Gyms were closed, stress was high, and people were putting on pounds during the pandemic. Psychology-based weight-loss app Noom happened to be perfectly positioned for the moment.
The startup announced this week that it raised $540 million in a Series F round led by Silver Lake. Bloomberg reported that the raise was at a $3.7 billion valuation.
Noom said it would use the funds to expand beyond weight loss into stress and anxiety, diabetes, hypertension, and sleep. It will also move into new locations and buy back shares.
A poll from February found that 42% of Americans had unwanted weight gain during the pandemic, and that among those, the average weight gain was 29 pounds (the median was 15). Those numbers were likely a big reason why so many people turned to health and fitness apps.
- Noom has been downloaded nearly 4 million times in the last year. The app provides customized health plans, starting at $59 per month.
- WW International, formerly Weight Watchers, reported 4.2 million digital subscriptions, up 16% from a year ago.
- Optavia, which provides coaching and meal replacements, projected $1.4 billion in revenue this year — double what it made in 2019.
The $540 million haul is more than four times the roughly $117 million that Noom had raised in all previous rounds to date.
