Kurt Knight to head up ‘food as medicine’ Foodsmart telehealth. Foodsmart, a telehealth nutrition and food planning/delivery service targeted to insurers and employers, announced that Kurt Knight, a former Amwell chief operating officer, has been named as their new CEO. He replaces as CEO the current founder/CEO Jason Langheier, MD, MPH, a physician who founded the company based in San Francisco in 2010. Dr. Langheier will remain on the board and as chief science officer. Their Zipongo platform personalizes dietary needs based on biometrics and health history.

Limited information on the executive change is paywalled at Endpoints today, but the LinkedIn post by reporter Ngai Yeung recaps most of the news. Of note in her post and article is that 75% of Foodsmart’s customers are Medicaid members or lower-income workers. With cuts in Medicaid funding to states being considered at the Federal level (in both the preceding and current administrations), this might look like an unsteady base. Mr. Knight believes there is more room for Medicaid plan expansion. They claim that more than 40% of its patients who are food insecure become food secure through the program. Foodsmart also serves health systems and enterprise customers, with financial backers in both. 

Kurt Knight was chief operating officer (COO) of Amwell from October 2019 to end of 2024, ending 13 years there in multiple positions. The COO position was consolidated into the chief financial officer (CFO) position now held by Mark Hirschhorn [TTA 23 Oct 2024]. From March 2022 and currently, he is a partner at investor SpringTide Ventures in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His post on LinkedIn also announces the change. 

Foodsmart’s funding since 2012 exceeds $314 million. Last year, they added a tiny $10 million Series C plus a jumbo venture round of $200 million through the UN-linked Rise Fund last year, a big bet on ‘food as medicine’. Additional investors include Memorial Hermann, Advocate Aurora Health, 62 Ventures, the Mayfield Fund, and Intermountain Healthcare. Crunchbase, FierceHealthcare