- Nutrition startup Fay has raised $50 million in Series B funding.
- Goldman Growth Equity led the fundraise at a $500 million valuation.
- Fay is picking up steam by connecting patients with registered dietitians as Ozempic use surges.
Nutrition startup Fay just grabbed a Series B fundraise led by Goldman Growth Equity.
Fay, which connects patients with registered dietitians covered by their insurance, raised a $50 million round which values the startup at $500 million, a fivefold increase on Fay’s Series A valuation, according to the company. Existing investors General Catalyst and Forerunner also joined the Series B round.
Fay works with employers and health plans to help patients find virtual or in-person nutrition counseling covered by their insurance. The startup also offers services to registered dietitians using its platform like helping those providers verify their qualifications with insurance companies so they can accept reimbursement.
Cofounders Sammy Faycurry and Mark Stefanski told Business Insider that Fay has seen significant growth since emerging from stealth in May 2024 with $25 million in funding. The startup now hosts more than 2,500 dietitians on its platform, up from over 1,000 in May.
“From the start, we focused on putting product first,” Fay cofounder Mark Stefanski told BI. The startup has introduced several AI-powered features, including a tool to help dietitians quickly generate meal plans. “Those features supercharge the dietitians, which lets them do in seconds or minutes what would otherwise take them hours,” Stefanski said.
Forerunner Ventures led Fay’s $20 million Series A. Founded in 2022, Fay is also backed by VC firm 1984 and angel investors from fellow healthcare startups Grow Therapy and Maven Clinic.
Employers and health plans appear increasingly eager to work with startups providing lifestyle interventions for obesity, especially as the use of GLP-1 drugs surges.
Fay said at its launch that the explosion of GLP-1s had boosted demand for registered dietitians as clinicians seek to prescribe drugs like Ozempic alongside nutrition care.
It’s not the only nutrition startup catching investors’ eyes for that purpose. Telehealth platform Nourish raised a $35 million Series A in March 2024, led by Index Ventures, while Culina Health raised a $7.9 million Series A in December, led by Healthworx, the investment arm of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield.
Later-stage startups want in on the action, too. Virta Health and Omada Health have both started offering obesity care in the past year alongside their diabetes programs.
Omada CEO Sean Duffy told BI in October that weight-loss care has become the most popular front door for Omada’s new customers.
“The inbound that we get from benefits buyers, the first question is, tell me more about the GLP-1 care track. And that’s the thing that turns into the other conversations,” Duffy said.
Fay offers its nutritionist-matching services in all 50 states. The startup released its patient-facing app in October, and its cofounders said they plan to add several new features this year.
The startup says it also plans to use the Series B funds to improve its ability to collect and report data on patient outcomes and cost savings to providers and payers.
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