After deal talks lasting almost a year, MyFitnessPal has successfully acquired its up-and-coming rival Cal AI. Cal AI is an AI calorie counting app startup built by two high school teenagers that soared to over 15 million downloads and over 30 million dollars in annual revenue in under two years.
The Cal AI team of seven employees, including its co-founder and CEO Zach Yadegari, plus a small team of contractors, have been retained by MyFitnessPal. The Cal AI app will remain independent, with its same ease-of-use mission of estimating calories by taking pictures of food. One upgrade for Cal AI users has occurred already since the deal closed in December: the app has now been integrated with MyFitnessPal’s extensive nutrition database. That database spans 20 million foods, 68,500 brands, and meals served at over 380 restaurant chains.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, except that MyFitnessPal’s CEO noted that since the Cal AI team did not have to sell, they were happy with the offer. With that 30 million dollar revenue number, it is likely this was a good outcome for the now 19-year-old co-founders, Yadegari and his high school friend Henry Langmack.
The deal took considerable perseverance. The larger company noticed Cal AI as it started to rise in the ranks on the app store. MyFitnessPal watches its entire competitor suite, which encompasses some 70 competitors big and small. Cal AI caught their eye early last year, and talks have been ongoing since.
What convinced MyFitnessPal to pursue the acquisition was not just Cal AI’s rise on download charts. They were also impressed with the focus of the team run by its young CEO. Despite the founders’ youth, their dedication was clear. For instance, Cal AI’s regular stand-up meeting occurs on Sunday night because the founders are still in school. Yadegari works all weekend on his startup, and his team joins him for a weekly check-in. These small details demonstrated this was not a hobby but a serious venture.
The retention period for the founders and team was not specified. However, it is known that Yadegari is still running the app as a unit of MyFitnessPal while attending college. The young founder went viral last year after revealing that out of 18 top colleges he applied to, even with a 4.0 GPA and a successful company, he was rejected by 15. He had originally not intended on going to college at all, but later decided his options would remain better with a degree.
MyFitnessPal currently has no plans to integrate the app into its main product or to peel Cal AI users away. They believe the apps serve different markets. Cal AI is for those preferring speed over accuracy, while MyFitnessPal is for those wanting the reverse. Both offer meal scanning, but MyFitnessPal allows for fine-tuning inputs, whereas Cal AI serves an audience that wants a fast, AI-based experience that does not interfere with their daily life.