Fortune | FORTUNE 08月21日
Exclusive: Twin Health, metabolic health startup, raises $53 million Series E at $950 million valuation
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德州牧师Wallace通过使用Twin Health的数字孪生技术,成功管理了糖尿病。该技术将他的葡萄糖监测器和活动追踪器链接起来,帮助他重塑了对糖尿病的认知,并带来了积极的行为改变。Wallace在90天内A1C降至5.1,减重70磅,摆脱了二甲双胍。Twin Health创始人Jahangir Mohammed指出,包括糖尿病在内的许多慢性病根源于代谢紊乱,而数字孪生技术通过结合生物学和行为学,为解决这一全球性难题提供了新途径。公司近期完成5300万美元E轮融资,估值超9.5亿美元,并与多家雇主和健康计划合作,显示出巨大的商业潜力。

🌟 数字孪生技术革新糖尿病管理:牧师Wallace的案例表明,通过数字孪生技术连接生理数据和活动追踪,患者可以更有效地理解和管理糖尿病。Wallace的经历显示,这种技术能帮助用户建立自律和自我控制,从而实现健康改善,如A1C下降和体重减轻。

🧬 代谢紊乱是慢性病根源:Twin Health创始人Jahangir Mohammed强调,糖尿病、高血压、高胆固醇等多种慢性病往往源于代谢紊乱,这是全球影响超过20亿人的健康问题。解决代谢紊乱是应对这些疾病的关键。

💡 技术结合行为学是关键:Twin Health的首席医疗官Dr. Lisa Shah指出,解决健康问题不仅在于生物学,更在于行为。生活方式(饮食、运动、休息、呼吸、思维)直接影响生理健康,因此必须同时纠正行为和生物学问题。

📈 Twin Health获巨额融资并扩大合作:Twin Health近期获得了5300万美元的E轮融资,估值超过9.5亿美元,显示了投资者对其模式的信心。公司正与雇主和健康计划广泛合作,标志着其商业化进入加速发展阶段,有望实现规模化增长。

🌱 关注身心健康与人生目标:Wallace的经历也触及了精神层面,他认为良好的身体健康是精神健康的基石,能让他更好地服务教会和他人,体现了健康管理与人生价值的关联。

Wallace—a pastor in Texas, warm and with a flowing Southern drawl—was diagnosed with diabetes in early 2023, with an A1C of 7 and a prescription for Metformin. A few months in, Wallace decided he didn’t want to rely on drugs alone, taking on a digital twin, a virtual rendering of his body built by startup Twin Health. For more than two years, that twin has been linked to his glucose monitor and activity tracker—at Wallace’s side, through grocery stores, church events, and in his yard with his kids. He says that, without a doubt, the technology has helped him reframe how he thinks about his diabetes. 

“When you incorporate a sense of control and allow things to be used in the proper design, that’s when flourishing comes,” said Wallace. “Sugar tastes really good, but if all I eat is pecan pies—which I’d love to do—it’s going to affect my health. Seeing that has made a difference. Now, as I’ve been able to heal, the slice of pecan pie is in its proper place and isn’t affecting my health in a detrimental way. [Twin] has helped bring in a sense of discipline and self-control that didn’t feel forced.”

For Wallace, the results were expeditious. In 90 days, he said, his A1C dropped to 5.1, and he was off Metformin. In a few months, he lost 70 pounds. Wallace’s story is striking, especially in the U.S., where some estimates suggest nearly 50 million people live with diabetes today.

“Diabetes doesn’t occur by itself,” said Jahangir Mohammed, founder and CEO of Twin Health. “It occurs as a cluster of diseases—it’s diabetes, hypertension, bad cholesterol, fatty liver, chronic kidney disease. These things happen together, and when not addressed, they show up as heart failure, kidney failure and Alzheimer’s… These are the most prevalent diseases, globally affecting over two billion people. In the U.S., we spend one trillion dollars and still see 1.5 million premature deaths. It turns out there’s one root cause—dysfunctional metabolism. Can you imagine, the world’s largest problem has one root cause and we haven’t solved it?”

Mohammed—who previously founded and sold Jasper Technologies to Cisco for $1.4 billion—founded Twin Health in 2018, and this week has been a milestone for the company. The company yesterday, with the Cleveland Clinic, published the results of a study in the New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst that showed that 71% of study participants using the digital twin lowered their A1C and were frequently able to stop using medications. And today, the company is revealing that it raised a $53 million Series E led by Maj Invest of Denmark, Fortune has exclusively learned. This brings Twin’s valuation to more than $950 million, and existing investors Iconiq and Temasek also participated in this round. Twin’s model involves partnering with employers and health plans, including Benjamin Moore, HCSC (Health Care Service Corporation), Heritage Group Health Program, Invitation Homes, Bayview, and Medline.

“I think right now they’ve reached a number of very important technological and commercial milestones, especially with the latest blue-chip health plans and larger corporates signing up to Twin Health,” said Jannick Mortensen, partner at Maj Invest. “We’re reaching a scaling or inflection point, where we simply just need to scale commercially across more employers, health plans, and patients.”

