STAT+: Buoyed by its popular weight loss app, Noom enters the crowded field of digital mental health
Five months ago, weight loss company Noom announced $540 million in funding, dwarfing its previous investments. With locked-down users flocking to its app, revenues in 2020 had surged to $400 million, and the company made an ambitious pitch: It would spend the money to expand its behavioral change approach to other conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, and sleep.
Now, Noom is taking its first big step toward becoming a diversified digital health company with Noom Mood, a smartphone wellness app targeted toward people with daily stress and anxiety. Like the company’s weight loss program, Mood — which the company first rolled out as a beta program last year — primarily draws on concepts from cognitive behavioral therapy. “It was kind of a no-brainer,” said Andreas Michaelides, Noom’s chief of psychology. “These concepts are really what we consider to be the gold standard with psychology.”