“Why the focus on speed? Because it all comes down to the same thing: The faster that you reach more people, the faster that you change the way the world treats weight,” Kenyon says. This also means that in spite of Calibrate’s speed of growth over the last year-and in spite of a $100 million capital infusion that could, in theory, allow her to take a breath-Kenyon is nowhere close to taking her foot off the gas pedal. It’s a handy tool, because if it works at scale, Kenyon hinted that it could be deployed for other drugs and diseases, like diabetes. For the latter issue, Kenyon and her team have built a proprietary pharmacy engine for Calibrate, through which members can more easily obtain weight-loss medication that is covered by their insurance plans. ![]() While Wegovy’s approval is too recent to have been a meaningful driver of Calibrate’s $21 million in 2021 revenue, it is likely to factor into members’ future weight management plans-when medically appropriate and when insurance can cover the cost of the drug (which is north of $1,000 per month out of pocket). Donna Ryan, the former president of the World Obesity Foundation and a Calibrate clinical advisor, says that demand for Wegovy has been “extraordinary,” in part because of its positive effect on blood pressure, glucose levels and “the other metabolic dysfunction that occurs when excess abnormal body weight is reversed.” The other tailwind poised to propel Calibrate’s business, Melton and other advisors note, is the FDA’s approval, in June, of Wegovy, an injection for chronic weight management. If you don't have your health, you have nothing,’” Melton said. “I think that we’ve had this moment in time and synthesis where consumers have looked and said, ‘My health is the cornerstone. But with Calibrate members reporting an average annual body weight loss of 14%, Kenyon and her advisors see the platform’s consumer trends as a sign that the conversations around comorbidities, health and wellness that have broken open because of Covid are spurring people to make real changes to their health regimens. Calibrate charges $129 a month for its full suite of lifestyle coaching and weight management offerings (a one-time health assessment costs $249), a rate that is not insignificant for households in this income range. Three fourths of its members are white, and 52% have reported household annual household incomes less than $150,000 (a plurality falls in the $75,000 to $150,000 range). The customers who are coming to Calibrate’s platform are, on average, 45 years old and overwhelmingly female. ![]() Threshold Ventures cofounder Emily Melton, who joined Calibrate’s board after leading its Series A round of funding, can attest to the speed of growth: “When I first invested, the number of members we were signing up in a month is now what we’re signing up a day,” Melton noted. The company is projecting $21 million in 2021 revenue, which is overshooting Kenyon’s projections by about $10 million to $12 million, she said. ![]() 25 on the Forbes Midas list and whose notable investments include Oscar Health and Affirm, told Forbes that he is sector agnostic in his investment approach and is instead “open to anything that can become one of the most important companies on the planet.”Ĭalibrate is not quite there yet, but it is growing.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |