San Francisco-based health app developer Lift, not to be confused with Google-acquired Lift Labs, raised $1.1 million from Spark Capital and Obvious Ventures, according to a post from TechCrunch. This brings the company's total funding to date to at least $3.6 million.
The company was incubated at Obvious Corp, which also spun out Twitter.
Lift's app helps users set goals to improve their health. Users also receive encouragement from the Lift community and can use coaching tips as well as reminders to help them stay on track.
In addition to raising funds, Lift launched a paid coaching feature that aims to help users with more complicated goals. Lift's app now offers expert-led, step-by-step plans if users need more guidance and an updated tracking feature so that users can try to reach weekly targets. Users who want to connect with coaches will pay $14.99 per week to message with them through a chat function on the app. Eventually, the company said, users will also be able to pay for additional services, like a phone conversation or diet plan.
Coaches on Lift are not certified or health professionals, they are just people who have reached the same goal that the user wants to reach.
The service currently has 700 coaches who can help users reach 4,000 different goals.
Another company, Weilos, had a similar model to Lift's -- Weilos used to connect people who have weight loss success stories to those who were just beginning their journey. Weilos eventually pivoted to offer a free weight loss app because, according to the founder Ray Wu, payment was a source of friction for people who were interested in using an app to lose weight.