Digital weight loss service Limbo, which was co-founded by Irish entrepreneur Pat Phelan, has raised $6 million (€6m) in seed funding as it opens its platform to the public.
The funding round was led by Hoxton Ventures, along with backers that include US basketball star Shaquille O’Neal, Seedcamp, Apple executive Rory Sexton and Irish rugby player Jamie Heaslip. It also has its share of backers from the tech world, with cofounders at Intercom, PCH International, Voxpro, Web Summit and Yelp funding the venture.
The company, which was formerly known as Viv, offers a weight loss and body transformation service that guides users to healthier habits through using real-time bio data from wearables, an app and a mix of coaching from both humans and artificial intelligence. Based on 30 years of research, it nudges people towards adapting their habits to help burn excess fat, without following restrictive diets or exercise plans.
Investor Hoxton Ventures has previously backed Deliveroo, Darktrace and Babylon Health. ”We believe in placing large and early bets on transformative companies with the potential to improve millions of lives,” said Rob Kniaz, partner at Hoxton Ventures. “As obesity shifts from a regional issue to a worldwide epidemic, new approaches and technologies are needed to avert the terrible costs that come with it, both human and financial. Limbo is a true innovation in an area where it’s badly needed and the results the company has demonstrated so far for users are nothing short of incredible.”
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Headquartered in New York, Limbo has a research centre in Cork. The company was co-founded by chairman Mr Phelan, chief research officer Tony Martin, a physiologist and coach whose research forms the basis of Limbo, and serial tech entrepreneur and chief executive Rurik Bradbury.
The venture was a lockdown project, Mr Phelan said, while the chain of cosmetic clinics he cofounded, Sisu, were closed. “I went back to training with Tony [Martin], and he was using finger pricks to test blood. I wondered if something could be built. I rang Rurik, who was my right-hand man at Trustev, and said I think I might have something here.”
An initial early access trial of the service has seen an average of a 12 per cent reduction in body weight in three months through improving users‘ dietary, sleep and exercise habits.
”We now have clear data that people who follow the Limbo programme of blood glucose and biometrics management can expect to lose 12 per cent of their body weight in a three-month programme,” said Mr Bradbury. “With this funding, we can offer the service to far more people, allowing them to lose weight and gain energy with an ease they never imagined possible, and moving us closer to our goal of ending the global obesity crisis.”
The first user was Mr Phelan himself. “I tried literally everything: crossfit when I lived in New York, I tried semi-starvation, I tried fasting, I tried WeightWatchers,” he said. “[Limbo] is about getting you to a healthy fighting weight by explaining what’s going into you, the effect of it upon you, because you can eat something and it will have a totally different effect to me. All we’re saying then is just stay in the zone. Nothing else.”
Prior to starting the programme, Mr Phelan said a routine medical showed he had elevated blood sugars and was pre-diabetic. That has since reversed, he said.
More than 100 users have tested the programme, and there are plans for a more thorough clinical trial to validate the data.
Limbo has attracted some big names, with four-time NBA champion O’Neal bringing some star power to Limbo.
”Getting in shape can be impossible if you don’t have the right kind of support and advice when it comes to nutrition, exercise and rest, even for a retired athlete,” he said. “Limbo works 24/7 to guide you into the right decisions for your body and long-term health.”
The company is now opening its service to users in the UK and Ireland at its website.
