On Wednesday Big Sky Health, best known for its fasting app Zero, scored $8 million in Series A funding. The latest round was led by Greycroft., and brings the company’s total funding pot to $4.2 million. 

Coinciding with the funding news is the announcement that Big Sky Health will also be offering Zero Plus, a premium service of its fasting app. 

WHAT THEY DO

The company’s main product is focused on helping dieters with their fasting regiment. The app includes a fast timer, as well as a digital journal and statistics. 

Customers can purchase the upgraded version, Zero Plus, for roughly $50. This version includes custom plans, advanced statistics, information about fasting zones and the ability to submit a question to a panel of experts. 

The company also has an alcohol reduction platform called Less that helps individuals keep track of their alcohol intake and the number of days that they do drink. Users can also view consumption statistics over the course of a set period. 

WHAT IT’S FOR 

The new funds will propel the launch of the Zero Plus. 

"I'm incredibly excited about what we've built with Zero Plus,” Dr. Peter Attia, cofounder and chief medical officer of Zero, said in a statement. “We're providing well-researched, curated, tailored information that can scale to millions who are interested in optimizing their health and longevity by way of a fasting practice. I've seen how fasting has worked for some of my patients, which is why it was so important to me to grow the reliable tools that are out there for others. Today, we're doing just that with the launch of Zero Plus."

MARKET SNAPSHOT

The dieting space is fairly populated at the moment. Weight Watchers has been in the digital health realm for over a decade with its various offerings. There are also many very well-funded weight management apps – for example, nutrition startup Noom raked in $58 million last May. 

In terms of the fasting space, LifeOmic released its intermittent fasting app in 2018. This app was designed to help users track and plan fasts, monitor their moods, create custom fasting circles, monitor when they are in ketosis and share their health data securely with doctors and researchers. 

ON THE RECORD 

“Consumer health and wellness is a theme we care deeply about at Greycroft and have invested behind for the last five years,” Teddy Citrin, principal at Greycroft, said in a statement. “I started out as an avid user of Zero and saw first-hand how it positively affected people’s lives. When Mike pitched us on his vision for the company, our team quickly became enamored with Mike’s personal journey, the incredible traction of the product, and the massive market potential of this business.”