(Bloomberg) — MyFitnessPal, the food and calorie-tracking app, bought an artificial intelligence startup and will soon debut AI-powered meal plans, a feature the company hopes will boost sign-ups and subscriptions.
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The acquisition of meal-planning startup Intent closed last year for an undisclosed sum and has not been previously reported. MyFitnessPal began integrating Intent’s software features into its own app last fall, Chief Executive Officer Mike Fisher said in an interview. The updated app will be able to generate personalized meal plans using an extensive recipe database while taking into account users’ stated allergens, calorie targets, dietary and protein preferences, household sizes and other settings, he said.
Users can sign up now for a waitlist to be notified about the launch, he said, adding that it will roll out more broadly in “late spring” as part of a new $99.99 “Premium Plus” annual subscription. It will be available starting in the US, UK, Canada, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.
The move would help MyFitnessPal capitalize on a consumer shift to making more health-conscious choices, which has fueled the rise of weight-loss drugs and new product categories like healthy sodas and non-alcoholic wine. The spring launch would also coincide with a period when the app typically sees a “large jump” in subscribers, said Fisher, who expects the new meal-planning feature to lift registrations and paid subscribers by “several percentage points” apiece.
Based in Austin, Texas, MyFitnessPal has more than 270 million users and is ranked third in the free health and fitness app category on Apple Inc.’s US App Store. It allows users to log daily consumption using 18 million items in its food database, and see how that aligns with their nutritional goals. The app currently provides nudges, say, if you’re low on daily protein intake, or if you’ve consumed fatty content that exceeds your limit, but it does not actively provide tailored recommendations for what to eat.
The deal marks MyFitnessPal’s first acquisition since it was sold to private equity firm Francisco Partners LP by Under Armour Inc. for $345 million in 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
More than 81% of MyFitnessPal users were interested in learning how to create healthier meals, and 84% wanted a meal-planning feature, Fisher said, citing a user survey the firm conducted. “We realize this is an area that we could better serve our customers and by doing so, help them achieve their goals,” he said.
