Demand for ‘Food as Medicine’ Heating Up as Season Raises $34 Million Led by Andreessen Horowitz
Company to Rapidly Expand Payer and Provider Collaborations, Grow Team and Further Ramp National Retail Integrations and Patient Volumes
“Food as Medicine” saw a major validation today as Season Health announced a $34 million Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with participation from LRV Health, Company Ventures, Toyin Ajayi (CEO of Cityblock), the founders of Shef, Instacart, and MasterClass executives among others. This news comes just one month after the company emerged from stealth. The new funds will be utilized primarily to scale the team across business development and operations, support national retailer integrations and to continue adding food marketplace partners.
“Unhealthy diets are a core reason for nearly 85 percent of U.S. healthcare costs. While there have been decades of investment in the consumer food world to entirely digitize that industry, it is time to marry that work with the healthcare world to drive a total rehaul of nutrition in this country,” said Josh Hix, CEO of Season. “The track record of a16z speaks for itself, which is why we are honored to collaborate with Julie Yoo and the team, some of the brightest minds in digital health, to continue expanding Season.”
Season is the world's first digital food pharmacy, bringing the ‘food as medicine’ approach to better support the management of chronic diseases, such as diabetes and kidney issues. The company’s programs enable better health outcomes for patients and reduce the cost of care for insurers. In February 2022, Season Health announced anchor partnerships with Geisinger, CommonSpirit Health, and Cricket Health.
"Our healthcare system is still in the 'read-only' era of food-as-medicine - we can readily shop and receive advice for better dietary choices, but translating that advice into actual healthy food showing up on our tables in real life is still a disjunct, highly manual, and costly process," said Julie Yoo, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. "Season Health solves this conundrum by bringing together meal prescriptions, diverse food choices, delivery logistics, and reimbursement in its comprehensive food-as-medicine platform. We're excited to be backing Season Health to help every patient get access to healthy foods that are medically tailored, tasty, and affordable."
For Insurers:
Season empowers plans to administer scalable, population-wide food benefits management programs, with our evidence-based food programs at the center. Members will have access to top-tier registered dietitian care, an array of tailored food options (across recipes and a network of prepared food vendors), and a dedicated fulfillment team that ensures food arrives directly at members' doorsteps.
For Providers:
Though the connection between healthier food intake and improved health outcomes is well-established, many patients find it difficult to consistently purchase and eat foods that are in line with their clinician’s Nutrition Prescription. Season works with leading health systems to support providers in writing evidence-based food prescriptions across a spectrum of clinical conditions and socioeconomic statuses. We'll work with your patients to ensure they have access to the appropriate food that fits both their clinical needs, and their budget.
About Season Health
Season Health is the world's first digital food pharmacy, and brings food as medicine support to the management of chronic disease. Season equips health systems and insurance providers with the tools to implement scalable food-based benefits programs by providing access to registered dietitians, evidence-based food prescriptions for multiple clinical conditions, and high touch support for users. In addition, Season supports patients directly by addressing challenges to eating well by providing affordable and convenient access to healthy foods delivered right to their door, condition-specific educational content to drive sustainable behavior change, and best-in-breed consumer technology that accounts for personal and dietary preferences of the whole household. Learn more at seasonhealth.com.
Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is a venture capital firm that backs bold entrepreneurs building the future through technology. The firm is stage agnostic, investing in seed to growth-stage technology companies, across the consumer, enterprise, bio+health, crypto, and fintech spaces. a16z has over $28.2 billion in assets under management across multiple funds. See portfolio companies here: https://a16z.com/portfolio/.