An app for metabolic health

Poor metabolic health – when the body struggles to process food and absorb nutrients without experiencing a rollercoaster of blood fat, blood glucose and insulin levels – is a precursor to some of the leading health concerns of the modern age. Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and kidney disease are all connected to our metabolism. All are on the rise. The number of people living with type 2 diabetes worldwide has increased fourfold since 1980 and in the US the economic cost of diabetes – both in medical care and reduced productivity – is estimated at $300 billion. According to a 2018 study by the University of North Carolina, good metabolic health is “alarmingly low” at just 12.2 per cent among American adults.

Veri, a healthtech startup based in Helsinki, wants to address this hidden epidemic and bring metabolic health into the light. Veri, which means ‘blood’ in Finnish, uses a continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) device, as well as sleep and exercise data imported from personal healthcare apps, to provide its users with a peek under the hood. The data, which is analysed in conjunction with user-inputted information about meals and diet, is translated into real-time lifestyle insights and personalised guidance to help steer someone towards a better health outcome. Founded in 2020, and boosted by €10.8 million investment to date, it now has a 40-strong team that combines experience in health, sport and tech. It counts 30,000 users since launch. 

Easy-to-use CGMs that can be paired with a smartphone are a growing trend within a burgeoning healthtech market. The market for CGMs is currently valued at $15 billion, estimated to reach $30 billion by 2030. While most products are designed for people living with diabetes, or marketed to the ‘worried well’, Veri co-founder Anttoni Aniebonam wants to target “Gen-X metabolically challenged individuals”. Veri, he explains, is not for “biohackers… or athletes looking to optimise,” rather it is a preventative intervention for people at risk of diabetes, or those showing early signs of the disease, such as insulin resistance. “The app uses the glucose levels in the background, then adds a layer of intelligence to how our lifestyle habits are having an impact on that main metric,” he says. “Then it informs people of what they should do, what they should eat and how they can reduce the amount of glucose dysregulation.” 

Aniebonam’s road to developing the company began as a teen, when his ambitions as a footballer were halted by an injury. It led to struggles with his weight and mental health – but he developed an understanding of how metabolic health effects both body and mind. At university he studied economics and bioinformation technology, where he met co-founder Verneri Jäämuru, who had also struggled with his metabolic health. Together they investigated the ways tech could be harnessed as a preventative tool. CGMs were just becoming available for the consumer market, and they developed a business in which the company would analyse this data remotely and contact the customer by phone to discuss the results. It was not the most effective, or marketable, proposition. Creating software and an app that could provide the same service – customized for their target user – became a key challenge, which their third co-founder, Frans Lehmusvaara, helped them overcome.

Veri now operates as a subscription service. It costs €109 a month for the app along with two sensors delivered every three months. As Aniebonam explains, Veri is designed to support its user, rather than fuel further anxiety or neuroticism about diet. The first year saw “explosive” eleven-fold growth. The company is still growing fast, but it has been a challenge to maintain focus and nurture a specific group of customers, rather than become distracted (and lost) in the wider market. “As a small company with limited resources, we have to focus on a niche,” continues Aniebonam. 

While he is currently clear about the target user, Aniebonam sees potential for Veri “over the next five years” to expand its suite of tech to track other biomarkers and serve other use cases – and to be part of a new age of health-tracking technology, for which industry regulations on privacy and data protection are still developing. Geographical expansion is important, too, with a particular focus on the US. But, as Aniebonam recognises, the mass of people who need this product are not those who can afford it. “We are trying to lower the cost, or provide the product through insurance,” he says. “We want to build a household name in the metabolic health space.” And accessibility will be crucial if the company is to achieve its north star.