zoe, a startup founded by doctors and researchers from London and Boston, made a name for itself during the pandemic with a popular—dare we say viral? – Covid-19 self-report application. embraced both by consumers and researchers, it provided preliminary data on how covid-19 spread and the symptoms associated with the initial infection and its lingering after effects (prolonged covid), information that was difficult to obtain virtually anywhere else. place.
Then, as the virus went from pandemic to endemic and attention shifted to other forms of monitoring, Zoe shifted as well, back to her original pre-Covid mission: to use self-report technology to track and build a nutritional study of the microbiome. , and to provide personalized information to individual users of your app based on their reports about what and how they eat and broader information gleaned from research.
That app is now taking the next step to scale its operations as it seeks to onboard 250,000 people from a waiting list it’s had for over a year: It’s announcing £25m in funding (about $30m at current rates). current), an equity investment that chief executive Jonathan Wolf said values Zoe at £250 million ($303 million).
US-based venture firm Accomplice leads the round, with previous backers Balderton Capital, Ahren, Daphni and new backer L Catterton participating.
The funding comes on the heels of a £48m Series B, which closed with a $20m injection into May 2021 (a figure that jumped to $25 million after we broke our story). Since then, it has onboarded some 50,000 active paying users, along with the nearly 5 million people who have self-reported nutrition facts for free. Wolf said that most of the last round is still on the bench; the latest financing is an opportunistic extension, made to shore up capital against potentially stormy waters in the markets next year.
“We’re seeing a huge acceleration in customer demand, so what we want to do is scale our business significantly to be able to meet that demand,” Wolf said. “Given the difficult economic environment, we wanted to make sure we had the capital to do this. In fact, the vast majority of the $25 million raised in the last round is still with the company.”
And along with the venture round, it also hopes to generate more interest through a crowdfunding campaign. Taking into account her broader community of interest which Zoe says numbers 2 million (this probably includes many who follow Zoe and have provided contact details through her previous Covid work, but she also has a podcast and content related) will run a campaign to invest through the crowdfunding site Crowdcube. That will open on December 13 to that community and a day later to Crowdcube users, and then to the general public, with investment starting at £10, “at the same share price as ZOE’s private investors.” .
In addition to onboarding more users hoping to join, the plan is also for Zoe to expand beyond diet.
“We are looking to deepen our research on nutrition, the gut microbiome, sleep, mood, activity and other factors to improve long-term health,” said Wolf, who co-founded the startup with King’s College Professor Tim Spector. London and George Hadjigeorgiou. He also plans to further research and studies in the ZOE Health Study; with a greater number and variety of health and lifestyle studies championed by our collaborators and scientists that will cover areas like menopause and more.
While she has no plans to build her own hardware, she does submit glucose monitors and other physical products as part of her evaluation (see below), but Zoe doesn’t make them, she’ll be doing more hardware integrations already. in the market, an approach that is essential to triangulate data and get more complete pictures of each individual report in what is essentially a big data analytics exercise.
“I don’t see us doing anything in hardware. Many are already in this area and it is exciting to receive input from a variety of them. No single measure is more important or determines anything. It will take a combination,” she said. “Going forward, we’re excited about integrations with Apple Watch and more.”
The reason for the slow movement to take those waiting off the list is due to the process involved in doing so, one reason that the injection of funds speeds up the scale.
Its 50,000 active users have chosen to initially pay £299.99 for a test kit to run an initial scan of their systems. The price is high, Wolf said, because it includes a gut microbiome test, blood fat test, standardized test meals of muffins(!), real-time blood sugar (CGM) sensor if you opt in in our scientific study; and then, in return, a gut health report and a personalized insights report.
Users are then given the option to purchase memberships at different prices to continue the work and knowledge. These start at £59.99/month and go down to £24.99/month if you get an annual subscription.
In a world of consuming health apps that include free, ad-supported options, it’s a big ask for users to step up and invest hundreds of dollars in a service to improve the way they eat. Wolf said Zoe found that one of the lasting impacts of the pandemic was that there was a change in the way the general public viewed her health and the role her activities played in it.
“I think the pandemic has had a profound impact on the way people think about their health,” he said. “They realized how what they do and how they eat and exercise impact a disease. That doesn’t mean everyone is healthier, but now more see that it’s not something you expect to do until you’re sick. You have to take responsibility for it and add to it over time.”
In fact, Covid-19 saw a boom in activity: people were walking, cycling and running more; some were buying more fitness equipment for their homes when their gyms or sports clubs closed; and in general, more people were trying to do more, not only to be healthy in case they were also affected by the virus, but because they were no longer going to work every day and found themselves more sedentary by default. Sure, there’s been a big shift back to the old pre-Covid ways, but there’s also been persistent shifting, which is something Zoe hopes to be a part of, not least because of her traction with users during the peak of the pandemic. her when she had amassed over 5 million users in the US and UK for her symptom tracker app.
Zoe, naturally, conducted a study on her users, 500 of them, and says that those who actively followed her program for 12 weeks or more said they felt “healthier” from eating following Zoe’s recommendations. “Her main enhancements from her were; better mood and alertness, better bowel habits, better blood sugar and fat, less bloating and better sleep quality,” Wolf said. About 85% said she had reduced constipation, reduced bloating, improved mood and reduced diarrhea, she said; and 70% said they had more energy and less bloating. She is now running a larger randomized study to get more information, which will be ready next year, she added.
Additional Information Natasha Lomas
