Levels raises $12M from a16z and others to bring its biowearable to market
Levels today is announcing a large seed round to help bring its biowearable metabolic sensor to market. The innovative platform pairs continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) with an impressive software suite to provide the wearer with deep insights about their health. The company's founders strongly feel that this approach helps users close the loop between food, exercise and well-being.
Levels provides actionable health information by constantly monitoring the wearer's blood sugar using proven technology. This isn't a wearable worn around the wrist; Levels uses medical hardware that's attached to the wearer's arm for two weeks. It sounds scarier than it is. I have one on right now, and it's painless.
The $12 million seed round was led by Andreessen Horowitz with other notable investors participating, including Marc Randolph (co-founder and first CEO of Netflix), Dick Costolo (former CEO of Twitter), Michael Arrington (founder of TechCrunch), and Matt Dellavedova (NBA, Cleveland Cavaliers).
Levels says there are 45,000 people on its waitlist, and with this funding, the company expects to fulfill all pre-orders and millions more. The company expects customers will be able to purchase Levels starting in early 2021.
Levels is ultimately a behavior change mechanism," CEO and co-founder Josh Clemente said. We will continue to establish product development milestones that are focused on achieving that end state before we fully launch. This funding will allow us to grow the team and perform the research necessary to understand specifically which mechanisms to focus on and translate those into the product. Once we reach that degree of efficacy, we'll launch."
The founders of Level are passionate about this cause. Over several phone calls with TechCrunch, Levels' founders Josh Clemente and Dr. Casey Means explained the company's targets.
Optimizing metabolic function can improve energy, endurance, memory, mood, and cognitive performance. Seven of the ten leading causes of death in the US are strongly related to metabolic dysfunction," said Dr. Casey Means, Co-founder of Levels. Levels helps you improve metabolic fitness by alerting you to foods that negatively impact glucose levels. Armed with this information, you can take control of your metabolic health and make healthier lifestyle decisions."
Image Credits: Levels