Digital Health Breakthrough: SCiO Food Calorie Tracker Files IPO Prospectus

Food tracking remains an untapped frontier in digital health. Admittedly, compared with pen and paper, mobile apps make it easier to record dietary patterns. However, unlike step counting, heart rate monitoring, or blood pressure measurement, there are no connectable devices capable of automatically tracking what users eat or how many calories they consume. The technical barriers to developing food-tracking devices are evidently high for all technology companies, which explains why only a few small startups have ventured into this field over the past year and a half.

Three once-promising startups—Airo, HealBe, and TellSpec—are in a precarious position, caught between “immature technology” and “outright fraud.” Meanwhile, SCiO, a subsidiary of the third-party company Consumer Physics, may well turn this seemingly unattainable technological fantasy into reality.



In late November 2013, a company named Ontario-based Airo became the first to dare promise the development of a food calorie tracker, but it ultimately disappointed its consumers. Three weeks after the successful conclusion of a new round of crowdfunding, Airo emailed early investors to inform them that their initial investments would be refunded, and that the device would only be launched after further verification and successful testing. However, since then, Airo has not released any further updates.

Another device, the HealBe GoBe, raised substantial crowdfunding capital in 2014 and was launched earlier this year. The device has drawn significant attention from PandoDaily (a technology media outlet), which pointed out that, like other devices, there is a lack of evidence to support HealBe’s advertising claims that it can track food calories or nutrients. In January, HealBe finally released its new product (at least sending units to numerous journalists for testing). Although some individuals have claimed that the device can indeed track calorie intake, the device itself has many flaws.

A miniature spectrometer, TellSpec, claims to scan for allergens, chemical residues, nutrients, calories, and other components in food using a user’s smartphone. Although TellSpec has raised substantial funding, it has yet to deliver any product to its investors or refund their capital. The saga continues, as TellSpec has launched a new round of fundraising on investment platforms.

Consumer Physics also conducted a successful fundraising campaign and launched its next-generation food tracker, SCiO. The marketing for SCiO adopts a more tempered tone, explicitly advising consumers against using it to monitor food allergies and acknowledging that it may not be entirely accurate; in fact, its accuracy is expected to improve continuously as user data accumulates. The device also secured a $4 million investment from Khosla Ventures.

Translation: Liu Jianqiu

Editor: Zhang Nan