MyFitnessPal acquires Cal AI

MyFitnessPal has acquired Cal AI. The deal followed almost a year of talks. Cal AI is an artificial intelligence calorie counting app that two high school teenagers built and that reached more than 15 million downloads and over 30 million dollars in annual revenue in less than two years, MyFitnessPal said. MyFitnessPal chief executive Mike Fisher said the Cal AI team of seven employees, including co-founder and chief executive Zach Yadegari, plus contractors has been retained. The app will remain independent while keeping its mission of estimating calories from food photos. Since the closing, Cal AI has been integrated with MyFitnessPal's nutrition database that includes 20 million foods, 68,500 brands and meals from over 380 restaurant chains. Fisher noted that the Cal AI team was happy with the offer because it did not need to sell. MyFitnessPal had noticed Cal AI rising in app store rankings via Sensor Tower and had held talks on and off since early last year. Fisher said he was impressed with the focus of the team led by its young chief executive, pointing to details such as Sunday stand-up meetings. Yadegari is still running the app as a MyFitnessPal unit while in college. MyFitnessPal has no plans to integrate the app into its main product or to replace its current photo-meal scan feature, Fisher said. The apps target different users, with Cal AI for those seeking speed and MyFitnessPal for those wanting greater accuracy.