Founded by Rami Alhamad, former VP of Product at fitness technology company Whoop, the AI nutrition app Alma has officially launched on the North American iOS platform. This app aims to revolutionize traditional calorie tracking methods by integrating generative AI models with the Harvard nutrition knowledge base, transforming tedious manual input into natural conversations and providing users with personalized dietary management services through "conversational interaction + intelligent recognition."
Image source: Alma
From Voice to Photos: AI-Driven Effortless Tracking
Unlike traditional apps like MyFitnessPal, Alma allows users to describe their food intake directly through voice or text, with the AI assistant automatically estimating food portions and calories, and it also supports photo recognition of dishes. The app features a real-time adjustment function—if there is a discrepancy between the AI's estimates and actual intake, users can manually correct the data. This design addresses a major pain point of traditional nutrition tracking apps: platforms like MyFitnessPal have struggled with low user retention due to reliance on manual searches and inputs.
Alma's core competitiveness lies in its multimodal interaction experience. In addition to basic tracking features, the AI assistant can recommend customized recipes based on users' fiber and protein intake goals, and even analyze restaurant menu photos to suggest healthier options. The app's built-in "nutrition scoring system" generates a health index based on daily data and pushes improvement plans. As usage frequency increases, the AI can learn users' dietary preferences and dynamically optimize suggestions.
Image source: Alma
Technical Foundation and Industry Ambition
To achieve precise analysis, Alma integrates multiple AI models and incorporates the Harvard nutrition knowledge base to build a professional database. Its team includes several nutrition experts who continuously expand global dietary culture data to pave the way for future international market expansion. Currently, this startup has raised $2.9 million from Menlo Ventures and Anthropic, with plans to launch a "smart pantry" feature—automatically generating suitable recipes by recognizing users' stocked ingredients.
Founder Alhamad stated that his entrepreneurial inspiration comes from personal experience: "For the past decade, I've struggled with my weight and understand the pain of manual tracking. The emergence of ChatGPT made me realize that AI could become a personalized nutrition advisor." He believes that the future of consumer-grade AI lies in specialized applications within vertical fields rather than general chatbots. This view aligns with that of Menlo Ventures partner Shawn Carolan: "When recording 20 food items is reduced from 30 seconds to a few seconds, user habits will be fundamentally changed."
Image source: Alma
Challenges and Opportunities
Although Alma faces competition from AI nutrition apps like Healthify and SnapCalorie, it builds a differentiated advantage through design aesthetics and interaction fluidity. Industry observers note that as the phenomenon of spending thousands of dollars annually on weight loss drugs like Ozempic spreads, the demand for non-drug health management solutions continues to rise. If Alma can prove that its AI suggestions can replace some functions of nutritionists, it may open a new commercial landscape of "AI + Precision Nutrition." This health revolution driven by generative models is redefining the relationship between humans and food.