A Sydney startup has launched a new meal delivery service aiming to help the nearly half a billion people affected by diabetes around the world.
Hit 100 is offering a meal delivery service and food point tracker that’s the first of its kind in Australia, founder and CEO Karn Ghosh says.
“There aren’t a lot of people speaking to individuals with diabetes,” Ghosh tells StartupSmart.
“We’re here to revolutionise diabetes management.”
Diabetes is the fastest growing chronic disease around the world, with one person developing it every five minutes in Australia, costing the public health care system more than $14 billion each year.
According to the National Diabetes Service Scheme, more than one million people across Australia are currently diagnosed with type-2 diabetes.
The startup has been designed to help diabetics regain control over meal times and food consumption.
It works by delivering diabetes-friendly meals to customers’ doorsteps at $6.75 per serving and then helping them track their diet through a 100-point food system powered by an app.
The idea to tackle the problem hit Ghosh while he was working in the public health care system in rural NSW.
During this time, he saw first-hand not only the magnitude of diabetes but the human suffering it causes as well.
In particular, he saw the prejudices and preconceived ideas faced by diabetics struggling with obesity.
“It’s a societal problem in that we’re not supporting individuals to better manage their health,” Ghosh says.
He says a key driver of obesity and often type-2 diabetes is a “quinoa curtain” between Western Sydney and its eastern to northern suburbs where the supply and access to nutritious food becomes extremely limited.
In the next couple of years, Ghosh and his team will release more tech solutions enabling better access to professionals, community support and education.
“We would love to use technology to provide access to the people that really need it,” he says.
Hit 100 has gained strong support from the diabetes health sector.
“We have reviewed Hit 100’s program and provided guidance on its development to ensure the recipes and meal solutions are all-round healthy options,” Glycemic Foundation’s chief scientific officer Dr Alan Barclay says.
While finding capital to get Hit 100 off the ground was a challenge, Ghosh says that they managed to successfully raise funding from a group of angel investors.
“They believed that individuals in Australia deserved the right to better manage their health,” he says.
Ghosh says Hit 100 will continue to contribute back to the community as the startup grows.
“We are a social impact investment, 10% of future operating profit, 1% of paid employee time and 1% of equity will be donated to charity,” he says.
“We will continue to build and design products for them.”
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Dinushi Dias is a freelance journalist and a former StartupSmart reporter and multimedia content producer. She is the co-founder of Melbourne-based production house Dinushi & Power.
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