Diabetes management startup Clivi wants to be ‘Livongo of Latin America’

Over 422 million people around the world have diabetes, with the World Health Organization noting that the majority of those with the disease are living in low-income and middle-income countries.

In Latin America, there are over 40 million adults with diabetes, according to Statista. And, with the global digital health market poised to reach $1.5 trillion in the next seven years, Clivi, a Mexico-based diabetes management startup, wants to help control the disease through its comprehensive, technological and personalized approach to diabetes healthcare delivery.

“In Mexico, there is an average of one endocrinologist per almost 10,000 patients,” Clivi founder and CEO Ricardo Moguel told TechCrunch. “You might see a doctor every three months, but for chronic conditions, patients need to be making decisions everyday.”

Clivi is making a balance between humans and technology by connecting patients with endocrinologists, nutritionists and psychologists and enabling users to access monitoring and treatment plans via their communication channel of choice, for example, WhatsApp, so that they can better achieve their treatment goals and adhere to lifestyle changes.

The company also provides all of the supplies, like glucometer, test strips and blood work, as well as medication. Though health plans start at MX$790 per month, the average patient will pay MX$40 per month with private insurance, Moguel said.

He explained that people living with diabetes in Latin America often begin treating their disease late, which can lower their life expectancy by 10 years. Clivi’s goal is to help patients get back four of those years.

Since going live in October 2021, Clivi’s platform has helped thousands of patients so far, 94% of whom have achieved diabetes control within six months, Moguel said. The company is currently seeing an average of 2,000 new patients join the platform each month. It also reached MX$1 million in annual recurring revenue over the past 15 months, and Moguel expects 10x that growth within the next 12 months.

Over the next five years, the company intends to serve 1 million people through its digital clinic and diabetes remote monitoring service, Moguel said.

Today, it announced $10 million in seed funding toward that goal. The investment was co-led by Dalus Capital and Foundation Capital and participation from a group of investors including  Cathay Innovation, via its C. Entrepreneurs fund; Femsa Ventures; Quiet Capital; 500; Next Billion Ventures; and Conexo. There was also a group of angel investors, including Jüsto founder and CEO Ricardo Weder, Kueski founder and CEO Adalberto Flores, Trust Networks co-founder Suresh Batch, 99 & Mara founder and CEO Ariel Lambrecht, Meta executive Tara Syed and Reina Madre co-founders Vicente Aristegui and Juan Moctezuma.

The new funding will be used to finish out the product, including its artificial intelligence technology so that more of the functions are automated and doctors can increase their capacity for treating patients, Moguel said. The company is also going to expand its work with enterprises and public health organizations in Mexico. He expects to “dominate the Mexican market and become the No. 1 diabetes clinic in Mexico within the next year.”

“This will help us to prepare the ground before we start expanding our solution to other Spanish-speaking territories across the region,” Moguel said. “This is the master plan to become not just the Livongo of Latin America, but the largest player in terms of diabetes and chronic conditions in the whole of Latin America.”