Lifesum raises $10m to fuel international growth and product development

Lifesum (www.lifesum.com), the Stockholm-headquartered digital health company with 15 million users worldwide – creator of Europe’s fastest-growing health app – announces a $10m funding round led by global venture capital firm Nokia Growth Partners (NGP), with Draper Esprit, Bauer Media Group and SparkLabs Global Ventures participating.

Henrik Torstensson, CEO of Lifesum, comments: “We are delighted to welcome NGP and Draper Esprit as investors in Lifesum. We believe they will contribute to the acceleration of Lifesum becoming a truly global brand. The support from our new partners, as leading tech investors, and digital healthcare and wellbeing experts, will help us build a great product and continue to grow rapidly in Europe and the US.”

NGP has offices in the USA (Palo Alto/Silicon Valley), and across Europe, India, and China. The firm’s recent venture capital investments and notable portfolio companies include; booking platform GetYourGuide, language-learning app Babbel, mobile game and app developer MAG Interactive, and artificial intelligence company WorkFusion, among several other significant names. NGP manages a global fund of over $1bn, having successfully executed billion dollar exits, such as Ganji in 2015, and UCWeb in 2014.

Henrik Torstensson, CEO of Lifesum, comments: “The truly global nature of NGP will be a great asset as we continue our global expansion. I especially consider their Silicon Valley office to be a resource that we can start leveraging immediately since the US is becoming more and more significant to Lifesum.”

Walter Masalin, who leads NGP’s investment in Lifesum, comments: “Health and nutrition management is moving online and to mobile at a rapid pace, and Lifesum has established itself as one of the leaders with a strong business model. We also found the vision and roadmap laid out by the team to be very compelling.”

Walter Masalin will join the Lifesum board alongside Vishal Gulati, Venture Partner at Draper Esprit, and existing members, Hokan Lejdstrand of Bauer Media, and Lifesum co-founders, Henrik Torstensson (CEO) and Marcus Gners (COO).

Lifesum will continue to push forward its mission of using data to help people live healthier lives, while also seeking partnerships with organizations in other sectors, including food, fitness, healthcare, DNA and pharmaceuticals. The fundraising will allow Lifesum to hire across multiple sections of its team, including engineering, product, design and marketing, and further expand its footprint in the US and Europe.

According to CB Insights, a New York-based research organization, $2bn was invested in digital health startups in the first quarter of 2016, positioning it to be a record year for funding as venture capital firms realize the market’s huge potential. $4.5bn was invested in 2015, compared to under $1bn in 2011, which is indicative of the sector’s growth. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) predicted that healthcare would be among the top three mobile trends for 2016, and found that the adoption of mobile health apps has doubled from 16% in 2013 to 32% in 2015.

About Lifesum

Lifesum (www.lifesum.com) is a Stockholm-based digital health company that launched in 2013. With over 15 million users worldwide, it follows the proven track record of other successful Swedish digital services such as Spotify and Stardoll, and it is no coincidence that several key executives and managers from these and other Scandinavian success stories now work within the Lifesum team. Key staff members at Lifesum include CEO, Henrik Torstensson, whose previous roles include Head of Premium Sales with Spotify and SVP Strategy at Stardoll, and COO, Marcus Gners, former Vice President of Business Development at Stardoll. Recent senior level hires include Victoria Bastide as Lifesum CTO. A Silicon Valley veteran, Victoria rose to the position of Director, R&D at cloud and virtualization software and service provider, VMware (during the company’s growth from 70 to 10,000 employees). Peter Viksten, Lifesum’s new Chief Product Officer, has over 20 years of experience as a creative in advertising and marketing including as a Creative at Wieden + Kennedy and Mother, and Creative Director at Great Works.

Using tech and psychology, Lifesum is committed to the creation of a tailored plan to help people live happier, more balanced lives. Whether the goal is to lose weight, build muscle, or just live a healthier life, Lifesum shows how changing small, everyday habits can transform your life. The app is available on iOS, Android and Apple Watch. In 2016, Lifesum made health app history by launching digital-to-real world partnerships with food and juice bar Crussh in the UK, and farm-to-table delivery service PALETA in the U.S. Both projects saw Lifesum provide user data which revealed the nutritional deficiencies in London (for Crussh), and New York and Los Angeles (for PALETA). This data was then used to create tailor-made juices to provide the nutrients that locals were lacking.

About NGP

NGP invests in entrepreneurs building intelligent solutions connecting everybody and everything. Providing deep industry expertise and an extensive network, NGP helps entrepreneurs accelerate company growth. With offices in the US, Europe, India and China, NGP extends the reach of companies making their products and services local everywhere. Uniquely structured as a private and independent venture firm sponsored only by Nokia, NGP offers the rigor of a financial investor while facilitating strategic engagement with Nokia. NGP’s portfolio companies include notable names, such as language-learning app Babbel, mobile game and app developer MAG Interactive, and artificial intelligence company WorkFusion. With more than $1bn under management, NGP has also successfully executed billion dollar exits, including Ganji in 2015, and UCWeb in 2014. Visit www.nokiagrowthpartners.com for more information.

Draper Esprit

Draper Esprit (www.draperesprit.com) was founded in 2006, and is one of the largest and most active VC firms in Europe. In 2016 it moved its Primary funds into a listed PLC model in order to take a longer term, multi-stage, patient capital approach. Leading institutional LPs have committed more than $1 billion to Draper Esprit’s funds historically, while the firm has also been the most active secondary tech investor in Europe, having acquired ten VC portfolios to date, as well as direct stakes into later stage companies. Its total capital commitments for secondary transactions is over $400m.