The $1.8 trillion global wellness market, coupled with advancements in biometric tracking and health technology, has investors banking on the future of wellness.

Renowned cyclist and endurance athlete Lance Armstrong’s Next Ventures is the latest VC fund to get in on the wellness craze, targeting $100 million — its first fund in almost five years — to invest in whole-person health, preventive care and diagnostics.

Next Ventures managing partner Julian Eison, was forthright:

“We said, hey, this whole consumerization of health is omnipresent,” Eison told PitchBook, which reported on Next Ventures’ plans to write pre-seed, seed and Series A checks with an average check size of $2 million. 

It’s a viewpoint shared by other leading investors and experts.

As Jon Canarick of North Castle Partners, Mark Grabowski of Snapdragon Capital Partners and Lance Dietz of KB Partners shared during Athletech News’ DISRUPT 2023 video series, there is an overall sense of optimism surrounding the health, fitness and wellness markets. 

“I think almost universally there’s growth in consumer expenditure in health and wellness across multiple categories,” Grabowski said, noting that the industry as a whole is on an “upward trajectory.” 

Wearables Track More Than Just Fitness

He also indicated that health and fitness trackers have even more runway, especially with consumers embracing preventive wellness practices. Advancing technology also means that wearables no longer cater to elite athletes or weekend warriors. Instead, consumers of all ages and in any health condition can track their health metrics, widening the available consumer market.

“When you think of everything from blood testing to stool samples, there you’re actually addressing some different issues,” Grabowski pointed out. “It’s not about, ‘Am I optimizing my workout performance?’ It’s about allergies, chronic issues, immune responses and other things that people are dealing with.” 

Investors are taking note, with Ultrahuman’s multi-device ecosystem the latest funding recipient. The company just secured $35 million in a Series B to advance its health monitoring endeavors, which include a smart ring, a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), a ‘Blood Vision’ system and an upcoming home health device that assesses environmental impacts on well-being. 

Next Ventures’ portfolio touts some notable health and wellness names, including smart ring brand Oura, AI wearable company Humane and Genopets, a move-to-earn game. The VC fund also invested in Utah-based Amp Human in 2019, maker of PR Lotion, which merged with Momentous, a ‘human performance” supplement brand.

As for Oura, the smart ring maker is expected to enter a “health-focused” chapter, having recently welcomed an executive from the Apple Health team and signing a deal to make its wearable device FSA/HSA eligible. 

Wellness CPGs Gain Steam, Too

Tech may always be a hot area for its jaw-dropping capabilities that seem to advance each week, but good old consumer packaged goods have been receiving the attention of investors, too — especially those in the wellness categories. 

Even major retailers like Target are banking on the wellness wave, introducing over 1,000 health-supporting products across all verticals. For good reason, too: consumers have not only become more health-conscious, but GLP-1 users have redirected their spending away from unhealthy items and toward wellness purchases.

Bloom Nutrition, a supplement brand in the greens and superfoods category recently scored a major investment from C4 maker Nutrabolt. 

Health and wellness guru/A-lister Gwyneth Paltrow, no stranger to all things green juice and longevity-supporting, is also eyeing the power of products with wide appeal. The goop founder has turned feeling good into a profitable brand, catering to the masses with a new line of budget-friendly wellness and beauty products, a departure from goop’s higher-priced items. 

Paltrow’s Los Angeles-based VC firm, Kinship Ventures, has reportedly sought to raise $75 million for its debut fund, eyeing early-stage consumer goods and tech companies.

Over on the East Coast, Humble Growth, a N.Y.-based growth equity firm launched by an all-star team that includes RxBar founder Peter Rahal, secured over $312 million for its debut. Earlier this year, Humble Growth acquired a significant minority stake in Momentous in a deal worth $32 million.

The post Investors Bullish on Consumer Health, Preventive Care  appeared first on Athletech News.

Ultrahuman, a wearable tech company with products such as a habit-tracking ring, a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) and an upcoming home health device, has secured $35 million in a Series B equity and debt funding round to fuel growth and support advanced research in the health monitoring space. 

Emerging technology is making it easier than ever for consumers to take proactive health measures as metabolic health takes center stage, especially with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearing the first over-the-counter continuous glucose monitor (CGM) this month.

Ultrahuman, which has expanded into over 150 retail outlets worldwide, says it’s on track to exceed $100 million in annualized revenue run rate by the end of the year — and things are just heating up.

The Bangalore, India-based wearable tech brand plans to expand UltraFactory, its manufacturing facility, to ramp up production of its health-supporting devices.

“Our ability to make long-term manufacturing investments, supported by our profitability, is unique in the smart rings market,” said Mohit Kumar, co-founder of Ultrahuman. He launched the company in 2020 alongside co-founder Vatsal Singhal after being inspired by seeing MMA athletes using data to train and recover.

The Series B round marks a pivotal step forward to dominate the smart rings space, Kumar said, adding that Ultrahuman has the goal of becoming the market leader, with the retail expansion having helped the tech brand reach new audiences.  

“Our vision of being the top player in terms of both active devices and geographic presence is within reach, thanks to our rapid expansion and the love we’ve received from our users,” Kumar continued.

