Bringing Nutrition Care to the Masses: Our Partnership with Nourish
Nourish Raises $35M Series A to Expand Access to Registered Dietitians
Nourish is making nutrition care accessible to the 150 million Americans who need it — and we are beyond excited to be part of that journey!
50 percent of Americans struggle with nutrition-related chronic diseases, but most of these patients are unable to access nutrition care. Why? Like so many other parts of healthcare, it is prohibitively expensive.
Despite clinical evidence proving that registered dietitians (RDs) can effectively prevent and treat the most prevalent chronic diseases, RDs are typically not covered by insurance. As a result, patients have no choice but to pay out-of-pocket for care. This prevents most people who need care from accessing it, while disproportionately impacting lower-income patients who are more likely to have poor nutrition.
Enter Nourish: a telemedicine platform that connects registered dietitians (RDs) to people who need care — all covered by insurance.
How does it work?
With its proprietary matching algorithm, Nourish connects patients with RDs whose expertise best meets their needs. Nourish enables patients and RDs engage in virtual and asynchronous care. RDs can focus on delivering care, while Nourish handles heavy administrative lifts like contracting with insurance plans to bring them in-network.
Why are we excited?
1. Healthcare is broken, and the only path forward is technology-driven, consumer-centric solutions
The U.S. spends twice as much per person on healthcare compared to the average among our peer nations. Total healthcare spending reached $4.7 trillion in 2023, which accounted for over 17 percent of GDP. According to the CDC, 75 percent of that spending went towards chronic disease. Despite this massive spending, 73 percent of consumers feel failed by the healthcare system.
We believe technology solutions that prioritize consumer experience are key to solving healthcare costs and patient dissatisfaction.
Covid-19 opened the floodgates to digital-first, virtual care delivery methods. Though virtual care isn’t right for all patients and all conditions, there is no doubt that it is often a better alternative to traditional brick & mortar healthcare. A J.D. Power consumer survey found that 67 percent of patients received virtual care in 2022 and 94 percent of those patients indicated they would likely use telehealth medical services in the future.
2. Nutrition care is at an inflection point
There are 19 concurrent phase 3 GLP-1 trials. The market is gearing up for an influx of new drug launches over the next few years. The bottleneck is quickly becoming access and cost. Will payers and employers cover GLP-1s, and under which circumstances?
Furthermore, a recent report published by Reuters found that 2 out of 3 people stop taking GLP-1s after one year. And once patients stop treatment, they gain back weight more quickly than they lost it because of the extreme drop in muscle mass.
“Payers will likely soon require nutrition support ahead of or in conjunction with GLP-1 prescriptions in order to mitigate costs of long-term medication usage.” — Sam Perkins, co-founder, President & COO of Nourish
We therefore believe that solutions addressing 1) GLP-1 retention and 2) post-GLP-1 care for patients who discontinue treatment will be winners in this space.
Nourish is uniquely positioned to win by helping patients implement diet and lifestyle changes whether on a GLP-1 or not.
3. Standout growth and unit economics
- Nourish’s business model hits a rare sweet-spot: efficient D2C go-to-market coupled with $0 out-of-pocket spend for consumers. In other words, Nourish offers a consumer-grade product and experience at a $0 cost for most users.
- This $0 cash-pay model, coupled with a delightful tech-enabled consumer experience, leads to best-of-breed retention and engagement statistics. Both patients and RDs are extremely loyal to Nourish. This bodes well for unit economics — Nourish experiences unnaturally high provider and patient retention, acquisition payback periods, and LTV/CAC ratios.
- Nourish enjoys a virtuous cycle: attracting high quality RDs leads to strong consumer engagement and therefore more payer contracts…which in turn leads to the ability to attract more high quality RDs and patients for them to treat…you get the gist. With an existing network of dietitians and patients across all 50 states, Nourish is situated for rapid growth in 2024. We are confident in their ability to do this because of the flywheel they’ve ignited:
4. Poised for AI-powered growth
Nourish has built a solid foundation from which to grow. In 2024 and beyond, the team will continue investing in AI-powered solutions to enhance its personalized care plans and reduce administrative burden for RDs. In addition, Nourish is integrating “food as medicine” into its program by empowering RDs to “prescribe” diets that are personalized to each patient’s needs and preferences. In addition, Nourish will turn to partners — including insurance companies and grocery delivery stores, to make an impact in food insecurity and social determinants of health.
5. Best-in-class team
Sam, Aidan, and Stephanie, co-founders of Nourish, exhibit the many traits we look for in founders. They are scrappy, driven, and have complementary skills — ranging from technical to commercial. We have been incredibly impressed with their strategic intuition, their grasp of the nuances in this space and in their model, and their proven ability to execute. Three years into their journey building Nourish, they have scaled the business rapidly while delighting their customers and building an exceptional team in both corporate and clinical roles.
Welcome to the Maverick family, Nourish team — we are honored to work with you!
The views expressed herein are solely the views of the author(s) and are not necessarily the views of Maverick Capital, Ltd. or any of its affiliates. They are not intended to provide, and should not be relied upon for, investment advice.
