Virta Health, a San Francisco, CA-based company delivering the first clinically-proven treatment to safely and sustainably reverse type 2 diabetes (T2D) and other chronic metabolic diseases without the use of medications or surgery has raised a $45 million Series B funding round. THe round include participation from existing investors including Venrock, Obvious Ventures, Creandum,Caffeinated Capital, and Max Levchin’s SciFi VC, along with new investors including Founders Fund and Playground Global.
Founded in 2014 with the goal of reversing diabetes in 100 million people by 2025, Virta is the first clinically-proven treatment to safely and sustainably reverse type 2 diabetes. The clinically-proven Virta Treatment reverses type 2 diabetes and significantly improves several chronic comorbidities, taking direct aim at these skyrocketing healthcare costs and nearly one-third of the more than $3 trillion in annual U.S. healthcare spend.
Recently released 1-year peer-reviewed results from Virta’s ongoing clinical trial demonstrated that the Virta Treatment can quickly reverse and then sustain T2D reversal at one year while substantially improving obesity, blood pressure, cardiovascular disease risk and inflammation. 60 percent of patients receiving the Virta Treatment had T2D reversed and 94 percent of insulin users reduced or stopped usage altogether. Virta estimates that the medical and pharma cost savings alone total $9,600 on average per patient in the first two years.
Virta will use its Series B investment to further improve outcomes, scale the Virta Treatment and invest into growth to help millions of people suffering from reversible chronic diseases. In addition, Virta will also be investing in its commercial capabilities to drive additional partnerships with employers, health plans, and government, while staying committed to being evidence-based through conducting high-quality research.
“We have a unique opportunity to define the standard of care for chronic disease treatment and go from ‘care’ to ‘cure’,” said Sami Inkinen, Virta co-founder and CEO. “This requires substantial investment in machine learning and AI to provide accessible technology tools for both patients and clinicians, in addition to key hires in the product, engineering, data science, and clinical teams.”
