The news: Nutrition care company Nourish raised a $100 million Series C round led by Menlo Ventures, valuing the company at $1.75 billion, per Bloomberg. Nourish plans to use the funding to expand its metabolic clinic care model that combines prescriptions with nutrition and behavioral support for GLP-1 patients. For context, Nourish connects patients to virtual registered dieticians, with services often covered by health plans and employers. More recently, the company’s providers started prescribing weight loss drugs to eligible patients.

Why it matters: Rising GLP-1 use is creating a financial burden for Nourish’s core customers: insurers and employers. Nearly 80% of employers say GLP-1 use is a major cost driver for their company, per a May Business Group on Health survey. In fact, Nourish noted in the funding announcement that “payers are under growing pressure to find scalable solutions that actually bend the cost curve."

The financial strain of GLP-1s is two-fold: payers battle the sheer sticker shock of these medications and the sunk costs when patients discontinue treatment. More than half of patients (53%) stop using GLP-1s within the first year, according to a December 2025 Sermo survey of physicians. In these cases, insurers absorb the high upfront medication costs, while patients often regain weight after stopping treatment—raising the risk of worsening health and higher, longer-term costs for health plans.

Implications for digital health companies: To address payer concerns, Nourish and its competitors are moving beyond simply prescribing weight loss drugs to creating "companion models" that also include long-term lifestyle care to mitigate weight gain once a patient halts treatment. This could include services like AI-powered food guidance, medication management, and lab testing. This reflects a broader industry trend where virtual care players must now prove they can protect a payer’s investment, whether they prescribe the drugs themselves or simply provide the behavioral support required to make the results stick.

To remain competitive, digital health companies must bridge the gap between consumer demand for GLP-1s and payer demand for fiscal responsibility. High user engagement alone is no longer enough; digital health providers must now demonstrate that their services generate actual cost savings. The urgency around making these decisions effectively is intensifying as health plans more closely scrutinize which digital health tools to invest in and whether to cover weight loss drugs for members.

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