Nutrition and chronic condition management focused health tech startup Noom landed a whooping $58 million in new financing this morning. Sequoia Capital led the round with participation from Aglae Ventures, Samsung Ventures, and a number of individual investors including Whats App cofounder Jan Koum, DoorDash cofounder Tony Xu, and Oscar Health cofounder Scooter Braun.
WHAT THEY DO
Noom’s platform is focused on creating behavioral health changes related to weight loss, fitness and diet management. Its signature product is called the Noom Weight Loss Coach. Noom users are paired with a dedicated human health coach based on their lifestyle and preferences. The startup is also employing AI to help personalized the experience for its users.
While the company started with weight loss, it has increasingly been looking at using its technology to help patients living with specific chronic health conditions.
In 2017, a study published in the Journal of Human Hypertension, used the company’s coaching platform was used as a delivery system for a mobile hypertension prevention program. The study demonstrated the service could significantly benefit users with consistently high blood pressure.
Additionally, Noom has developed a behavior change platform designed to assist diabetes patients that appeared successful in clinical trials, and was the first fully mobile diabetes prevention program to be recognized by the CDC.
Since it was founded in 2008 Noom, first called WorkSmart Lab, has raised a total of $144.7 million, according to crunchbase.
WHAT IT’S FOR
The new funding is expected to help the company grow their team and build their customer service capabilities.
"We were able to achieve so much with just 55 people in our New York City headquarters and our community of wonderful coaches,” Saeju Jeong, CEO and co-founder of Noom, said in a statement. "This influx of capital will help us hire more Noomers — passionate people who want to use their business and technical skills to make personalized coaching accessible to everyone in the world."
MARKET SNAPSHOT
Noom is far from the only fitness coach on the market. In fact, several of these platforms have been acquired by big names in the digital health industry. Last year wearable giant Fitbit acquired health coaching app Twine and One Medical Group acquired nutrition coaching app maker Rise for $20 million in 2016.
Many wellness platforms are targeting a specific patient population. For example, Lark Health has been focusing on the diabetes space. Livongo also started in the diabetes space but has expanded to helping patients manage other chronic conditions. And Omada Health started out in prediabetes but has branched out into hypertension and diabetes.
ON THE RECORD
"Noom is by far one of the fastest growing companies that we are in business with globally. Sequoia is thrilled to partner with the Noom team as they help people achieve healthier lives," Michael Abramson, partner at Sequoia and Noom board member, said in a statement.
