DayTwo, an Israeli startup focused on delivering insights to consumers based on their gut microbiome, has raised $12 million from an impressive suite of investors including Johnson & Johnson Innovation and the Mayo Clinic. Seventure Partners' Health for Life Capital Fund also contributed along with private investors including cofounder Marius Nacht.
The startup, which has raised $17 million in total, is already working with Mayo Clinic on a research project, which will be expanded with help of the new funding.
The premise of the company is to send users test kits that allow DayTwo to do a genetic analysis of their gut microbiome and use that information to derive information about their glycemic response to specific foods and food combinations. That information is then delivered to the users in an app in the form of actionable insights and specific suggestions about diet and exercise. The technology is based on a five year research conducted by Prof. Eran Segal and Dr. Eran Elinav from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.
"We've just scratched the surface of how powerful the microbiome is to support personalized diet, nutrition, and chronic condition management, to enable our customers to have the ability to live a full, happy and healthy lifestyle," DayTwo CEO Lihi Segal said in a statement. "DayTwo has brought actionable, evidence-based science down to a mobile app, to make personalized nutrition easy and convenient for the first time. This enables DayTwo to impact the lives of hundreds of millions of people who struggle with diet and nutrition-related health risks every day."
DayTwo's consumer product is available for pre-order with plans to start shipping kits by the end of July. Users pay $299 for a test kit and results, which include personal dietary recommendations as well as a "food search engine" that will give their particular score for a variety of foods.
In addition to the D2C offerings, DayTwo plans to offer its platform as a service to provider organizations to help support patients for whom nutrition is especially important.
"Having the financial support and domain expertise of JJDC, Seventure, co-founder Marius Nacht and our Israeli private equity investor group will enable us to execute our vision even more rapidly and broadly – with consumers, practitioners, health centers, and medical device partners," Segal said.