Becoming the best version of oneself takes on many different forms and meanings, whether it’s achieving excellence in a hobby or reaching the pinnacle of one’s physicality. Specializing in the latter domain is Fount. The biotech and performance coaching company offers individualized programming to help users achieve their health and physical performance goals.
LA-based Fount announced on Wednesday it raised a $12 million Series A round led by Amity Ventures. The capital will go toward a range of product innovations that build upon Fount’s flagship offering Fount Pro. This four-month program aims to be a comprehensive and customized experience that helps users improve their sleep, gut health, longevity, stress levels and more.
Fount is spearheaded by CEO and founder Andrew Herr, who previously worked in performance training for the U.S. military. He worked under the Secretary of Defence for a study dedicated to the future of human performance. During this time, Herr put his technology and microbiology background to use for various tasks ranging from writing R&D strategies to helping Navy SEALs prepare for deployment, Herr told Built In.
Later on, Herr transitioned his expertise into the professional sports and business sectors with his own venture that offered concierge performance programs. In running these programs Herr leveraged frequent client bloodwork analysis and data gathered from wearable devices. He later sought a way to scale this kind of offering to more people.
Fount is the result of Herr’s research. Its programming combines blood testing, wearable data, coaching and experimentation into a customized experience for the individuals it serves. With Fount Pro, members undergo an initial lab test and movement assessment. Then, they are assigned a performance advisor, who walks the user through customized experiments to find what nutrition habits, supplements, meditation practices, recovery exercises and other solutions work best for their unique physiology. After advisors determine what practices and tools work best for an individual, the user embarks on a customized plan using those methodologies to help them progress toward their health and wellness goals.
Some of Fount’s performance advisors have trained special military operators, NBA and MLB athletes, Olympic teams and even Cirque du Soleil artists, according to the company.
“There’s a lot of one-size-fits-all solutions out there, and there’s no reason to believe that people should all be getting the same [tools],” Herr said. “And so getting this idea of experimentation and customization out there … is really important to me because I think it is the way that we can all improve in any endeavor, whether it’s our health and performance or work or other things.”
While Fount serves professional athletes and other physically high-performing individuals, this group comprises the minority of Fount’s hundreds of users, Herr said. People ranging from new parents looking to improve sleep deprivation to entrepreneurs dealing with stress use Fount’s offerings, Herr said. The company’s goal is to help people achieve the ability to do more for themselves and enjoy their lives.
“People work really hard, and they have competing demands: family, hobbies [and] work,” Herr said. “And for the most ambitious people out there to be able to reach their goals … it’s an opportunity for them to be able to live the life they want, make the contributions they want and not have to sacrifice on the impact side because we can help them on their physiology and mindset side.”
In addition to Fount Pro, the company offers its Flykitt solution to help people combat discomforts that stem from air travel, like joint pain and jetlag. Fount also recently launched its Sprints program, a one-month offering that leads members through an intensive program to achieve a goal at a lower price point than Fount Pro.
Fount’s new funding will go largely toward fueling future innovations, such as a relief program for women experiencing symptoms from premenstrual syndrome, or PMS. It also wants to build a digital sleep coach that can help users optimize their energy levels, Herr said.
As the company grows, Fount is expanding its internal team within its performance advisory, engineering and operations departments.
