Katch Brings AI-Powered Automation To Southeast Asia’s Wellness, Fitness And Sports Economy
KUALA LUMPUR, June 10 (Bernama) -- Katch International Sdn Bhd brings the first platform in Malaysia that brings artificial intelligence to the consumers and businesses in wellness, fitness and sports.
In a statement here today, it said it is a unified marketplace and digital operating system across three verticals — wellness (physiotherapy and recovery), fitness (gyms, studios and group classes) and sports (pickleball, padel and badminton).
"The region’s health and fitness club market alone is estimated at US$2.68 billion in 2025 and projected to reach US$4.19 billion by 2030, according to Mordor Intelligence — part of an ASEAN active-lifestyle market Katch estimates at more than US$30 billion.
Yet most of these businesses remain offline: by Katch’s estimate, fewer than 15 per cent of ASEAN’s wellness and sports small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have any digital booking infrastructure today," the company said.
Katch International chief executive officer and co-founder Lee Cheng Yun said across Southeast Asia, the businesses that keep people active — the neighbourhood gym, the padel court, the physiotherapist reconciling bank transfers by hand at night — are among the most financially invisible, run on cash and chat apps that leave no record.
"Every booking on Katch creates a digital transaction trail, building the financial history that lets credit, insurance and growth capital finally reach an industry that lenders and investors have never been able to see,” it said, making ASEAN’s wellness economy a little more visible — not just to customers, but to the investors, insurers and policymakers who have never had the data to back it.
To date, more than 30,000 registered users and 179 businesses use the platform -- 30 of them exclusively, meaning every transaction runs through Katch under its merchant agreement.
Looking ahead, Katch is rolling out its AI-powered booking in stages — sports booking from the third quarter of 2026, followed by wellness in the fourth — by which point it targets full AI-integrated services across the platform.
It plans to scale in Singapore and expand into Indonesia this year.
-- BERNAMA