The Gurgaon-based startup that claims to reverse Type 2 diabetes raises ₹50 crore

• The round was co-led by 3One4 Capital, Accel and General Catalyst with participation from FounderBank Capital and Supermorpheus.
  
• The health-tech startup claims to offer an alternative to medicines to prevent, manage and reverse Type 2 Diabetes.
  
• It uses a personalised coach-based approach and focuses on behavioural and lifestyle changes to reverse diabetes.
  
• It claims that over 98% of its participants eliminated medication and experienced an average weight loss of 5.5 kilos over the course of the programme.
  

Gurgaon-based Breathe Well-being, which calls itself a diabetes-reversal company, on Thursday said it has raised ₹50 crore in a pre-series B round. The round was co-led by 3One4 Capital, Accel and General Catalyst with participation from FounderBank Capital and Supermorpheus.

The health-tech startup claims to offer an alternative to medicines to prevent, manage and reverse Type 2 Diabetes. Founded in 2020 by Rohan Verma, who was formerly with McKinsey, and Aditya Kaicker, who was formerly with Accenture, the startup says that its programme is recognised by the American Diabetes Association (ADA).

It uses a personalised coach-based approach and focuses on behavioural and lifestyle changes to reverse diabetes. The startup claims to have reversed diabetes for 50,000 of its members.

“We have seen that more than 90% of participants were able to sustain their results beyond 24 months into the programme. This is a big indicator of how engaging our entire plan is and people’s active willingness to get off the diabetes medication,” said Kaicker, co-founder and COO, Breathe Well-being.

The startup says that it uses a clinically-proven programme to help reduce blood glucose levels, lose weight, improve glucose tolerance and stop diabetes medication eventually. It also gamifies the process and uses a community-driven approach to execute its programmes.

“According to the latest guidelines by ADA, the first line of therapy for Type 2 Diabetes is Diabetes Education and lifestyle modifications. The biggest challenge any medical practitioner faces with diabetic patients is the time required for diabetes education and customising the lifestyle modifications to create behavioural change. This is exactly where Breathe Well-being has proven to be a big boon,” said Dr P K Goyal, MBBS, MD & DNB General Medicine, Fortis Hospital.

The programme has had a proven outcome, with over 95% of its participants showing an average reduction of 1.5% in their HbA1c (blood glucose) levels, the company says. It also says that over 98% of its participants eliminated medication and experienced an average weight loss of 5.5 kilos over the course of the programme.

“We have been impressed by how quickly Breathe Well-being is becoming a household name for Type 2 diabetes & pre-diabetes reversal across Tier 2 and 3 cities of India. I realised the true value of what Rohan and Aditya are building at Breathe Well-being after seeing my own mother go through the programme and reduce her HbA1c levels significantly,” said Radhika Ananth, the VP of Accel, which invested in the company.

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