Lumen Raises $8.5M, Says it Has Sold 11,000 Breathalyzers for Metabolic Hacking

Lumen, which gives you personalized diet recommendation based on your breath, announced today that it has raised $8.5 million in funding. The news was first reported by CTech, which writes that the new money was led by Hong Kong-listed H&H company and Unorthodox Ventures, with Disruptive Venture Capital and Gigi Levy participating. This brings the total amount raised by Lumen to $15.5 million.

Lumen launched its handheld breathalyzer on Indiegogo a little more than a year ago. At the time, we described it like this:

The eponymous Lumen device looks (sadly) like a vape pen. Blow into it and the device measures the CO2 of your exhale to see if you are burning carbs or body fat. According to the promotional video, you can breathe into Lumen in the morning to get a personalized meal plan for the day, adjust that meal plan with breath check-ins throughout the day, and check your breath before a workout to see if you need to carb up for additional energy.

The device was a crowdfunding hit, selling roughly 11,000 devices and generating $2.3 million in sales, according to CTech.

We checked in with Lumen cofounder Dror Ceder at CES earlier this year and learned that in addition to meal planning, the company is also working on ways integrate food ordering (meals and groceries) based on your results.

It’s not a lot of hot air to say that several different companies are looking at your breath to help you hack your metabolism. The Keyto is another crowdfunded device uses your breath to measure acetone in your breath to determine if your body is in the fat-burning state of ketosis.

Having tried the Keyto, I’m curious to test out the Lumen as it seems to offer a broader application of useful advice. If it works as promised, I’d love to know if I’ve carbed up enough before a workout, and also get ongoing meal recommendations throughout the day based on my metabolic rate.

Lumens are available now for $249 directly through the company but the devices aren’t shipping until January, so I’ll have to hold my breath a little bit longer.