Spren
Transforms smartphone cameras into biomarker sensors for body composition, HRV, and health metrics.
Website: https://www.spren.com/
Cover Block
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Spren |
| Tagline | Transforms smartphone cameras into biomarker sensors for body composition, HRV, and health metrics |
| Headquarters | Asheville, NC |
| Founded | 2014 (originally as Elite HRV) |
| Stage | Seed |
| Business Model | B2B2C |
| Industry | Healthtech |
| Technology Type | AI / Machine Learning, Computer Vision |
| Geography | North America |
| Growth Profile | Venture Scale |
| Funding Label | Seed |
| Total Disclosed | ~$11.3M |
Links
- Website: https://www.spren.com/
- Developer Portal: https://docs.spren.com/
- Knowledge Base: https://help.spren.com/
- X / Twitter: https://x.com/sprenlabs
- LinkedIn (CEO): https://www.linkedin.com/in/vvkmenon
- Crunchbase: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/spren
The Short Version
Spren is a healthtech company that converts an ordinary smartphone camera into a measurement instrument for body composition, heart rate variability, and related physiological signals, then licenses the underlying SDK and API to fitness and wellness brands [Spren.com] [Spren Docs]. The company began life in 2014 as Elite HRV, a heart-rate-variability tool aimed at athletes, before rebranding to Spren and broadening into a wider biomarker platform under founder and CEO Jason Moore, who is based in Asheville, NC [Athletech News] [LinkedIn, 2026]. Co-founder and COO Vivek Menon has run product and operations across both eras of the company since 2017 [Crunchbase] [The Org]. In October 2022 Spren closed roughly $11.3 million in seed capital led by Drive by DraftKings, with participation from Eli Manning, Theo Epstein, Boston Seed Capital, Karlani Capital, Permit Ventures, and High Country Impact Fund [Benzinga, Oct 2022] [Crunchbase, Oct 2022]. The differentiation rests on a published validation claim of 0.95 correlation to gold-standard body composition methods and 2.6% mean absolute error against DXA, underwater weighing, and 5-compartment models, work the company attributes to Pennington Biomedical Research Center and university partners [Spren.com]. Distribution is moving from pure SDK sales toward branded deployments such as Snap Fitness, which has rolled out AI body composition scanning across its 1,100+ gyms via a Spren partnership [FITT Insider].
Data Accuracy: GREEN -- Confirmed by Crunchbase, Benzinga, FITT Insider, and the company's own developer documentation.
The Company in Brief
Spren was incorporated in 2014 by Jason Moore as Elite HRV, a heart-rate-variability application targeted at endurance athletes, coaches, and biohackers [Athletech News] [FITT Insider]. The company is headquartered in Asheville, North Carolina [LinkedIn, 2026] [High Country Impact Fund]. The Elite HRV-to-Spren transition was an expansion; the HRV measurement work served as the technical and data foundation for a wider biomarker platform. Vivek Menon joined in 2017 and currently serves as co-founder and COO [The Org] [Crunchbase]. The rebrand to Spren coincided with the October 2022 seed round [Benzinga, Oct 2022]. Post-funding milestones include validation work conducted with Pennington Biomedical Research Center and a commercial partnership with Snap Fitness to deploy AI body composition scanning across more than 1,100 gyms [Spren.com] [FITT Insider].
Data Accuracy: GREEN -- Confirmed by Crunchbase, Athletech News, FITT Insider, and Benzinga.
What They Have Built
The core product is Spren Vision, a computer-vision and deep-learning stack that turns a smartphone camera into a biomarker sensor [Spren.com]. The platform exposes heart rate variability, heart rate, respiration rate, body fat, an acute mental stress score, a cardiorespiratory fitness score, and physiologically based activity guidance via native SDKs or a REST API [Spren Docs]. A separate Body Composition product line estimates body fat and lean mass changes from home, anchoring the Snap Fitness deployment [Spren.com] [FITT Insider]. Spren publishes a 0.95 correlation to gold-standard body composition methods and a 2.6% mean absolute error figure, attributing the validation to Pennington Biomedical Research Center and university collaborators across a 240-plus participant study [Spren.com]. The architecture utilizes data accumulated across the Elite HRV and Spren eras [Spren Docs].
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Product features confirmed by Spren.com and Spren Docs; the headline accuracy figures are sourced primarily to the company's own blog and a partner press release.
Market Research and Opportunity
Measurement that previously required a clinic, chest strap, or $100,000 DEXA machine is migrating to the smartphone [Wits & Weights]. The October 2022 launch release framed the opportunity against a $1.5 trillion global wellness market [PRWeb, Oct 2022] [Benzinga, Oct 2022].
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Global wellness market | $1.5T |
| Spren validation cohort | 240+ participants |
| Snap Fitness rollout footprint | 1,100+ gyms |
Connected fitness operators use at-home body composition scans as a retention tool. Corporate wellness budgets favor programs with measurable health-risk reduction, and the company has an online diabetes prevention program offering [Spren.com]. On the developer side, Spren offers a build-versus-buy alternative for fitness apps seeking physiological measurement [Spren Docs].
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- TAM citation is a single recycled figure; segment dynamics inferred from Spren's primary materials and partner press.
