Advances in personalized nutrition: Kaigo raises US$3m for its tailored diet technology

04 Feb 2020 --- Personalized nutrition platform Kaigo has announced a US$3 million round of seed funding to be channeled toward the company’s proprietary and patent-pending tailored nutrition technology. The move boosts Kaigo’s mission of making individualized meals accessible, regardless of location. The funding was sourced from angel investors such as Mike Lee, Founder of MyFitnessPal, and Micromanagement Ventures.

Many people want to change their diets but struggle with breaking addictive food patterns and forming healthy habits on their own, the company notes. Kaigo’s end-to-end nutrition platform includes a dietitian-guided nutrition program, daily food delivery and on-demand concierge support, uncomplicating healthy eating and helping to treat food addiction, ease allergies and sensitivities, alleviate chronic illnesses and encourage weight loss.

Kaigo members have reported seeing improved health results, including the reversal of many chronic and mental health illnesses, according to the company.

“Food has the ability to heal and alleviate chronic illness, addiction and depression, but it's often not the go-to solution for treatment,” notes Dr. Boyan Hadjiev, Kaigo’s healthcare partner. “By making food decisions that are designed to meet our body’s specific needs, we can counteract the impact of processed foods and prevent medical issues from cropping up down the line.”

The launch comes as personalized nutrition has become a staple trend and industry is increasingly investing in tailored nutrition platforms. Nestlé Health Science (NHSc) expanded into personalized nutrition with the acquisition of Persona, a personalized vitamin business founded in 2017. Moreover, Atrium Innovations, an NHSc company, recently acquired technology-based functional medicine platform LivingMatrix in a bid to further bolster its position in the personalized nutrition space.

Dutch company DSM also acquired US-based digital health platform AVA, which provides artificial intelligence (AI)-powered nutritional coaching and recommendations across a wide range of health and wellness segments. And in the same space as Kaigo, LifeBase Solutions is set to provide a nutrition coaching platform to Lean Kitchen Company, a US-based prepared meals franchise company. 

According to Kaigo, its aim is to make all meals personalized according to body composition and health history. A team of 1,000 healthcare partners across the US and 25 partner dietitians create nutrition guides designed to help treat and prevent underlying health issues of their members. With 60 percent of Americans suffering from chronic illness (according to the CDC), Kaigo believes that diet and nutrition is a critical piece that’s currently missing from the medical treatment puzzle. 

“When a close family member began struggling with chronic illness, we tried so many medical treatments but nothing seemed to solve the issue,” says Uzochukwu Chima, Founder of Kaigo. “We quickly realized that his doctors weren't factoring food and diet into his treatment plan at all. Once we started seeing food as medicine and giving our family member what his body needed, only then did his health truly begin to improve.”

Kaigo’s personalized meal service is currently available in New York City and San Francisco, with plans to expand to Los Angeles and Washington DC in 2020.

Edited by Kristiana Lalou