele-medicine, fitness, mental health and more, delivering them via an app and dashboard to employees of enterprise clients.
Q2. Who are Ekincare’s customers?
Its primary clients are large enterprises and mid-sized companies. The company sells wellness packages on a per-employee basis and supports companies’ benefits and health strategy.
Q3. Is Ekincare profitable now?
Not yet. It recently narrowed its net losses significantly while doubling revenue. The company is targeting EBITDA breakeven in the near future, signalling its move toward profitability.
Q4. Why is the corporate wellness market growing in India?
Several reasons: companies are increasingly investing in employee health as a productivity tool; preventive care and digital wellness are gaining traction; regulatory and insurance pressures are rising; and employees expect more holistic benefits.
Q5. What are the major risks for this business?
Key risks include margin pressure from competition, maintaining high employee engagement and retention of corporate clients, scaling operations without service fade, and demonstrating measurable ROI to clients.
