Signs combines a wearable glucose monitor with an app powered by artificial intelligence.
Source: Signs
Health technology startup Signos announced a $20 million funding round on Wednesday, increasing its presence in the GLP-1-powered weight loss market and expanding its partnership with the medical device giant. dexcom.
Google Ventures, Dexcom and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama invested in this latest round, which includes a new distribution agreement to place Signos subscription plans on Dexcom's direct-to-consumer site.
“Dexcom's investment really reflected a shared belief in the future of glucose biosensing beyond diabetes management,” Signos CEO Sharam Fouladgar-Mercer told CNBC. “Your biosensor provides glucose data. We translate it into real guidance.”
Signos makes an AI-powered glucose monitoring system designed to help with healthy weight loss, the first of its kind to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration, approved in 2025.
It uses Dexcom's commercially available continuous glucose monitor to measure how a user's lifestyle choices in real time can affect their health, such as food choices, sleep, and stress levels. From there, the platform provides personalized recommendations to develop healthier habits.
“No one wants to have a PhD in statistics to figure out their own body, so we're really helping to translate this glucose knowledge into real recommendations, and then the pattern recognition is designed to support healthier habits and sustainable weight management,” Fouladgar-Mercer told CNBC.
The startup declined to comment on its valuation after the round.
The new funding will go toward expanding its predictive AI features, such as food scoring, where a user's data is used to warn them about whether a specific food could raise their glucose levels before eating it.
Fouladgar-Mercer said the real opportunity AI offers is translating biology into “a practical guide that people can actually use.”
“So you can take a photo of the food and the AI will detect the entity and figure out the macros and all that, and also the activities, but it's really how to take that and determine how your body responds in real time to give you that feedback to help drive behavior change,” he said.
The service is intended for those who want to supplement their treatments with the GLP-1 drug or as a stand-alone weight loss system, Fouladgar-Mercer said.
Signos' new partnership with Dexcom could give the startup greater visibility in the burgeoning weight loss market, as demand for expensive GLP-1 drugs like Nordisk's Wegovy and Eli LillyThe Zepbound continues to fire.
Nearly 74% of Americans are obese or overweight, according to government data. Estimates of J.Morgan They predict that approximately 25 million Americans will take a GLP-1 by 2030, more than double the number of patients in 2025.
While Fouladgar-Mercer said the company doesn't share metrics on revenue or customer counts, he said both revenue and user base have grown tenfold in the past six months. He added that “tens of thousands” have participated in clinical studies.
“Just tracking outcomes, like steps or heart rate, is fine, but if we can't track metabolic input and response, then we won't be able to help people as effectively as we want,” Fouladgar-Mercer said.
