Amsterdam-based Clear, a healthtech startup that measures blood glucose levels in real-time using a chip-implanted arm patch and an app, announced that it has raised €1.1M in a fresh round of funding.
The company has also reported that it is still in talks with several parties to further expand the current round.
Investors in this round
The round saw participation from international impact investor Mustard Seed Maze, Dutch digital health VC firm Healthy.Capital, and a number of angel investors.
According to Antonio Miguel, Managing Partner at pan-European impact fund Mustard Seed Maze, “Around 2 billion people in the world are overweight, with 500 million people having diabetes type 2 (of which 50 per cent are undiagnosed). The consequences of unhealthy lifestyles have staggering consequences in people’s lives and public budgets.”
Miguel further adds, “We have been taking a one-size-fits-all approach to nutrition, but if with Netflix and Spotify we can personalise what we watch or listen to, why should we not have the same personalisation approach to things that really matter: what we eat. Personalised nutrition has tremendous potential in making a systemic impact into how people understand their body, make better food choices and improve their health. Clear embodies this vision which is fully aligned with our investment thesis at Mustard Seed Maze.”
The funding will help the company to further develop its digital health program in order to help people with type 2 diabetes.
Make thorough decisions about your lifestyle
Founded in 2019 by Piet Hein van Dam (PhD) and Madelon Bracke (PhD), Clear is a spin-out of the global early-stage VC Antler. It offers a health programme based on a personal glucose metre, an app, a proprietary glucose algorithm and an AI food recommender.
Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer Madelon Bracke, says, “Diabetes is one of the most common diseases in Europe. An average of 1 million people in the Netherlands now has type 2 diabetes, and in Europe, the number increases to 60 million, mostly due to overweight and obesity, unhealthy diet, and physical inactivity (source). With Clear, we want to change that.”
Clear analyses blood glucose levels to detect individual reactions to food. It then provides users with personalised advice in real-time. Also, users can analyse their individual biological response to specific foods and receive tailor-made advice on how they can improve their blood sugar control and health as well as how to prevent lifestyle-related diseases.
A recent study (Citizenlab GripOpDiabetes) together with TOPFit Citizenlab and Vitaal Twente, in the Netherlands, revealed that the Clear program has a positive effect on reducing symptoms of type 2 diabetes. By following the Clear program, average daily blood glucose values went down, body mass index (BMI) decreased, and even medication was reduced.
With such developments, Clear is now discussing with health insurers to get the Clear program reimbursed.
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