That isn’t to say this is an easy problem to solve. Twin’s Dr. Lisa Shah, chief medical officer, says she’s seen more doctors willing to engage with emerging technologies today, than five years ago. But treating diabetes isn’t just a doctor’s office endeavor—it’s an everyday endeavor. 

“Biology is only half the problem, it’s also behavior,” said Mohammed. “Behavior causes biology. It’s what we put in our body, how we move, how we rest, how we breathe, the thoughts that run in our head. We have to correct the behavior to correct the biology. The only way to solve this problem is with biology and behavior simultaneously. It’s a simultaneous problem, not a sequential problem to solve.” 

I’ve always found metabolism mysterious, and it turns out that’s not an accident. It is, in part, scientific fact. 

“Human metabolism is actually one of the most complicated systems in the world,” said Twin’s Dr. Shah. “I always joke with my members: How many of you have heard that your metabolism slows down as you get older? Everyone. But what I teach people is that it’s like a car engine. When you drive that car off the lot, the engine gets older every day from there. But if you take that engine, give it TLC, you can increase the lifespan of that engine.” 

Of course, over time, we change: We get desk jobs, we can’t eat heaps of pasta with the ease we had at 16, and our hormones change. As our bodies wear down, our metabolism evolves in ways we never planned for. Our lives evolve in ways we never planned for, and don’t always understand. And, in part, health is the intersection of science, data, everyday practices—and recognizing what we don’t know and can’t know. Having faith, which it seemed like it was worth asking a pastor about. 

“I’ve learned there’s a spiritual component to this,” said Wallace. “We have a physical nature, and we have an immaterial nature—soul and spirit, housed in this physical nature. And God has designed us to flourish… There’s something spiritual about being a good steward of my physical health, allowing me to be more present to help my congregation. It’s allowing me to be more present for other people, and to be more available.”

Term Sheet Podcast, Episode 4 is out and I’m especially excited about this one: Guillermo Rauch, founder and CEO of Vercel, is already an Internet legend. G is one of the most important voices right now at the heart of the vibe coding movement—shaping how we think about democratization, design, and the future of building on the web. Tune in here.

See you tomorrow,

Allie Garfinkle
X:
@agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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Venture Deals

- Overhaul, an Austin, Texas-based supply chain risk and intelligence company, raised $105 million in Series C funding. Springcoast Partners led the round and was joined by Edison Partners.

 - TinyFish, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based web infrastructure company, raised $47 million in funding. INCONIQ led the round and was joined by USVP, Mango Capital, MongoDB Ventures, ASG, and Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners.

- Loft Dynamics, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based developer of virtual reality flight training technology, raised $24 million in Series B funding. The Friedkin Group led the round and was joined by Alaska Airlines, Sky Dayton, Craft Ventures, and UP.Partners.

- Develop Health, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based benefits‑verification and prior‑authorization platform, raised $14.3 million in Series A funding. Wing Venture Capital led the round and was joined by Afore Capital, J Ventures, and South Park Commons.

- Phoebe, a London, U.K.-based developer of agentic AI software designed to diagnose issues in live data and prevent them, raised $17 million in seed funding. Google Ventures and Cherry Ventures led the round.

- Firecrawl, a San Francisco-based AI crawler, raised $14.5 million in Series A funding. Nexus Venture Partners led the round and was joined by Y Combinator and others.

- Garage, a New York City-based online emergency vehicle and surplus equipment marketplace, raised $13.5 million in Series A funding. Infinity Ventures led the round and was joined by Y Combinator, Initialized Capital, Benchstrength, Wayfinder Ventures, and FJ Labs.

- Definite, a Wilmington, Del.-based full-stack AI-native data platform, raised $10 million in seed funding. Costanoa led the round and was joined by Acrew Capital and angel investors.

- Convoke, a South San Francisco-based AI-powered operating system for drug development, raised $8.6 million in seed funding. Kleiner Perkins and Dimension Capital led the round and were joined by ACME, Comma Capital, Liquid2, Not Boring Capital, Audacious, Lux Capital, and angel investors.

- Legion, a New York City-based crypto fundraising platform, raised $5 million in seed funding. VanEck and Brevan Howard Digital led the round and were joined by Kraken, Coinbase Ventures, GSR, Crypto.com Capital, cyber•Fund, Bitscale Capital, Blockchain Builders Fund, and Systemic.

Private Equity

- FTV Capital led a minority investment into Highway, a Dallas, Texas-based technology platform for carrier identity and compliance logistics. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Riata Capital Group recapitalized COEO Solutions, a Downers Grove, Ill.-based provider of managed network and cloud collaboration services. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

- Sequoia Financial Group agreed to acquire The Martin Worley Group, a Cottonwood Heights, Utah-based wealth manager. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Other

- Lowe’s Companies agreed to acquire Foundation Building Materials, a Santa Ana, Calif.-based distributor of interior building products, for $8.8 billion.

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数字孪生 糖尿病管理 代谢紊乱 健康科技 行为改变
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