The funding round included participation from VC firms Blume Ventures, Steadview Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Alpha Wave and Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal.

Multi-Device Health

The wearable tech market may be crowded, but the centerpiece of Ultrahuman (and what sets it apart from competitors) is its multi-device health ecosystem — one in which the company says can create a “grand unified view of the human body” by gathering a large set of biomarkers on its integrated platform. It’s a differentiating factor that expands Ultrahuman past the pure smart ring space.

“The future of health is integrated, and at Ultrahuman, we’re making that future a reality today by seamlessly combining various health data streams to empower preventative health and wellness,” Kumar said.

However, smart rings have proven to still be a hot device. Last month, Samsung entered the wearable ring space with its Galaxy Ring to compete with market leader Oura, which itself is signaling the same move as Ultrahuman and deepening its push into the health-tech space.  

A crowded space, indeed — and that’s before Apple has even taken a shot at the wearable ring space. Industry experts have anticipated the tech giant joining Oura and Samsung, especially when considering Apple’s patent filings. 

Ultrahuman appears to be going beyond wearables, having announced Blood Vision, a blood test that correlates sleep changes, resting heart rate, HRV and movement trends with markers in the blood.

The company provides an example of how it would work, where the system can ascertain how an improvement such as sleep quality may influence an LDL marker — the goal being for users to fully see the connection between their lifestyle habits and their blood markers. Over time, users can track the progression of certain health markers, receiving a true “behind the curtain” look at their health.

Next Up: Healthy Homes

As the at-home environment is predicted to become the epicenter of the wellness real estate market and its projected expansion to $887.5 billion by 2027, Ultrahuman’s upcoming ‘Home’ device perfectly aligns with Global Wellness Summit’s top forecasted trend for 2024.

The silent, low-profile device will soon be available for pre-order and promises to optimize living spaces by monitoring daily markers that impact health — everything from exposure to artificial light, air quality, humidity and noise levels.

Users can also gain insights into snoring and sleep quality and optimize their sleep environment by analyzing external temperature. An airplane mode allows users to shut off wifi and Bluetooth, while a smoke sensor can alert users of a fire.

The post Ultrahuman Raises $35M To Disrupt Smart Ring Market appeared first on Athletech News.

Ultrahuman, a metabolic fitness platform that has raised $25 million to date, has acquired wearable company LazyCo

LazyCo, a consumer-focused wearable company, has been acquired by Ultrahuman, a venture-backed startup that has raised $25 million to date. Ultrahuman says the acquisition will help the metabolic fitness platform seek opportunities to improve user experience and global metabolic health standards – while simplifying the process of getting healthy.

“We want to make it easy to get healthy. At Ultrahuman, we’re deep believers in passive personalized health, specifically in a health platform that requires very minimal effort from a user’s perspective. This perfectly aligns with the philosophy of LazyCo.” says Mohit Kumar, Founder and CEO, Ultrahuman.

LazyCo, which was founded in 2017 by Apoorv Shankar and Yogansh Namdeo, created the Aina wearable ring and will collaborate with Ultrahuman’s hardware development team. 

The company has won design and startup awards from Alibaba and Qualcomm, and has built numerous hardware products that make life easier. 

Alarming health stats that Ultrahuman wants to change

By 2030, almost half of the world will have one type of metabolic disorder, and most people don’t even know that they are well on their way to becoming pre-diabetic, point out Kumar and Ultrahuman co-founder Vatsal Singhal, who recently were featured on a recent episode of Shunya One.  

The two biohackers discussed Ultrahuman with host Shiladitya Mukhopadhyaya. Whereas other industries have become more efficient – like e-commerce, transportation, and energy, healthcare and metabolic disorders have been stuck, say the two founders.

Ultrahuman uses glucose and other biomarkers to help consumers improve energy levels, experience fat loss, and prevent metabolic disorders. The company’s wearable, Ultrahuman M1, offers a metabolic health tracking platform that gives ‘intelligent nudges’ based on glucose biomarkers. 

The nudges help users to optimize exercise, sleep, and nutrition, says Ultrahuman. As the Ultrahuman M1 wearable tracks the user’s metabolism throughout the day, it provides alerts of high blood glucose and makes suggestions.

The acquisition will aid in the resolution of the metabolic health crisis by educating people on the impact that food and exercise can have on their metabolic health. When it comes to making changes that improve metabolic health, Ultrahuman believes that involving people directly in how their bodies respond can be impactful.

Consumers may be aware that they should exercise and eat healthy, and may even have been advised to do so by a doctor or nutritionist. It’s easy to disregard instructions (and making such changes can be difficult), but when a consumer can see the real-time results of eating pizza, for example, they may be more likely to make significant lifestyle changes.

“Ultrahuman’s vision of making health more personalized and impactful for people syncs with LazyCo’s vision of building products that solve problems for people in the most effortless ways. Together, we can create a deeper impact on the overall health of the world,” says Shankar, Co-Founder and CEO, LazyCo.

The post Acquisition Alert: Ultrahuman Acquires LazyCo in Move to Expand Biomarkers & Offer ‘Passive Personalized Health’ appeared first on Athletech News.