UK Nutrition Startup Raises $15M To Expand In The U.S.

Zoe, a London-based nutrition startup, has raised $15 million in a series B extension to expand its presence in the United States.

According to TechCrunch, the recent investment comes from the American company Coefficient Capital. Zoe has raised a total of $118 million since its founding in 2017, including $30 million raised in 2022.

The startup expects to bring more awareness to the U.S. of its products and services. Zoe provides customers with a kit with at-home testing materials—it can include the collection of feces or blood—to analyze results like blood sugar and microbiome health. After getting the results, Zoe provides a number on a scale from 1 to 100 as guidance to help people make better dietary decisions. They also receive a blood sugar sensor and have access to the platform’s app software to keep track of eating habits and monitor sugar intake.

The platform includes information and helps users navigate personalized suggestions on how to combine foods or what kind of products will help improve their health, like combining avocado with toast to reduce blood sugar peaks, as shown in the promo video on Zoe’s website.

Zoe’s products are already available in the U.S. except for New York due to regulatory restrictions that the company expects to handle soon. The yearly subscription to the services costs $348 or $29 per month and its user base has been steadily growing, now serving more than 100,000 paid customers.

With the new investment, the company will invest in marketing to gain more American customers. Jonathan Wolf, Zoe’s CEO, considers this expansion its “biggest opportunity.”

“Successfully penetrating the US is famously one of the hardest things for a tech company from outside of the country to do,” said Wolf to Sifted. Despite the difficulties, Wolf expects a successful outcome: “That’s partly because the market is so large, but also because the health crisis is so bad.”

Zoe has also invested in research and has participated in trials on par with medical trials mandatory for new drugs, for example. The company assures that its products can help customers improve their health within months.