There’s no shortage of apps to help you get healthier. Most push the idea of the Quantified Self. Better data, makes for better decisions — a claim that is difficult to argue against.
Today, Nutrino sees its official launch with a virtual nutritionist app for iOS that provides personalised meal recommendations based on a user’s profile, goals, habits and taste. It also includes a grocery list component, which at launch ties into major UK supermarket chains, in addition to support for Withings wireless scales to save on manual data entry.
Nutrino starts from the premise that, rather than taking a “one-size-fits-all” approach, nutrition should be personal to each individual. And while there are lots of apps and gadgets on the market to help users track their diet or fitness, Nutrino’s pitch places more emphasis on its recommendation algorithms — two years in the making, apparently — which it claims enable it to truly personalise its nutritional/meal planning features.
Users began by taking a survey within the app, with a largely toggle-driven UI, which forms the basis of their Nutrino profile. This includes obvious things like gender, age, height, weight, and something as subject as their exercise-related lifestyle e.g. couch potato. They also define their goals, such as lose or maintain weight, as well as their culinary tastes and eating habits, and so on. The app then provides a daily meal plan for each user. Naturally, there’s a tracking element, too, hence the ability to sync weight data with the Withings wireless scale/app.
Finally, each meal can be added to the app’s “Grocery List” feature, for easy purchase at one of the supported grocery stores — Tesco and ASDA in the UK with “more chains worldwide to come soon”. Nutrino also ties in with the likes of Pret, pod, eat, Costa Coffee and Café Nero, for users who are eating on-the-go.
In terms of business model, in the future Nutrino will target communities with special nutritional requirements, such as people with diabetes, hypertension, or athletes etc., who would be willing to pay a subscription for more tailored features. There’s also tie-ins with grocery shopping, and take-out food ordering. To that end, I can see something along the lines of weight loss coaching app Noom’s recent partnership with recipe kit subscription service HelloFresh.
The startup is funded to the tune of $400,000 from family and private investors. It’s founded by Jonathan Lipnik, Yaron Hadad, Jose Luis Martin de Bustamente, Eduard Ros Bajona, and Ido Cohn, and is spread across the UK, Spain and Israel.