The health-tech start-up will utilise the funds to expand the reach of Diabefly, its digital diabetes management program
Fitterfly, a digital health and therapeutics platform, has raised $12 million in a Series A round led by Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund and venture capital firm Fireside Ventures. Other investors who participated in this funding session included 9 Unicorns, Venture Catalysts and Nihar Parikh, Founder of 4point0 Health Ventures, and Sriram Natarajan, Founder of Molbio.
Fitterfly said that it would utilise the capital to expand the reach of its digital diabetes management program, Diabefly. This three-month program targets the 80 million diabetics in India, as per International Diabetes Federation.
Dr Arbinder Singal, CEO and Co-founder of Fitterfly, said that the company wants to take its diabetes and weight management system to the people who need it the most. “This funding will help us strengthen our research, launch new verticals in the heart health space and grow our customer base by reaching out to people living with diabetes and the universe of doctors and organisations in the field of chronic disease management,” he added.
Fitness, The Fitterfly Way
Founded by Dr Arbinder Singal and Shailesh Gupta in 2016, Navi-Mumbai-based Fitterfly has over 200 employees. It has raised a total of $16.6 million to date, which it plans to use to deliver better patient outcomes at scale, create awareness and expand reach.
It had previously raised seed funding of $1 million from high net-worth individuals (HNIs), family and friends. Last April, it raised $3.1 million in a funding round led by Fireside Ventures and other venture capital funds, including 9Unicorns and Venture Catalysts, who also participated in the recent investment session.
Kanwaljit Singh, Founder and Managing Partner of Fireside Ventures, added that the amalgamation of technology and patient-centred care leading to better
outcomes is the need of the hour in the fight against chronic diseases. “When we backed Fitterfly last year, we were sure of their capabilities in this domain. Today, as we reaffirm our support to them, we hope to see the same zeal in expanding their reach,” he emphasised.
The health-tech company stated that 1 in 6 Indians might have prediabetes. If left untreated, 75% of these will become diabetes within seven years. Indians, especially, have been noted to have a higher risk of progression of prediabetes to type 2 diabetes than other people in the world.
Fitterfly claims to cater to over 20,000 patients through a 360-degree care approach and clinically prescribed therapy by more than 200 doctors across India. This has led to a reduction of 1.5% points in HbA1c on average, comparable to the decrease seen by oral diabetes drugs.