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Fruit Street Health currently sells its platform as a benefit for self-insured employers and health plans
FREMONT, CA: Fruit Street Health, a startup offering a virtual diabetes prevention program, raised $17 million in funding. The digital health startup has focused its efforts on raising funds from physicians, with more than 300 investing in its most recent venture financing round, which brings the company’s total valuation at $55 million to date. The proceedings of the round will allow the company to continue expanding its reach.
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“It has been a privilege to be an investor in a company that respects and is completely guided by physician input,” said Dr. Veena Somani, a family medicine physician that invested in the company. “It is empowering to see clients lose weight, under the impact of food as medicine, and get their lives back through Fruit Street’s platform.”
The company’s name comes from the address of Massachusetts General Hospital, where it found some of its first investors. Fruit Street Health is a digital health startup developing a diabetes prevention program that can sync with users’ Fitbits, glucometers, wireless scales, and blood pressure cuffs. It regularly receives feedback from its physicians, who have experience working with its products and patients.
“The whole idea was instead of working with a few VC firms and raising $15 million, we wanted to work with more physicians and have more of a grassroots movement,” CEO Laurence Girard said.
The New York-based startup has set itself apart from longer-running competitors, such as Omada Health and Lark, with its system centered on a weekly group video chat. Registered dieticians deliver the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s diabetes prevention program through a telehealth consultation.
Members participate in weekly group classes, and also share photos of their meals, with the dietician providing feedback. By focusing on group classes, Fruit Street Health allows users to access its platform at a lower price, for just $20 per month.
“You can tell someone to take more steps and remind them to weigh themselves. What gets people to motivate themselves is a human being having an actual emotional connection with you,” Girard said. “The model of group accountability… it’s something that’s been proven in health care but hasn’t come into the telemedicine space for some reason.”
Girard founded the company in 2014 and initially started Fruit Street Health as a project, but it kept continuing. The company currently sells its platform as a benefit for self-insured employers and health plans. But as the company strikes more partnerships, Girard also wants to build out the number of people who can use Fruit Street Health directly.
“Everyone’s so focused on getting health plans to pay for diabetes prevention. But as a result, you’re only getting people who have access to insurance or a big self-insured employer,” he said. “We can find a way through telemedicine to make a low-cost direct to consumer model.”
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