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Why We Invested In Klivo -- Chronic Disease Management Platform
Amit Garg
November 29, 2021·4 min read
Excited to announce our investment alongside Valor Capital in the R$ 45M ($8M) series A of Klivo which provides a chronic disease management platform, starting with diabetes and Brazil. Tau Ventures is an AI-first fund in Silicon Valley investing primarily in seed but we occasionally take later bets when we see immense promise. We are investing in US / Canada but in exceptional cases will consider a deal outside, Klivo being the very first one. The company was founded in 2020 and impressed us with (1) a strong need, (2) building an execution-focused team, and (3) creating a differentiated product.
1) The Need
Chronic diseases are not just the biggest healthcare challenge in developed countries -- they have been so in emerging markets too and for years. In the US several companies have stepped up and made a significant dent, although much remains to be done. São Paulo-based Klivo is trying to do so for Brazil, which is a prime case study among emerging markets. Its 210M people (6th largest population in the world) carry within an abundance of chronic diseases:
Klivo focuses on reducing costs and improving service for the 45MM people in Brazil living with diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia (high cholesterol) by using data driven insights and great user experience to promote better health decisions.
Diabetes alone accounts for at least $22B in expenditure, in a country where the per capita is just shy of $9,000. Notwithstanding political and economic turbulence, local tech companies have prospered and we can see their solutions crossing borders, starting with other Latin American countries (full disclosure: I am born / raised in Brazil).
2) The Team
Klivo’s team is unarguably among the most talented in Brazil. Cofounders Marcelo and André come from Nubank (private market cap $30B) and Stone (public market cap $18B) respectively, being part of their startup stories. Marcelo has held technical leadership roles at various companies while André was previously a partner at BTG, a leading investment bank in Latin America, and the CEO of BR Pharma. A significant part of management and the overall team of 47 people does come from their networks, especially strong in fintech. Further medical expertise comes from a strong Advisory board including MDs working at top institutions such as Oswaldo Cruz.
3) The Product
The company uses an app to determine clinical status and increase medication adherence and uses that data to produce meaningful insights into the patient’s condition. Klivo also focuses on the wellness side of the patient with nutrition tips and education, exercise and mental health driving a holistic approach to the patient's condition. The company runs a traditional B2B model that focuses on 3 different types of clients: Payors (health plans), pharma companies and corporate clients looking to provide Klivo as a benefit to their employees.
We are honored and excited to be part of Klivo’s journey, using technology to solve a big problem. More at https://klivo.com.
Originally published on “Data Driven Investor," am happy to syndicate on other platforms. I am the Managing Partner and Cofounder of Tau Ventures with 20 years in Silicon Valley across corporates, own startup, and VC funds. These are purposely short articles focused on practical insights (I call it gl;dr -- good length; did read). Many of my writings are at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amgarg/detail/recent-activity/posts and I would be stoked if they get people interested enough in a topic to explore in further depth. If this article had useful insights for you comment away and/or give a like on the article and on the Tau Ventures’ LinkedIn page, with due thanks for supporting our work. All opinions expressed here are my own.
Amit Garg
I have been in Silicon Valley for 20 years -- at Samsung NEXT Ventures, running my own startup (as of May 2019 a series D that has raised $120M and valued at $450M), at Norwest Ventures, and doing product and analytics at Google. My academic training is BS in computer science and MS in biomedical informatics, both from Stanford, and MBA from Harvard. I speak natively 3 languages, live carbon-neutral, am a 70.3 Ironman finisher, and have built a hospital in rural India serving 100,000 people.