Habitual is using digital support plus food replacement to help reverse type 2 diabetes – By Natasha Lomas (Techcrunch) / Oct 5 2021
London-based Habitual, a healthtech startup which offers a weight loss program aimed at people with type 2 diabetes (or prediabetes) that combines “evidence-based” food replacement with digital support to help people manage and even reverse the condition (so they can be medication free), has closed a $2.3 million seed round.
The round was led by Berlin-based Atlantic Food Labs, with existing investors Seedcamp and MMC also participating. Oxford Seed Fund, which is an initiative of the Entrepreneurship Centre at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, also participated — and the round is Habitual’s third round since it was founded back in September 2019, including a pre-seed earlier this year to fund a soft launch. Its total raised to date is just over $3M.
Habitual’s program involves a period of total food replacement — when it supplies users with all their daily meals in nutritionally controlled, packet-form (there’s a choice of flavored porridges, shakes and soups).
For the food replacement product, Habitual says it worked with a product development consultancy that had previously done development work for the European Soylent-rival Huel to develop the formulations.
