UpUrFit has partnered with the current ISL (Indian Super League) champions Mumbai City FC to become its official pain relief recovery partner starting the 2024-25 season.

The company was co-founded less than a year ago by Munish Vig and Vikram Gunjal to disrupt what they believed was a ‘one-size fits all’ approach regarding sports-related pain, discomfort and hygiene.

We spoke with Gunjal to understand the partnership details and why the brand chose Mumbai City FC.

Edited excerpts:

What made Mumbai City FC the ideal choice among the current ISL teams?

Firstly, we are based in Mumbai and the brand originates from here. 

Secondly, Mumbai City FC over the past few years has been performing well consistently. They are the current ISL champions. With the takeover of the City Group in 2019 (City Football Group, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi United Group that also owns Manchester City), the professionalism, fitness and football skills have been amplified and are visible. 

This is a team that can get Indian club football on the international map. We are a brand that can help an athlete put in 110% and so we wanted to partner with one that is pushing boundaries.

Among the ISL teams, would Mumbai City FC be the most expensive to partner with?

Yes and no. To be honest, from a value perspective, the club is giving us a lot in return. We entered this partnership not through the typical commercial route. We reached out to the physio and medical team to test our products. We got amazing feedback from them. The head physio pushed us to have this conversation with the commercial team. 

What also helped us was that we have multiple products for solutions around pain and discomfort. Our formulations are drug-free which is critical for athletes. 

In terms of what we are spending on the partnership, we see the returns in terms of content as very valuable. We will be the only brand that will also have testimonials, content and credibility coming in from the physio and medical team.

Outside of this content, how will you be leveraging this partnership with Mumbai City FC? Will most of the spending be dedicated to digital?

UpUrFit as a brand has a singular mission – anyone who is taking up sports and fitness, and it’s not only the professionals but also a weekend warrior who are keen on transforming themselves through sports and fitness – we want to help them beat the pain and discomfort barriers. 

We are very clear – if this can be solved for pro athletes and weekend warriors, these barriers can be taken care of. If a Mumbai City head physio, or footballer talks about our product and how it’s helped him play the game, every fitness enthusiast will be looking to our product. 

We will be pushing the message that the performance of our products, helps push the performance of the Mumbai City FC players. 

Yes, more of our spends will be on digital for now. Eventually, as we grow, we will go omnichannel as consumers are consuming content everywhere. Communication will be digital-led, but performance-oriented brands do incredibly well if audiences have the option to try and sample them. We have been doing this while we have been in commercial existence for the last six months. Before that, we were doing beta tests with smaller football teams. 

What led to the foundation of this brand and what’s the early growth and acceptance levels been?

After having worked with two blue chip companies, it was a difficult decision to make. 

I have been playing football for many years now and wanted to build something within sports. My good fortune was that I bumped into my co-founder Munish (Vig), who comes from a completely different background but is a sports enthusiast and an adventure biker. He has had extensive experience in product development for pain relief. I’m the custodian for the consumer, while he is for the product. We both have worked outside of India and realised that, unlike the developed markets of Western Europe and the USA, the reality of sports and fitness enthusiasts' pain is different from a 60-year-old housewife’s pain and needs to be catered to accordingly. It didn’t exist in India because the sports and fitness market is small.

Now that India is embracing sports, there’s a need for products like these. More people are getting into sports and fitness, as they get older. Bodies recover differently for these people and we are here to serve them.

Are you also looking to partner with any athlete? An Olympian could be a good fit?

We have started small. We have two athletes on our roster – Shraddha Rangarh, an Asian Games Gold medalist in Taekwondo. The other athlete we had on the roster was from Mumbai City FC itself – Hardik Bhatt. He was with us before the Mumbai City FC deal. 

We will be looking for more ambassadors because we are ultra-confident that this product portfolio works for our athletes.  

Will the social media influencer route be explored?

Yes, but we will be looking at fitness influencers and not lifestyle influencers. We will be looking at the likes of coaches.