Nourish, a virtual nutrition counseling startup, has raised $70 million in a series B round.
The round was led by new investor J.P. Morgan Private Capital’s Growth Equity Partners. Returning investors included Thrive Capital, Index Ventures, Y Combinator and others. The funding will be used to build out Nourish’s AI product, expand its provider network and pursue more strategic partnerships.
“Nourish is addressing one of our country’s most urgent challenges with a compelling outcomes-driven and AI-native approach,” Paris Heymann, co-managing partner of Growth Equity Partners, said in an announcement. “I’m excited to continue supporting a category-defining company like Nourish, with a unique blend of mission, vision, and measurable impact.”
Nourish connects patients with registered dietitians virtually to help manage nutrition-related conditions. The company works with commercial, Medicare and Medicaid payers, with a total of 150 million lives covered. As a result, 94% of its patients pay nothing out of pocket, Nourish claims. Today, Nourish serves hundreds of thousands of patients across all 50 states and employs more than 3,000 registered dietitians.
The company has an enterprise offering, working with health systems and employers. It has not yet announced partners publicly but plans to later this year, executives said.
“The fact that you can feel better by eating better, I think, is uncontroversial and very intuitive to most people,” Aidan Dewar, co-founder and CEO of Nourish, told Fierce Healthcare. “It’s great to see that a lot of people are realizing that the healthcare crisis, when you double click, is basically a nutrition crisis in many ways.”
Nourish’s app features meal logging, AI-generated macro tracking, symptom tracking, on-demand chat with a dietitian and meal planning. It offers clinicians an AI scribe that automates note-taking, with patient consent. It also uses AI to surface clinical insights and recommendations to help deliver personalized care. Most of its tech tools are built in-house.
Weight loss drugs are growing in prevalence. In late 2024, Nourish surveyed more than 3,700 patients about GLP-1s. More than 800 of the respondents were not Nourish patients. A fifth of those surveyed were current GLP-1 users, and 9% had used them in the past. Among those who had never used GLP-1s, a third were interested in trying them.
Recognizing the increasing demand for these drugs, Nourish recently launched several programs designed to increase effectiveness of GLP-1s during and after treatment. While GLP-1s are revolutionary in obesity treatment, Dewar argues, issues like a lack of adherence or risk of rebounding weight gain limit their success. However, nutrition counseling can support better outcomes on these drugs.
Nourish’s GLP-1 program for those currently taking the drugs offers evidence-based counseling, helping manage side effects, preventing nutrient deficiencies and supporting long-term eating habits. The pathway for patients discontinuing medication helps support metabolic transition, manage appetite changes and maintain weight loss.
Nourish patients on and off GLP-1s saw better weight loss results compared to non-Nourish patients, Nourish’s 2024 peer-reviewed analysis also found. Among those currently taking GLP-1s, Nourish patients saw 33% greater weight loss than non-Nourish patients. And 63% of Nourish GLP-1 patients reported improved side effects since working with their registered dietitian. Nourish patients also reported higher medication adherence.
In effect, what Nourish offers its payer partners a “low-cost, lifestyle intervention that can drive ROI by reducing medical spend and improving the efficacy of medications, but also outcomes,” per Dewar.
Nourish clinicians are employed under a W2 model. This approach was important to appeal to quality talent. “It’s just really attractive to dietitians, the ability to have benefits,” Dewar said. Having a W2 model helps Nourish manage the quality of care, improve outcomes and lower costs, Dewar added.
The food as medicine movement has grown significantly over the past several years and is currently in the spotlight due to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s priorities. The administration’s Make America Healthy Again Commission explicitly calls out the importance of healthy food. Earlier this week, RFK Jr. announced a plan to phase out artificial food dyes, though it falls short of an outright ban and relies on the food industry's voluntary compliance.
Food as medicine proponents have expressed cautious optimism at MAHA’s interest in food’s influence on disease. However, they are worried about the impact possible Medicaid cuts would have on the populations they serve, Fierce Healthcare previously reported.
“We’re obviously gratified that the food as medicine concept is being talked about at the highest levels of government,” Dewar said. “I think it’s too early to know what that will translate into.”