Zipongo, "Eating Well Made Simple,"  has acquired the team and assets of FillMyFork, a provider of healthy cooking recommendations, nutrition rewards, passive tracking of grocery purchases and related analytics. 

Arun Nijhawan and Kartik Shastri, originally from Lexington, MA and 2005 TyE participants, founded FillMyFork in 2014 with a mission to help people incorporate evidence-based nutrition into their daily lives.

The acquisition aids Zipongo, the leading personalized digital nutrition platform, in its expansion of its Food Benefits Management offering to health plans, employers and health systems. Zipongo provides digital dietary assessment, nutrition counseling, advanced personalization using Nutriomics data, meal planning, cooking tools, grocery delivery, discounts, rewards and guided meal ordering. 

San Francisco-based Zipongo is a digital health company with a mission to positively impact health and reduce chronic disease through personalized, action-oriented nutrition plans delivered through the web, tablets and smartphones. With food as the top driver for chronic disease, Zipongo is a vital component in wellness programs striving to improve eating habits and get the most from their wellness dollars. Zipongo provides tools that make it easy to eat well. 

Arun Nijhawan and Kartik Shastri founded FillMyFork in 2014 with a mission to help people incorporate evidence-based nutrition into their daily lives. FillMyFork employs incentive "points" for healthy food choices at the grocery store and removes points for unhealthy choices. Points can be converted into gift cards for Whole Foods, Starbucks or other retailers.  Mr. Shastri and Mr. Nijhawan built FillMyFork's passive grocery scoring and analytics, which are key elements of Zipongo's effort to make the healthy choice the easy choice.  Zipongo scoring and rewards weave into its tools for providing custom healthy food shopping lists, coupons for healthy foods and grocery delivery option.

"The FillMyFork team pushed the boundaries on passive tracking of food buying, and rewarding healthy food purchases," said Zipongo CEO, Jason Langheier, MD, MPH. "Kartik and Arun bring a strong focus on the science of effective product development, and knowledge of the food and nutrition data that underlies the healthy cooking utility tools we are continuously evolving. This acquisition demonstrates our continued commitment to be the most effective and complete Food Benefits Management platform available, aiding employers and health plans to reduce the burden of chronic conditions that are heavily influenced by diet."

FillMyFork's analytics have revealed nutrition trends in tens of thousands of grocery purchases. Zipongo and FillMyFork will use the combined power of their analytics to leverage behavioral science to drive healthy eating choices.

"Zipongo was a natural fit for our analytics and product experience," said Mr. Nijhawan.  Mr. Shastri shared, "We're excited that Zipongo's talented culture and engaged customer base allow us to continue our journey with expanded resources and greater impact."

Today, over 150 companies and the majority of national health plans and wellness platforms work with Zipongo to drive engagement, health impact, cost savings and happiness of their people.  Zipongo's comprehensive digital nutrition coaching platform and food utility tools support people from all walks of life, from those that cook and leverage grocery discounts regularly, to those who eat prepared meals from restaurants frequently.  Just as Pharmacy Benefits Management companies help drive adherence to the most cost-effective drugs that lower disease-related costs, Food Benefits Management powered by Zipongo helps people eat the right foods for them-the ultimate personalized generic drug-to lower healthcare costs and deliver a return on investment.  Zipongo's goal is to reduce the burden of chronic disease, reduce risk from the unintended side effects of taking multiple drugs and in-hospital disease care, and help rein in unsustainable healthcare cost growth.