Food, as nutrition and more nebulously, ‘food as medicine’, has become a popular part of the disease treatment value proposition in funding. Two examples gained Series A funding in just the past few days.
Amulet announced a $5.8 million Series A round led by HealthX Ventures, with participation from Incite Ventures, AllerFund, Mendota Venture Capital, Great Oaks Venture Capital, plus Julie Bornstein (Pinterest/Daydream) and serial founder and investor Diede van Lamoen. Total funding including grants from Imperial College London and Dartmouth and seed rounds is now $10.7 million. The fresh funding will enable the company to scale its team, expand its detection portfolio, and execute a full product launch.
Amulet’s two products are a pocket-sized consumer wearable, Allergy Amulet (left), that can test food for allergens right at the table in about one minute. A professional testing system, Amulet Scientific, is for use by the food industry–restaurants, suppliers, manufacturers, and related–to test for food toxins and environmental contaminants. The proprietary molecular detection technology recognizes and binds target molecules, then measures binding via electrical current, and reads both on the wearable device and on its app. Amulet’s devices and software are pre-launch, although it has secured two patents and received grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the US Department of Agriculture. For those with multiple food sensitivities ranging from mild (magnesium stearate, casein, lactose) to significant (gluten, peanut, sulfites, shellfish), having a tester beats asking the waiter and crossing your fingers. Release
Levels takes the metabolic road to nutrition centering primarily on continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The Series A extension of $10 million was unusually raised two ways: $7 million from venture capital companies Long Journey, a16z, and others, while $3 million was raised from 2,000 crowdfunders. The original Series A raised $5 million from crowdfunding (1,400 individuals). Funding to date is $57 million. Levels seeks to improve metabolic health from feedback tracking metrics such as real-time blood sugar, blood testing, nutritional intake, and sleep and exercise data. Their featured CGM is Dexcom’s G7. Synched with the CGM, the Levels app monitors blood sugar and lifestyle factors to calculate scores and provide personalized choices plus feedback. Membership to date is over 60,000. Fitt Insider (release)
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