Season Health Strikes A Deal

Season Health, a food-as-medicine startup, will acquire the clinical assets of the dietitian network Wellory.

Why it matters: The deal is set to expand insurance coverage for Season, which is a main roadblock for many food-as-medicine startups.

Details: Deal terms were not disclosed, but the transaction was financed through a SAFE note, with existing investors and strategic partners participating, a source familiar tells Aaron.

What they're saying: "This acquisition significantly grows the size and capabilities of our provider network, which is now 10 times larger, and vastly diversifies our group," says Josh Hix, CEO of Season.

"We are still well capitalized from our Series A and have no concrete plans to proactively fundraise at this time," he says.
"We will continue to look for smart and strategic partnerships."

How it works: Andreessen Horowitz-backed Season Health offers patients a combination of clinical care and access to affordable, medically tailored meals and groceries.

Season members engage with registered dietitians three to four times per month, on average, via both messaging and virtual visits, per the company.
Founded in 2019, Wellory is a nutrition care platform with registered dietitians, serving more than 120 million patients in-network.
Season will now serve all 50 states geographically in over 15 languages.
The combined business will be able to serve more patients with conditions like diabetes, chronic kidney disease, obesity, and high-risk pregnancy.

Catch up quick: Wellory has raised $5.37 million in seed funding from investors like Story Ventures and Harlem Capital. The business was valued at $10.5 million in 2020, according to PitchBook.

Season snagged a $34 million Series A led by Andreessen in March 2022, putting the company's pre-money valuation at $66 million, per PitchBook.

The big picture: Food-as-medicine is being embraced as a new appetizer on the menu of holistic care, but obstacles remain around data measuring and getting insurers on board.

Between the lines: Season's approach mitigates a scenario in which patients use benefits to buy unhealthful or non-nutritious food, codifying its network of food vendors.

Medicaid's food-as-medicine program, as it stands, doesn't have guardrails on what food can be bought with the money, Axios has reported.
Nor is data being collected on what people are buying, LexisNexis risk solutions government group CEO Haywood Talcove told Axios previously.