Signos Raises $20M To Fight Metabolic Health Crisis With AI
The AI-powered startup offers a non-medicated way to lose weight with continuous glucose monitoring
Signos, a metabolic health platform that combines a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) with an AI-powered app to provide real-time data and make health-centered recommendations, has secured $20 million in a Series B round.
The new funding, led by Cheyenne Ventures and Google Ventures, with support from Dexcom Ventures and Samsung Next, will be used to expand the team at Signos and go towards additional metabolic health research.
While continuous glucose monitors were once primarily reserved for diabetics, advances in technology and rising interest in health and wellness have led to an increase in the use of metabolic monitoring devices by everyone from non-diabetics to wellness enthusiasts.
Wearing a device for high-tech health monitoring isn’t a novel concept, particularly given how consumers have embraced fitness and health wearables. CGMs have also come a long way, providing customers with a discreet means to monitor their metabolic health with better accuracy and real-time valuable data.
Despite increased concern and focus regarding health, Americans are nevertheless facing a metabolic crisis, with 96 million classified as prediabetic and, as Signos points out, 1 billion people worldwide are projected to develop diabetes by 2050.
Looking to change those starting stats, Signos says its CGM provides users with a solution to reverse prediabetes and assist with long-term weight loss. After deciding on one of three monthly plans, members log meals and workouts in the Signos app, allowing the AI platform to learn how a user’s metabolism responds to different foods and exercise.
A Long-Term Solution
The platform then offers recommendations based on a user’s unique metabolic profile. The insights are rich — users discover what foods are best for them, when to eat and when to exercise to bring their glucose levels back within range.
Essentially, the goal is to navigate glucose spikes and dips, which may cause people to eat sooner than necessary and ingest more calories than needed.
Signos also integrates with smart watches, smart scales and Apple Health data to track metrics.
“Sleep, stress, exercise and diet all influence how high and sustained one’s glucose spikes can be,” said Sharam Fouladgar-Mercer, founder and CEO of Signos. “We often don’t realize that people make around 227 food-related decisions a day. By providing glucose visibility, tracking and AI-driven proactive suggestions, Signos can help you navigate those choices for better health.”
Fouladgar-Mercer, who founded Signos in 2018, views the mission of the startup as somewhat personal, having been open about his own experience with weight management struggles. And although many consumers have started taking GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy for weight loss, he doesn’t see the injectables as the ultimate solution. As Fouladgar-Mercer told CNBC, the headline-making medicine may kick off weight loss, but consumers often struggle to keep off the weight after stopping the medication.
Signos also expanded its weight management platform for those living with Type 2 diabetes earlier this year, offering a separate program that pairs CGM technology and its app to promote health and weight control.
