Culina Health bags US$4.75M to boost personalized clinical nutrition access

01 Jun 2022 --- US-based personalized nutrition platform Culina Health has captured US$4.75 million in seed funding to democratize access to health experts' dietary recommendations. The platform will bring tech-enabled nutritional care to patients in the US, giving access to users who 

The funds will be used to continue investing in product development, technology and for the broad expansion of its business.

According to Culina Health, this round of funding comes after 18 months of bootstrapped growth of the company to reach 20 practitioners that have delivered 18,000 personalized sessions.

Personalized approach: “a missed opportunity”
Culina Health CEO, Vanessa Risetto, is critical of generic nutrition companies who don’t opt for a personalized nutrition approach. 

“To date, tech companies who focus on nutrition have taken personalization out of the equation and focused on fads and/or “one-size-fits-all” solutions.”

“What have we gotten out of that? An obesity rate that has increased 30% in the last 30 years (12.2% in 1991 to 42.4% in 2021) and one-third of the US population with Type 2 diabetes – preventable conditions that can be resolved with care from a dietitian.”

Rissetto talks about the missed opportunity of personalized nutrition as, according to the company data, it is a considerably untapped market priced at US$78 billion.

Culina Health uses a personalized coaching program to help “clients achieve realistic and sustainable results with trustworthy education and resources, unwavering support and real-life tools for success.”

The business has the objective of helping patients overcome physical, mental, environmental and behavioral challenges.

Culina Health has already delivered 18,000 personalized clinical nutrition sessions.Concerning heart mortality rates
Culina Health underscores the troubling rates of heart and metabolic disease-related deaths, which are at all-time highs. Despite that, most of these issues can be prevented or even reversed with adequate nutrition.

“Over the next five years, demand for clinical nutrition services is forecast to multiply due to continued societal emphasis on disease prevention through healthy dietary habits, which will be amplified by lingering effects of the coronavirus pandemic,” affirms the company in a statement.

This statement comes after the US-based Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine shed light that most training physicians lack knowledge regarding nutrition, which affects, among other diseases, heart conditions. 

Medical knowledge must keep filling these gaps. Another example being the case of women being underrepresented in heart disease research, which worsens diagnostics and treatments.

The company affirms that most major US insurance plans cover its programs.

Support from investors 
Doba Parushev, director of venture capital at Healthworx, says that they saw the potential of Culina Health regarding chronic conditions.

“For people living with chronic conditions and especially GI and autoimmune ones, managing care can be daunting. Getting symptoms under control while balancing lab work, specialist visits, nutrition, lifestyle modifications and medication is often a stressful and overwhelming process.”

“Culina’s ability to use registered dietitians for complex care support has the potential to change all of this,” underscores Parushev.

Other than the investing of Healthworx, it has participation from the investment arm of CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield and from Brooklyn Bridge Ventures. 

By Marc Cervera

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