9. MAGIC AI: powering your fitness journey, as if by magic

Founders: Varun Bhanot and Sunil Jindal
Year founded: 2022
Website: magic.fit

Varun Bhanot’s fitness journey began aged 20. After, in his words, eating too many kebabs, he was told he would need to make a lifestyle change or face future health problems.

Having never stepped into a gym before, he signed up with a personal trainer (PT). Mid-rep, he started to ponder why the PT model hadn’t moved further than a human standing with a clipboard and pen. This, despite him shelling out hundreds of pounds a week to train.

Fighting fit and full of entrepreneurial energy, he brainstormed how to bring the gym model into the home. Borrowing from the Grimms brothers, he came up with MAGIC, an AI mirror that can train users in the unself-conscious confines of their bedroom.

It wasn’t an easy journey. To fund the venture, Bhanot imported and sold 200 treadmills, pocketing £50k. After using the proceeds to build the first version of MAGIC, he brought co-founder and AI expert Sunil Jindal on board to iron out the mirror’s capabilities.

That proved to be a smart decision. MAGIC’s AI capability is truly its greatest strength. Through a camera embedded behind the glass, the mirror watches the user and corrects their form in real-time, providing live feedback on how they are performing.

Powered by proprietary software ReflectAI, there are complex algorithms and deep learning models whirring behind the silver curtain. But all this is completely hidden, blending subtly next to your picture frame. It’s so innovative that TIME named it one of the World’s Best Inventions last year.

That said, without a human face, there was the potential for MAGIC to be a bit creepy (who would want HAL 9000 watching their morning workout?).

Recognising this, the founders smartly invited sports legends such as Sir Alistair Cook, Jesse Lingard, and Asha Philip to be the face of the MAGIC mirror. Forget Deborah from the leisure centre; MAGIC users get England’s finest to feed back on their form and progress.

Since we first featured MAGIC at #29 on last year’s Startups 100 Index, it has raised a further $5m in venture capital funding. It also had yet to launch in-store. Now, however, the MAGIC Mirror is available in Decathlon.

That’s if you can move fast enough. MAGIC has already sold out in two of London’s largest department stores and, with the fitness craze showing no signs of vanishing, the ability to access world-class coaching from your bedroom will no doubt woo the world in 2025.

Angel investors are already queuing out the door (Lingard is a backer). Alongside OpenAI, it was called one of Fast Company’s World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2024, among countless other accolades.

Bhanot started on the couch, but he and Jindal have taken MAGIC a lot further than 5k. It’s climbed 20 places since 2024, and we can’t wait to see where this startup goes next.