Obesity care company knownwell acquired one of its competitors this week, just six months after announcing its $20 million Series A funding round.
Boston-based knownwell, which provides hybrid primary care and metabolic health treatment, bought New York-based Alfie Health, an online obesity management clinic with an AI platform that generates personalized recommendations for weight management. The move will help knownwell better achieve its mission of expanding access to comprehensive metabolic health treatment, said knownwell founder and CEO Brooke Boyarsky Pratt.
“At a time when companies are churning out weight loss solutions and offering quick and easy prescriptions to GLP-1s without any true care plan for patients, it’s more important than ever for companies like ours to be able to expand access to 360-degree obesity care — which can include drugs like GLP-1s, but in tandem include behavioral counseling, nutrition coaching and exercise recommendations,” she declared.
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Knownwell, launched last year, offers virtual support to patients in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire, as well as in-person care through its clinic just outside of Boston. Patients use the startup for weight-inclusive primary care (meaning obesity treatment is integrated into the primary care plan), metabolic health treatment, or both. Patients can also receive support from registered dietitians, behavioral health care providers, health and movement coaches, and remote patient monitoring devices.
As a result of the new acquisition, knownwell will integrate Alfie’s ObesityRx platform into its care model. The platform analyzes patients’ medical history to determine the most effective treatment strategies for sustainable metabolic health improvements, Boyarsky Pratt explained.
“In addition to its obesity platform, Alfie’s AI will also be used to ensure that knownwell’s primary care offering is always reflecting the latest in research and advancements in the field,” she said. “This AI will act as a companion to synchronous clinicians, not a replacement.”
The adoption of Alfie’s technology — combined with knownwell’s evidence-based care model and focus on patient engagement — will bolster the startup’s value-based care infrastructure and allow clinicians to make better decisions more quickly, Boyarsky Pratt added.
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Ever since knownwell completed its Series A financing round, the company knew it wanted to double down on expanding access to metabolic care through technology — and it knew that these efforts would involve strengthening individualized clinical decision support through AI, she remarked.
“By leveraging Alfie’s existing platform and tech, we’ll now be able to reach more patients and provide them with even more holistic care and treatment. We felt that Alfie had made impressive strides in creating consistent, excellent outcomes for patients using their technology,” Boyarsky Pratt stated.
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