Bengaluru-based AltLife aims to help patients with lifestyle diseases lead a healthier life, reduce intake of medicines
Healthtech and wellness startup, AltLife connects lifestyle disease patients with nutritionists, dieticians and doctors to maintain a healthy and balanced lifestyle to keep their disease in control.
Lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, PCOD, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and hypertension are on the rise in India. According to the GoQii India Fit India 2020 report, about 70 million people are struggling with diabetes mellitus. Apart from this, 51.7 percent of diabetes patients have cholesterol, leading to heart diseases, and around 13.4 percent of them suffer from high blood pressure.
After getting diagnosed with diabetes, Vivek Subramanyam realised that no amount of medicines and increased dosages were helping him in maintaining his blood sugar levels. After extensive research, he understood that medicines and other interventions mostly focus on managing the symptoms and not the core illness. He realised that lifestyle choices and incorrect metabolism are the major reasons behind such diseases, and one needs to maintain a good lifestyle to overcome such health problems.
In 2018, Vivek launched to help people maintain their well being and beat the diseases. Later, Kartik Sarwade, Monika Manchanda, Naren Santhanam and Purushotham Govindarajan, who are also victims of lifestyle diseases, joined as co-founders.
This Bengaluru-based healthtech company provides patients with a tech platform to connect with doctors and nutritionists in order to get expert consultations on food, fitness, mental well-being and medical diagnosis. The company also has a team of in-house chefs who make and supply food made with organic produce. The platform connects the patients with trainers who help them with regular exercises and meditation to maintain their body weight and mental health.
Speaking with YourStory, Vivek says, “I learnt that the root cause for these diseases are an imbalanced metabolism, unhealthy cells that are not functioning to their potential, and weakening of the body’s immunity and other defence mechanisms. It became clear that over time, based on various lifestyle choices we make, these become worse leading to diabetes, hypertension or any other lifestyle condition. At AltLife, we have put in a lot of effort and designed technology, processes, and interventions that make the experience convenient for people to sustain the journey.”
AltLife Team. [Image Credit: AltLife]
Journey to a healthier lifestyle
Vivek explains that the solutions are designed to be engaging and enjoyable for the patients to help them continue to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Patients can connect with AltLife via the official website or phone number and subscribe to their weekly trial, 30-days or 90-days plan. Then the startup will help them connect with nutritionists and doctors to get a thorough test and diagnosis of their diseases. Patients will be sent organic and therapeutic meals every day, and will have to participate in daily exercises and meditation sessions organised by the experts. Healthcare workers will also test and monitor their health using the mobile app and guide them in maintaining a healthy life.
According to the CEO, the flagship 90-day Health Restore Program helps people fight their disorders through solutions including therapeutic food delivery, exercise or yoga, meditation classes, periodic diagnostics, and expert consultations. The 30-days programme is aimed at preventing diseases by focusing on gut health and immunity revival.
“Our goal includes getting our clients to improve their health outcomes, reduction or elimination of medicines, and potential reversal through the program. We guarantee an HbA1c of 6 or lower, and the ability to wean you off your medication as you complete the program,” he adds.
The online platform was beta-launched in June 2020 and the company is looking for a complete rollout by Jan 2021.
“We also help people predict the future of their health with our proprietary health and risk assessment product. This helps people understand their current health and gives insights into the possible risks to their future health and takes a proactive approach now with a goal of prevention,” he adds.
Illustration: YS Design
Business and more
AltLife has a team of over 10 doctors, nutritionists, physiotherapists, yoga masters, and counselors, and is working with over 150 patients as of now. Users need to subscribe to get access to the healthcare solutions.
Subscription options include a weekly trial for Rs 7,000, a 30-days programme for Rs 60,200 and 90-days programme for Rs 1,65,000.
Vivek adds that while the COVID-19 pandemic had impacted the product rollout, eventually it became a blessing in disguise as the pandemic outbreak led people to further care about their health, especially those suffering from lifestyle diseases.
“We had planned our commercial launch in the month of March, it got pushed to June because of the country-wide lockdown. However, to our surprise, the response was encouraging because people started prioritising their health and well-being like never before,” he says.
While the founder did not reveal details about the initial investment, he says that the bootstrapped company was launched after collecting funds from friends and families. However, the company is looking for investors and plans to raise external funding in 2021.
AltLife competes with notable players including Twin Health, Well Thy, , , and Truweight among others. The CEO explains that while some players are involved in tracking data and behaviour, some are advisory companies, and many offer focused services such as devices or fitness coaching etc. “Given the size of the problem, I do hope each of us ends up being successful in partnering with clients to improve their health,” he adds.
Speaking about future plans, he adds that the current goal is to reach out to more people and help them understand the solution.
“The immediate plan is to let more people know about us and help them solve this problem and take control of their health. We are serving Bangalore city currently but would gradually scale the business and expand our reach in terms of geography and product portfolio,” Vivek says.
Edited by Anju Narayanan