TITLE: Kevin Hart’s VC Firm Invests $35M in AI Weight-Loss App Simple
Founder’s Personal Journey Inspires AI Health Coaching App
Mike Prytkov understands firsthand how stress can dominate one’s life. While building his first company, the entrepreneur worked extensive hours and experienced significant weight gain. After exiting his advertising technology venture Appness, Prytkov experimented with various weight loss methods including intense workout regimens, calorie counting, and fasting protocols. While these approaches showed results, he discovered that maintaining consistency presented the greatest challenge.
Birth of Simple: AI-Powered Health Coaching
What Prytkov truly needed was accountability through coaching support. This realization led him to launch Simple in 2019—an artificial intelligence-driven health coaching application designed to assist people with weight management. The platform’s standout feature emerged in 2023 with the introduction of Avo, an AI coach that delivers customized guidance based on individual user needs and progress metrics.
“We aimed to help people achieve weight loss without the guilt or extreme effort inherent in toxic diet culture,” Prytkov explained.
Substantial Growth and Significant Funding
The company has achieved remarkable traction, reaching $160 million in annual recurring revenue with 700,000 active subscribers. Recently, Simple secured $35 million in Series B funding led by Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat Ventures, bringing total funding to $45 million. Prytkov now leads the company independently after his original co-founder departed.
Advanced AI Coaching Capabilities
Avo currently manages over 100,000 daily coaching conversations and processes approximately 300,000 meal logs each day. Users begin by completing a comprehensive form to establish their personalized program before being introduced to their AI coach. The system gathers user-provided information including meal documentation and conducts assessments that evaluate habits and nutritional quality.
“Our coaching utilizes large language models that adapt both tone and content to individual users, maintaining memory for long-term context and implementing constitution-based fine-tuning,” Prytkov added.
Differentiation in Competitive Market
Simple operates in direct competition with established players like Noom, WeightWatchers, and MyFitnessPal. However, Prytkov emphasizes the app’s distinctive approach: “We deliver personalized coaching rather than simple tracking. Avo dynamically adjusts daily plans covering nutrition, fasting, physical activity, and habits while providing real-time meal feedback and customized check-ins.”
The application notably diverges from competitors by avoiding generic educational content, basic calorie monitoring, and GLP-1 medication distribution. Instead, it serves as a behavioral support system for GLP-1 users, helping maintain routines after medication cycles conclude.
Technological Evolution and Future Vision
The emergence of advanced language models has significantly enhanced the platform’s personalization capabilities. “Artificial intelligence has transformed both our product and business model,” Prytkov noted. “Each conversation and logged meal contributes to a closed-loop learning system that updates individual profiles and refines our cohort-level models. With every iteration, Avo becomes increasingly accurate and proactive.”
Hartbeat Ventures initiated contact following Avo’s launch two years ago, despite Simple not actively seeking investors. The alignment proved compelling given the app’s established metrics, profitability, and market traction. Additional participants in the funding round included private credit firm Liquidity.
Expansion Plans and Long-Term Objectives
Prytkov attributes user adoption to the app’s non-clinical approach, noting that virtual wellness has become the primary entry point for weight management due to affordability and accessibility. Future developments will enhance GLP-1 companion features and introduce specialized programs for women’s health and midlife needs.
The ultimate ambition extends beyond weight loss to create a comprehensive health application addressing sleep quality, stress management, and physical activity. “We envision becoming the Duolingo of health—creating an engaging, daily health companion that represents the most effective method for building sustainable healthy habits,” Prytkov concluded.
This coverage builds upon reporting originally published by IMD Monitor regarding this significant investment in AI-driven health technology.
