BOSTON– knownwell, an in-person and virtual, weight-inclusive primary care and metabolic health company, today announced the acquisition of Alfie Health, an online precision medical and obesity management clinic that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to generate evidence-based recommendations for weight management in a wave of new growth. This acquisition comes on the heels of knownwell raising a $20 million Series A led by Andreesen Horowitz (a16z) Bio + Health with participation from Series Seed Lead, Flare Capital Partners, and a series of new executive team hires.
Through this acquisition, knownwell will integrate Alfie’s unique AI-powered ObesityRx™ platform into its current care model. Alfie’s technology analyzes patient medical history to determine the most effective treatment strategies for sustainable metabolic health improvements, leveraging a data-driven approach to balance cost and improve outcomes. Combined with knownwell’s evidence-based care model and strong patient experience differentiation, the adoption of this technology accelerates clinical decision support efforts, deepens the company’s value-based care infrastructure, and enables clinicians to provide the highest-quality, comprehensive metabolic health treatment on the market as it scales.
As the popularity of GLP-1s continues to grow in parallel to their cost and unpredictable access, knownwell is leading a shift in the narrative from health systems, payors, and employers having a GLP-1 strategy, to them having a comprehensive obesity treatment strategy. This acquisition will allow knownwell to continue delivering on its promise to be the healthcare home for patients with overweight and obesity, discarding biases and focusing on the root-causes of patient conditions. Alexander Singh, Founder and CEO of Alfie Health, will join knownwell as Head of Analytics.
“This acquisition by knownwell helps us deliver on our mission to provide patients in need with best-in-class obesity management,” said Singh. “knownwell’s leadership, clinical expertise, and hybrid model make them a leader in obesity management, and their hybrid model will strengthen our high-touch care approach to improve patient results.”
Accompanying this acquisition is the appointment of the first C-suite hires since the company was founded in 2022, Chief Operating Officer, James Chaukos and Chief Growth Officer, John Frager, who join the existing executive leadership team of Brooke Boyarsky Pratt, Founder and CEO, and Dr. Angela Fitch, Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer.
Chaukos joins knownwell from Cricket Health, now Interwell Health, one of the pioneers in value-based kidney care, where he served as Co-Founder, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Financial Officer. At Cricket Health, Chaukos spent eight years building the company’s innovative care delivery model from inception through to the merger with Fresenius Health Partners, the value-based care division of Fresenius Medical Care, and Interwell Health, one of the country’s largest nephrologist networks.
Frager comes onboard focusing primarily on growing knownwell’s relationships with health systems and local provider groups, as he did extensively at Carbon Health, where he grew their national network as an early employee. As Chief Growth Officer, Frager will be responsible for all potential commercial avenues of knownwell’s growth, including relationships with payors.
“Weight management and primary care solutions are in higher demand than ever, which is why we’re expanding our leadership team to bring both James Chaukos and John Frager to knownwell to streamline our operations and empower our growth,” said Brooke Boyarsky Pratt, Founder and CEO of knownwell. “Their extensive backgrounds in value-based care, health system and payor partnerships will fuel additional awareness and interest in the differentiators knownwell brings to the industry, now with an even stronger data-driven approach by combining knownwell and Alfie technology.”
knownwell prides itself on making weight-inclusive healthcare more accessible, offering full-coverage care online or in-person through patient insurance, without sign-up or membership fees. As knownwell continues to expand, patients across the U.S. will benefit from their new model of care, including metabolic health services, comprehensive primary care, nutrition counseling, and behavioral health services.