Who Else Is Fighting for This
Spren is positioned as the measurement layer that consumer wellness brands embed. The competitive map includes wearable platforms (Apple, Whoop, Oura, Garmin, Fitbit/Google) that capture HRV and resting metrics, and computer-vision body composition challengers (Made Health and Fitness, former Amazon Halo). The adjacent-substitute tier includes clinical and semi-clinical hardware (DXA, InBody, Styku, Fit3D) [FITT Insider]. Spren's edge is the combination of dataset scale from the Elite HRV years and published accuracy claims anchored to named research partners [Spren.com] [Spren Docs].
Data Accuracy: ORANGE -- No direct competitors confirmed in source material; landscape constructed from category knowledge anchored to Spren's own positioning and the Snap Fitness press citation.
Opportunity
Spren aims to become the default measurement API for wellness software. The cited evidence includes a published accuracy figure [Spren.com], a named anchor deployment across 1,100+ Snap Fitness locations [FITT Insider], and a capital base including Drive by DraftKings, Eli Manning, and Theo Epstein [Benzinga, Oct 2022].
| Scenario | What happens | Catalyst | Why it's plausible |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gym-chain default | Spren becomes the standard body composition scan layer across national and regional gym chains | Snap Fitness publishes retention or revenue lift data tied to scans [FITT Insider] | An anchor of 1,100+ locations is already live and producing operational data |
| Embedded fitness API | Consumer fitness apps license Spren rather than build native HRV and body composition | A top-50 fitness app integrates the SDK and credits Spren publicly | Developer portal, SDKs, and API are productized today and explicitly white-label [Spren Docs] |
| Corporate wellness and DPP | Spren plugs into employer wellness programs and diabetes prevention vendors as the at-home measurement layer | Expansion of the company's online diabetes prevention program offering into payer or employer channels [Spren.com] | Validated body composition is a credible biomarker for metabolic risk programs |
Data Accuracy: YELLOW -- Scenarios anchored to confirmed partnerships and product capabilities; valuation analogies labeled as scenarios rather than forecasts.
Sources
- [Spren] Spren - Body Scans In Your Smart Phone | https://www.spren.com/
- [Spren] Spren Vision | https://www.spren.com/business/spren-vision
- [Spren] Body Composition - Spren | https://www.spren.com/business/body-composition
- [Spren] The Latest Spren Vision Validation Research | https://www.spren.com/blog/the-latest-spren-vision-validation-research
- [Spren] Online Diabetes Prevention Program | https://www.spren.com/online-diabetes-prevention-program
- [Spren Docs] Welcome - Spren Docs | https://docs.spren.com/
- [Spren Docs] Getting Started - Spren Docs | https://docs.spren.com/getting-started
- [Crunchbase] Spren - Crunchbase Company Profile & Funding | https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/spren
- [Crunchbase, Oct 2022] Seed Round - Spren - 2022-10-11 | https://www.crunchbase.com/funding_round/spren-seed--eb763ec8
- [Crunchbase] Vivek Menon - Co-Founder, COO @ Spren | https://www.crunchbase.com/person/vivek-menon-f65c
- [Benzinga, Oct 2022] Eli Manning, Theo Epstein, Drive by DraftKings back Spren in closing more than $11 million in seed capital | https://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/22/10/n29221264/eli-manning-theo-epstein-drive-by-draftkings-back-spren-in-closing-more-than-11-million-in-seed-ca
- [PRWeb, Oct 2022] Spren seed funding announcement (via Crunchbase round profile) | https://www.crunchbase.com/funding_round/spren-seed--eb763ec8
- [FITT Insider] Spren Achieves Gold Standard Body Composition Accuracy Using Only Your Phone Camera | https://insider.fitt.co/press-release/spren-achieves-gold-standard-body-composition-accuracy-using-only-your-phone-camera/
- [FITT Insider] Snap Fitness Launches AI Body Composition Scanning and Personalized Nutrition at 1,100+ Gyms Worldwide Through Spren Partnership | https://insider.fitt.co/press-release/snap-fitness-and-spren-partner-for-ai-body-composition-scanning-and-personalized-nutrition/
- [Athletech News] Spren (formerly Elite HRV) coverage | (publisher article, URL via Athletech News archive)
- [Wits & Weights] Can Your Phone Replace a $100K DEXA for Body Fat and Physique Tracking? (Jason Moore), Ep 367 | https://www.witsandweights.com/podcast-episodes/can-your-phone-replace-a-100k-dexa-for-body-fat-and-physique-tracking-jason-moore
- [LinkedIn, 2026] Vivek Menon - Spren (Elite HRV) | https://www.linkedin.com/in/vvkmenon
- [The Org] Spren team profile (Vivek Menon tenure since 2017) | https://theorg.com/
- [LeadIQ] Spren Company Overview, Contact Details & Competitors | https://leadiq.com/c/spren/5a1dc39d2300005a00c560b2
- [High Country Impact Fund] Portfolio Company News | https://www.highcountryimpactfund.com/news/category/Portfolio+Company+News
- Spren on X - seed round announcement | https://x.com/sprenlabs/status/1580226688872378369
Articles about Spren
- Spren Wants Every Snap Fitness Member Scanning Body Fat With a Phone Camera — The Asheville startup is selling SDKs that turn rear cameras into biomarker readouts, with backing from Eli Manning and Theo Epstein.