New York-based mobile wellness company Noom announced it has raised $58 million in funding led by Sequoia Capital. Groupe Arnault’s tech arm Aglaé Ventures, WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum, DoorDash co-founder Tony Xu, Oscar Health co-founder Josh Kushner, SB Projects founder Scooter Braun, and existing investor Samsung Ventures also joined this round.
Noom combines technology with the empathy of human coaches in order to deliver successful behavior change at scale. And Noom’s direct-to-consumer mobile weight loss and wellness behavior change programs positively impact many lives every day.
“We were able to achieve so much with just 55 people in our New York City headquarters and our community of wonderful coaches,” said Saeju Jeong, CEO and co-founder of Noom. “This influx of capital will help us hire more Noomers — passionate people who want to use their business and technical skills to make personalized coaching accessible to everyone in the world.”
To get started, users complete a questionnaire, download the Noom app, and then they get paired with a dedicated health coach and customized content that dynamically evolves based on their needs.
“We have more product ideas to serve and delight our community than we have product managers, designers and engineers to build them right now, and we’re excited to close that gap. It is our mission to use technology to help people live healthier lives — and these folks will help us do it,” added Artem Petakov — Co-founder and President of Product and Engineering.
Rather than depending on strict rules and fad diets that are difficult to maintain, Noom’s program is seeking to understand individual motivations and obstacles to best guide users toward sustainable behavior change.
The fully mobile diabetes prevention program that Noom developed was the first of its kind to be recognized by the CDC and is the only 100% mobile program clinically proven in a peer-reviewed journal. Plus studies have shown the efficacy of Noom’s prediabetes, diabetes, and hypertension programs have appeared in more than a dozen medical journals including the Journal of Human Hypertension, Nature’s Scientific Reports, and British Medical Journal Open Diabetes Research & Care.
“Noom has many of the same traits that helped WhatsApp disrupt the communications industry,” explained Koum. “Noom is so far ahead of the competition when it comes to technology, execution and brand recognition that it will be difficult for any company to catch up.”
With this round of funding, Noom is going to expand its team and improve the customer experience.
“Noom is by far one of the fastest growing companies that we are in business with globally. Sequoia is thrilled to partner with the Noom team as they help people achieve healthier lives,” noted Sequoia partner and Noom board member Michael Abramson.
