More than half of U.S. adults have a chronic diet-related disease, and many struggle to access support. Nutrition counseling startup Fay, which emerged from stealth last week with $25 million in funding, aims to address this problem.
San Francisco-based Fay connects patients with virtual and in-person support from registered dietitians and accepts insurance including UnitedHealthcare, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Humana, Aetna, Cigna, and Anthem. It also works with Google and his Accenture employer health insurance. For dietitians, it can help establish your own private practice and obtain insurance eligibility. The company’s platform has more than 1,000 providers across all 50 states. Faye has nutritionists with over 30 specialties including eating disorders, diabetes, and kidney disease. Patients meet one-on-one with a nutritionist and receive a customized nutrition plan that includes intuitive eating principles, meal planning, food tracking, and other methods.
“Fay is tackling the issue of limited access to affordable nutritional counseling in the medical field,” said Sam Fakery, founder and CEO of Fay, in an e-mail. stated in an email. “Faye’s goal is to move healthcare toward proactive health by democratizing access to nutrition services and empowering both individuals and registered dietitians to achieve better health outcomes.”
Fay has raised $20 million in a Series A funding round led by Forerunner Ventures with participation from General Catalyst and 1984. This comes a year after she raised an unannounced seed round led by General Catalyst. The company is also backed by the founders of Grow Therapy and Maven Clinic.
Forerunner chose to invest in this startup because it focuses on an area of high need.
“America is clearly at a critical moment in nutrition and dietetics across culture, health, and the public interest, with a growing body of research showing how weight and nutrition are deeply linked to chronic disease, and a growing body of research showing how weight and nutrition are deeply linked to chronic disease. Consumers are increasingly open to rethinking their relationship with health.” …The company’s unique model not only gives consumers access to a registered dietitian through insurance at little to no cost, but also provides access to an often overlooked and underserved sector of health care providers. “It allows people to build and grow their business on their own terms,” said Nicole Johnson, partner at the firm. The former said in a statement:
Faikaly said with the funding, Fay will work to grow and improve its services for dietitians and clients. In the future, we aim to integrate with food service delivery platforms, collaborate with other insurance companies, and foster partnerships with employers.
Fakery said Faye chose to quietly raise money and come out of stealth so it could develop the product before announcing it to the public.
“We have been and continue to be focused on building world-class services that have the potential to transform society as a whole,” he said. “We believe in the business we are building and have decided to bring it to market when it is ready.”
Faye isn’t the only company working on food and nutrition. Other companies include Season Health and NourishedRx, which also offer access to nutritionists. But Mr. Faikaly argued that Fay differentiates itself by “empowering nutritionists as independent practitioners.”
Photo: fcafotodigital, Getty Images
