India, for a significantly long time, has been among top 3 nations in the world, with most diabetic patients. According to IMARC, this infamous tag has resulted in diabetes becoming a $3.1Bn market in 2021, expected to more than double to nearly $7Bn by 2027. Several startups are now looking to tap this business opportunity, and among them, Breathe Well-being, which helps cut down on Type 2 diabetes medication and ultimately reverse it, has just raised $6Mn in a pre-Series B round.
The round was co-led by 3One4 Capital, Accel and General Catalyst, along with participation from FounderBank Capital and Supermorpheus. The company will use the funds to strengthen its coaching academy, expand core team, and scale up the technology platform to enhance customer experience.
Breathe Well-being claims to offer India’s first clinically-proven Diabetes Reversal Program that helps reduce HbA1c levels, lose weight, improve glucose tolerance and stop diabetes medication eventually. The platform claims, that their program has a proven outcome with 95%+ participants showing an average reduction of 1.5% in their HbA1c levels, 98%+ participants eliminating medication and experiencing an average weight loss of 5.5 kg over the course of the program which has been recognised by the American Diabetes Association (ADA).
Founded in 2020 by Rohan Verma (ex-McKinsey) & Aditya Kaicker (ex-Accenture), Breathe is currently the only digital health tech company across Asia to have published clinical evidence in 3 journals; American Diabetes Association, European Society of Endocrinology, and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology. The company has plans to reach nearly 1 Million patients by 2025.
Verma, who is the co-founder and CEO, says, “India is the diabetes capital of the world and we are on a mission to change that. Our aim is a Diabetes Mukt Bharat (Diabetes Free India) with the aim to reverse diabetes for 1 Million Indians by 2025 and we are well on track to achieve that goal.
Breathe offers a “No Outcome, No Pay” policy, wherein diabetic patients pay only if they see a significant reduction in the HbA1c levels or medication reduction else the fees is refunded. In the long term, Breathe wants to extend its digital therapeutic offerings to other chronic conditions, such as hypertension, PCOS, gut disorders among others.
