Vivoo

Market position

Vivoo competes in the personalized wellness and quantified-health category, where rivals track other biomarkers such as blood glucose or the microbiome; Vivoo's non-invasive urine-strip approach was positioned in 2021 press coverage as lower-friction than finger-prick, stool-sample or continuous glucose monitoring methods. The company reports over 500,000 users, 3 million+ tests sold and availability in 100+ countries.

A non-invasive, low-mess urine-strip format that requires no lab visit or shipping of samples, with results and tailored nutrition and lifestyle advice delivered in the app within about 90 seconds, backed by stated accuracy figures from laboratory validation and development input from doctors, dietitians and scientists.

Technology

Machine learning-based image processing analyses a photographed urine test strip through the smartphone app to produce marker readings and scores, reported within about 90 seconds. The company chose urine because it is easy to collect and analyse and can reflect many performance variables. The app integrates third-party body data via Health Connect and includes an AI assistant, Welly. The Smart Toilet attaches to the toilet and passively measures hydration through urine analysis without strips.

Go-to-market

Direct-to-consumer e-commerce via vivoo.io combined with a free mobile app on Google Play, supported by retail distribution partnerships (Amazon, Walmart as of 2021), endorsements from physicians and dietitians, media coverage and educational content. Proceeds from the 2021 Series A were earmarked largely for team expansion focused on the US market and for additional test kits and a premium offering with wearable data integration.

Health-conscious consumers seeking actionable insight into diet, energy, sleep and general wellness. As of 2021 the largest user group was women aged 25-45, followed by men of the same age group, with keto dieters as early adopters; around 80% of users also used other trackers such as wearables. The current product range also targets women's health needs including urinary tract, vaginal pH, ovulation and fertility testing. Dietitians and other practitioners use the tests with patients.

Geography

Products ship internationally, with the company citing over 100 countries. As of 2021 the largest markets were the US and Canada, followed by the UK and Australia, with English-only content tailored to Western cuisine. Several newer tests are sold only in the USA. The app developer is listed as Vivosens Inc. in San Francisco, California.

History

TechCrunch described Vivoo as founded in 2017 with a founding team led by CEO and co-founder Miray Tayfun, a bioengineer and Stanford postgraduate alumna, alongside George Radman (CFO), Gozde Buyukacaroglu (COO) and Ali Atasever (CTO). The subscription service launched in July 2020, and in November 2021 the company raised a $6 million Series A led by Draper Associates. The product range has since expanded from the wellness strip into UTI, ovulation, fertility and vaginal pH tests and a Smart Toilet hardware accessory.

Risks & controversies

Coverage of the personalized-wellness category notes the challenge of extracting reliable signal from biological noise and avoiding privacy pitfalls when applying AI to remotely captured biomarker data. User reviews on Google Play report calendar bugs causing missed test logs, strips being flagged as expired, and one reviewer relaying a physician's view that urine strip readings for calcium and magnesium may not correspond to blood levels. Vivoo states the app is for general wellness awareness only and is not intended for diagnosing or treating disease.