AltaIR Capital invested in a diabetes tracking app Undermyfork
Undermyfork, a#nbsp;diabetes tracking app designed to#nbsp;help people with the disease improve "time-in-range" and better manage their condition, has raised $#nbsp;400,000 in#nbsp;seed funding.
Investment comes from AltaIR Capital, AltaClub, and Runa Capital. Undermyfork co-founder Mike Ushakov’s previous company, Metabar (the maker of#nbsp;the browser add-on Sovetnik), was also backed by#nbsp;Runa, before being acquired by#nbsp;Yandex several years ago.
The Undermyfork app combines meal photos with glucose data coming from a#nbsp;continuous glucose monitor (CGM) device. The aim is#nbsp;to#nbsp;let users correlate meals with changes in#nbsp;blood glucose levels. Specifically, it#nbsp;focuses on "time-in-range" — the percentage of#nbsp;time that a#nbsp;person spends with their blood glucose levels in#nbsp;a#nbsp;target range, considered the most important metric in#nbsp;modern diabetes management.
"With our app, we#nbsp;want to#nbsp;help people with diabetes correct their lifestyle and eating habits, and improve their time-in-range," Ushakov tells me. "Undermyfork is#nbsp;a#nbsp;very simple tool now: it#nbsp;combines meal photos and insulin data with glucose data, and allows the users to#nbsp;clearly see which meals are driving them out of#nbsp;the safe blood glucose range.
"We help people with diabetes not just to#nbsp;see their blood glucose data, but to#nbsp;interpret the data and make useful conclusions that could improve their life. You can say it’s like 'Google analytics for blood sugar.'"
More broadly, Undermyfork is#nbsp;betting that continuous glucose monitoring devices will replace traditional finger-pricking blood glucose meters in#nbsp;the coming years. The strategy is#nbsp;to#nbsp;establish itself as#nbsp;the default companion app for CGMs, but to#nbsp;do#nbsp;so it#nbsp;will need to#nbsp;gain access to#nbsp;CGM-generated data.
"Undermyfork relies on#nbsp;CGM data, so#nbsp;we#nbsp;need to#nbsp;have the partners to#nbsp;provide us#nbsp;with this data," explains Ushakov. "This month, simultaneously with closing our round, we#nbsp;partnered with Dexcom, which is#nbsp;the leading CGM manufacturer in#nbsp;the U.S. We#nbsp;now have access to#nbsp;Dexcom’s retrospective API, letting users stream data directly from their Dexcom cloud to#nbsp;the Undermyfork app."
This also sets up#nbsp;Undermyfork for a U.S. launch. Noteworthy, the mostly Europe-based team is#nbsp;entirely remote. Ushakov is#nbsp;in#nbsp;Amsterdam, co-founder Eugene Molodkin is#nbsp;in#nbsp;St. Petersburg and other team members are in#nbsp;Germany, Netherlands, Russia, Slovenia and Israel.
Published by TechCrunch#nbsp;— on#nbsp;August 28, 2020