Breathe Well-Being raises $5.5 million in funding led by Accel

Digital therapeutics company Breathe Well-Being has raised $5.5 million in its Series A round, led by Accel.

General Catalyst, 3one4 Capital and Scott Shleifer, the global managing director of New York-based investment firm Tiger Global also participated in the round, said a senior company executive.

“We will use the capital to deepen our tech expertise in product development and in building out our platform and team across functions,” Rohan Verma, co-founder and CEO, Breathe Well Being told ET.


The Y Combinator-backed company, which started operations amidst Covid-19 pandemic, helps people prevent, manage and reverse Type 2 diabetes by using a personalised coach-driven approach.

In May, the company said it had raised $1 million in a pre-Series A round, led by 3one4 Capital.

Sandeep Singhal (managing director, Nexus Venture Partners), Ashish Gupta (ex-MD, Helion Ventures and n investor in Flipkart, MakeMyTrip and naukri.com), Stanford Angels and Entrepreneurs India (SAE India) are investors in the company.

Silicon Valley-based Y Combinator invested in Breathe during its 2020 winter batch.

Gurugram-based Breathe said it has a clinically proven digital programme which uses a personalised coach-driven, community-first approach to help people with Type 2 Diabetes reduce blood sugar levels, lose weight and stop medication eventually.

Users access the programme through the Breathe app.

The programme has so far helped more than 10,000 people lose weight, reduce blood sugar and prevent health complications. “As we speak, there are 1,000 users in the waitlist,” Verma said.

Reversing chronic conditions like diabetes requires personalized lifestyle changes across diet, fitness, and mental wellness. The company said its flagship Online Diabetes Reversal Program has resulted in more than 95% patients showing HbA1c (three-month average blood sugar readings) reduction of more than 10% and more than 90% patients with completely stopped or reduced medications.

The company offers ‘No Outcome, No Pay’ where patients end up paying only if they see a significant reduction in the HbA1c levels, otherwise the fee is refunded.

In India, 150 million patients suffer from chronic lifestyle diseases such as Type 2 Diabetes, Polycystic Ovarian Disease, thyroid and hypertension.

Diabetes, if left untreated, can lead to potential complications that include heart disease, stroke, kidney damage, and nerve damage. Adults with diabetes have a two- to three-fold increased risk of heart attacks and strokes.

“We are really impressed at the customer stickiness around Breathe’s product and believe that the company has tremendous potential in scaling up this digital-led approach not just with diabetes but with any other conditions,” said Radhika Ananth, vice president, Accel, who focuses on early-stage investments in healthcare and consumer technologies companies at the firm.