BetterYou, an AI-based “healthy habits companion” startup, announces today a $6 million Series A raise. The round is led by Capital Midwest with additional funding from Mairs & Power, Great North Ventures, North Coast Ventures, and NelNet. BetterYou will use the funds to accelerate growth in key areas of its business including additional sales, marketing, and software hires, and continue refining its mobile app user experience.
“For too long the attention economy has been a race to the bottom by creating more distraction and more division,” said BetterYou CEO and Co-founder Sean Higgins. “We are starting the race to the top. The most valuable companies aren’t the ones who rob me of my time but rather the companies that give me time back in my day.”
The Series A raise comes at a pivotal moment in technology history. As 33 states enter a legal battle with Meta over accusations of designing, “psychologically manipulative product features to induce young users’ compulsive and extended use,” BetterYou is primed to be a positive force against technology addiction and services seemingly skewed to keep users on-screen at the cost of physical and mental wellbeing.
“BetterYou can bring life back to equilibrium by understanding how we spend time on our devices and providing strategic nudges to improve our daily lives,” said Capital Midwest Fund Junior Partner Jacob DeZarn. “We could not be more excited to team up with BetterYou to help assist in their initiative of righting the wrongs of previous technological advances.”
BetterYou has partnered with several major companies and universities including H&R Block, Amway, Michigan State University, and Cleveland State University to improve employee and student wellness. During a recent BetterYou steps challenge, H&R Block employees amassed 945,000 steps in just three days. On the university side, students were found to get an average of 32 more minutes of sleep each night as opposed to students who used a different wellness app in a joint study with Stanford University.
Founded in 2018, BetterYou is a healthy habits companion that helps people find more time in the day for wellness through a no-touch solution rooted in behavior design. Once a user sets a number of goals including getting more sleep, reading more, or increasing socialization, BetterYou automatically tracks progress without the need for manual entry.
For more information about BetterYou, visit betteryou.ai.
