LAS VEGAS, Nev.— Knownwell picked up $25 million in fresh funding, riding the wave of investment in obesity care.
CVS Health Ventures led the round with participation from MassMutual Catalyst Fund and Intermountain Ventures.
Existing investors a16z Bio + Health and Flare Capital Partners also backed the oversubscribed financing round. The company has raised a total of $50 million to date, with a $20 million round in late 2023.
The startup offers in-person and virtual services as a weight-inclusive primary care and metabolic health company. Knownwell offers broader services beyond just weight management or GLP-1 prescriptions to include nutrition counseling and behavioral health services both online and in person.
Over the last 18 months, knownwell has expanded its hybrid care offering from Massachusetts to Georgia, Illinois and Texas, and launched virtual care for patients in all 50 states. The company asserts it has delivered strong outcomes alongside this rapid growth, including a 90+ net promoter score, 91% one-year patient retention and 93% one-year sustained weight loss.
"We spent the last 18 months proving that demand for knownwell’s unique services exists across the country and our best-in-class outcomes can hold steady, or even improve, as we significantly grow our patient population," Brooke Boyarsky Pratt, knownwell's co-founder and CEO, told Fierce Healthcare.
"As we plan for the next 18-24 months, we will continue to make investments in expanding our multidisciplinary care team, virtually and in-person, adding additional physical clinics, enhancing our AI and broader technology and expanding our clinical trials. With the pace of innovation in obesity medicine accelerating rapidly, knownwell is positioned at the forefront with this new funding, setting the standard for what comprehensive, evidence-based metabolic care can and should be," Boyarsky Pratt said.
A year ago, knownwell acquired a competitor in the obesity treatment market, Alfie Health, to integrate its unique artificial-intelligence-powered ObesityRx platform into its current care model. Alfie’s technology analyzes patient medical history to determine the most effective treatment strategies for sustainable metabolic health improvements, leveraging a data-driven approach to balance cost and improve outcomes, executives said.
Knownwell has attracted big-name backers in healthcare. "Their investment underscores a growing recognition across the industry that obesity care is not just a clinical priority, but also an economic one," she said. "As interest in GLP-1s continues to surge, many organizations are searching for sustainable models that create long-term health outcomes. Our distinctive ability to attract patients, retain patients, and create real health outcomes for patients who have largely been underserved, those with higher classes of obesity with additional comorbidities, has attracted a wider group of investors."
Patients living with obesity cost the U.S. healthcare system more than $260 billion per year. Many services and solutions focus on prescriptions-as-a-service or utilization management. Knownwell executives contend that approach doesn't adequately address the complex, multifaceted needs of this population.
The startup developed a comprehensive, physician-led care model, designed by Angela Fitch, M.D., co-founder and chief medical officer as well as immediate past president of the Obesity Medicine Association.
Payers, health systems and life insurance companies are looking for scaled, high-quality care for patients to improve outcomes and manage costs.
"At knownwell, we believe compassion is the cornerstone of effective obesity care. Too often, patients encounter a medical system that treats them clinically but not personally. Both my co-founder and I have experienced those challenges firsthand, which shaped how we built the company," Boyarsky Pratt said.
There's been a boom in weight management and obesity care businesses driven by the demand and attention to newer weight loss drugs like GLP-1s.
Boyarsky Pratt told Fierce Healthcare in a previous interview that knownwell differentiates itself based on several key factors—a strong focus on primary care, offering the option of both virtual and in-person care and working with commercial, Medicaid and Medicare health plans to make weight-inclusive healthcare more accessible.
"We’ve designed our model to provide bias and shame-free care that prioritizes respect and understanding at every touchpoint. We’re unique in that we take insurance, without a membership fee, have an incredible, multidisciplinary care team, offer primary care for a comprehensive healthcare home and have places across the country that you can visit us in person, though you don’t have to," she said.
"In addition to those factors, we are at the cutting edge of innovation through clinical trials. Our results speak for themselves: when people feel cared for with empathy and dignity, their health outcomes improve dramatically and they stick around," she added.
Oak Street Health co-founder Geoff Price jumped on board as an investor and independent board member at knownwell. Price brings deep expertise in value-based healthcare services that will further strengthen knownwell’s leadership team as the company enters its next phase of growth, executives said.
“Obesity care is the next frontier of value-based care, and knownwell is building the care model that can work for patients, providers, and payers alike,” Price said in a statement.
Obesity care and weight management has become a crowded field, and, now, pharmaceutical companies are launching direct-to-consumer telehealth services to offer access to lower-priced, single-dose vials of weight loss drugs. Eli Lilly added knownwell as a care provider option through its LillyDirect channel to prescribe medications.
But employers and health plans are struggling with the high costs of GLP-1 medications and are searching for the right strategies to manage metabolic health conditions long-term.
“The ability to deliver comprehensive and longitudinal care at scale is exactly what payers and health systems need to address one of the most pressing drivers of high costs and poor outcomes in healthcare today,” said Alyssa Reisner, partner and executive director at CVS Health Ventures, in a statement. “We see this as more than an investment. This is an approach that can transform how obesity is treated across the country."
Knownwell's model focuses on the "whole person and prioritizes comprehensive, lasting metabolic care, rather than just focusing on prescriptions-as-a-service or utilization management, neither of which sustainably address the complex, multifaceted needs of this population," Boyarsky Pratt said.
"Patients living with obesity cost the U.S. healthcare system more than $260 billion per year, but, by approaching obesity with evidence-based care, including behavioral health therapy, nutrition counseling, primary care and anti-obesity medications, knownwell has generated industry-leading outcomes like 93% one-year sustained weight loss. This presents significant value to patients and organizations across the ecosystem."
Health systems are on the front lines of obesity’s impact, from access constraints to complex patient needs, noted Sheralee Petersen, assistant vice president for clinical programs at Intermountain Health. And that's driving investment in obesity care models that produce strong outcomes.
"Traditional approaches simply aren’t enough. We need care models that integrate seamlessly with our existing care delivery network and deliver measurable results,” Petersen said.
Nickolas Mark, co-founder and managing partner of Intermountain Ventures, the venture capital and innovation arm of Intermountain Health, also noted that “we believe knownwell is addressing one of the most pressing health challenges of our time. By combining clinical expertise with innovative models of care, knownwell is building a platform at the forefront of obesity and metabolic health treatment.”