Bio wearables startup Levels has raised $12 million in a seed funding round for a system that tracks the impact of diet on human health and promises to help users improve conditions like prediabetes.
a16z, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm (whose portfolio includes Airbnb, Facebook, Instagram, Lyft, Pinterest, Slack, Stripe, and Waymo), led the seed funding round.
The round also includes participation from angel investors including Marc Randolph (co-founder and first CEO of Netflix), Dick Costolo (former CEO of Twitter), Michael Arrington (Founder of TechCrunch), and Matt Dellavedova (NBA, Cleveland Cavaliers).
In the same way, fitness trackers are generally worn to quantify physical activity and exercise; Levels measures the impact of one’s diet and lifestyle on metabolic health by pairing continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technology with Levels intelligent companion app, according to the company.
The app interprets glucose data captured from a connected sensor. Usually, the sensor attaches to the back of a person’s arm via a tiny probe they insert under their skin’s surface. The sensor system automatically takes a glucose reading every 15 minutes, transmitting relevant data to the companion app for processing.
The Levels program includes two 14-day CGM sensors and access to the Levels app, which provides real-time analysis of how food, exercise, and other lifestyle decisions impact health. Currently, in a closed beta, Levels has a 50,000+ person waitlist and will be available for consumer purchase in early 2021, the company said.
Only 12% of the U.S. population is considered metabolically healthy. Today, over 120 million Americans have prediabetes or diabetes, and 84% of people with prediabetes don’t even know they have it.
“We invested in Levels because metabolic dysfunction is an incredibly important problem, and their rate of execution on solving this problem is on par with the best companies we’ve seen,” said Jeff Jordan, Managing Partner, a16z. “Consumers are increasingly health-conscious and increasingly leverage tech tools and data to improve their health. Levels provides a veritable ‘divining rod’ for improved metabolic health.”
Wearable Sensor companies raised $700 million in the first nine months of 2020. Recently, BioIntelliSense, a medical-grade on-body sensor for scalable remote care, raised $12 million.
