Digital Therapeutics company Breathe Well-being, which helps people prevent, manage and reverse Type 2 Diabetes, has raised $5.5 million in Series A led by Accel.
The round saw participation from marquee investors like General Catalyst (early investors in Livongo, $20B+ US-based digital therapeutic company, Airbnb & Stripe) and Scott Shleifer, Global MD, Tiger Global, a release said.
Angels have received a 30X exit and early employees have been rewarded with life changing ESOPs encashment. The Company will invest the current fund raise to scale up the tech platform and team expansion.
Reversing chronic conditions, like diabetes, requires personalised lifestyle changes across diet, fitness, and mental wellness. Such changes are often daunting and patients lose motivation to sustain them. Founders of Breathe Well-being, Rohan Verma (Ex McKinsey) and Aditya Kaicker (ex-Accenture), 2nd-time founders and childhood friends, come with a decade of experience in the healthcare space.
Having seen and managed these problems for their parents, the founders understand what it takes to help people build behavioural changes that address these chronic diseases and more importantly, what it takes to help patients sustain their health outcomes. This is how the idea of Breathe Well-being came to life.
Rohan is a certified CrossFit L2 trainer and a mindfulness coach and Aditya is an ACE-certified behavioural health coach; together, with their experience in Healthcare consulting and Life Sciences, they bring in the right expertise to develop life-changing health programs.
With a meager 200,000 specialist doctors base in the country, the need for an efficient tech platform that can help patients manage and treat their conditions with minimal medical intervention could not be more imminent. For chronic care reversal or management, continuous engagement and monitoring is required. However, care delivery for chronic care patients currently is highly episodic. Hence the need for digital solutions that can be delivered at home and at the time of need.
Breathe’s flagship Online Diabetes Reversal Program has garnered tremendous patient love from thousands of patients and boasts of impressive outcomes with 95%+ patients showing HbA1c level reduction of more than 10% and 90%+ patients with completely stopped or reduced medications.
Breathe Well-being Co-founder & CEO Rohan Verma said, “Our mission is to help 1 Million Indians reverse Type 2 Diabetes by 2025.”
“We are focusing on enhancing patient experience by scaling our technology platform, strengthening medical & coaching academy, community protocols and game design. This fundraise will also help us ramp up our hiring and marketing efforts. We will be aggressively hiring not only for core operations but across the board. In Accel, we have found the right kind of partnership and synergy to help us achieve our ambition of becoming the largest digital therapeutics company in the world,” he added.
Accel India brings in over 15 years of experience helping entrepreneurs build consumer-tech companies, such as Facebook, Flipkart, BookMyShow, Myntra, Swiggy, Urban Company.
Accel Vice President Radhika Ananth said, “This investment feels as much personal as professional since Rohan’s pitch struck an immediate chord as diabetes reversal is a topic close to my heart.”
“My mom suffers from type 2 diabetes for several years and although she has been managing her condition in a disciplined way, we were unable to find a sustainable and a holistic solution to reverse it. When we met the Breathe team, it instantly dawned upon us that this was a unique opportunity, built on the premise of high efficacy, patient love and deeply engaged community. My mom is now one of their many enthusiastic customers in her journey to bring down the A1c levels to 5.6,” he added.
In the long-term, Breathe wants to extend its digital therapeutic offerings to other chronic conditions, such as hypertension, PCOS, gut disorders, etc., and establish itself as a leading global player in the market. While carrying forward its patient-first approach and continuing building the business with focus on consumer experience, trust, and clinically-proven results. Breathe Well-being raised funding from 3one4 Capital, six months ago, who have also participated in this round.
