Alma: AI-Powered Nutrition App by Former Whoop Exec

The Rise of AI-Powered Nutrition Apps

Generative AI models are proving to application developers that integrating a comprehensive knowledge base with appropriate models can deliver services – previously requiring expensive professionals like therapists or executive assistants – to users at significantly reduced costs.

Rami Alhamad, formerly the VP of product at Whoop, shares a similar perspective regarding nutrition with his newly launched application, Alma.

The Alma iOS app, now available to users across North America, presents a user-friendly interface featuring a calorie tracker and a nutrition guide enhanced by an AI layer.

Streamlining Nutrition Tracking with AI

Alhamad believes that existing fitness applications, such as MyFitnessPal, often make nutrition tracking a cumbersome process. Users typically need to manually search for food items and input them for each meal.

Alma offers a different approach: users can simply communicate – either verbally or through text – with the app’s AI assistant, describing their meals. The application then estimates portion sizes and calorie intake.

Users retain the ability to refine these estimations after the app displays the calculated calorie count.

Image Recognition and Alternative Input Methods

Alternatively, users can submit a photograph of their meal. The integrated AI algorithm will then identify the dishes present.

Similar functionalities are currently available in applications like Healthify (supported by Kholsa) and SnapCalorie (backed by YC). However, Alma is prioritizing its design, the diversity of input options, and overall user experience as key factors for achieving growth.

Personalized Meal Suggestions and Dietary Insights

Beyond basic calorie tracking, users can request meal suggestions from the AI assistant, tailored to specific goals related to fiber and protein consumption.

Furthermore, users can upload images of menus and receive AI-driven recommendations for suitable choices aligned with their dietary objectives.

The app also provides a daily score, reflecting the nutritional content of consumed foods in terms of calories and macronutrients.

This score is then utilized to offer personalized tips for dietary improvement.

Adaptive Learning and Subscription Model

As users engage in more conversations with the AI assistant, the application learns individual preferences and provides increasingly relevant suggestions.

These insights are accessible within user profiles and can be modified as needed.

The company plans to generate revenue through a subscription model, offering a monthly plan at $19 or an annual plan at $199.

The Genesis of Alma and its Future Trajectory

Following the sale of his sports tech company, Push, to Whoop, Alhamad shared with TechCrunch his contemplation of a new venture within the health and nutrition sector after his departure from Whoop in 2022. He identified a gap in the market, noting the prevalence of trackers for exercise and sleep, yet a lack of a streamlined solution for nutritional tracking.

“Throughout the past decade, my weight has fluctuated considerably. A significant amount of time was dedicated to utilizing applications such as MyFitnessPal for meticulously logging food consumption. The emergence of ChatGPT prompted me, like many others, to explore its potential for meal planning and culinary assistance. However, its responses lacked personalization,” Alhamad explained. “After leaving Whoop last year, I began to seriously address this challenge.”

Currently an entrepreneur in residence at Menlo Ventures, Alhamad envisions a future where consumer-focused AI companies specialize in singular areas. To date, the startup has secured $2.9 million in funding from Menlo Ventures and Anthropic, via the Anthology Fund.

Technically, Alma leverages a combination of AI models to deliver its results. The platform incorporates nutritional knowledge sourced from Harvard Nutrition, and the company employs a team dedicated to expanding its nutritional dataset. Alhamad also expressed the startup’s intention to broaden its knowledge base by incorporating health insights from across the globe.

Planned Enhancements to Alma’s Functionality

The Alma team aims to enhance the app’s food discovery capabilities. While users can currently request recipes from the AI assistant, the ability to save these recipes for later use is not yet available. Future iterations will feature automated food suggestions tailored to individual goals and preferences.

Furthermore, the app will incorporate functionality to simplify cooking based on ingredients already available in the user’s pantry. Existing chatbots, such as ChatGPT and Claude, offer similar features, but require users to provide detailed context with each prompt.

Alma seeks to eliminate this friction by integrating these features directly into the app. Samsung’s Food app, launched last year, introduced features like pantry tracking and recipe recommendations based on available ingredients.

Shawn Carolan, a partner at Menlo VC, highlighted the ease of food intake logging as a key advantage of Alma.

“Recording each item consumed throughout the day can be cumbersome, especially when dealing with a large number of foods. Alma allows users to simply speak to the app and quickly register their intake. A reduction in time from 30 seconds to just a few seconds can significantly drive user engagement,” Carolan stated.

He further noted that many individuals currently do not have access to nutritional guidance, and Alma can provide convenient access to this type of information.

“Considering the substantial costs associated with weight loss injections, the availability of a personalized nutritionist in one’s pocket could offer a drug-free path to achieving health objectives,” Carolan concluded.