From next-gen drug runners to telehealth platforms to nutrition startups — here's who's actually building in one of the biggest market opportunities in a generation
When Wegovy was approved in 2021 and Zepbound followed in 2023, the story looked like a pharmaceutical one.
A new class of obesity drugs, long waits for prescriptions, supply chain chaos. What's become clear since is that the ripple effects extend well beyond medicine. GLP-1s have created a market that touches biotech, telehealth, nutrition, wearables, data, and consumer goods — and founders have been piling in from every angle.
The numbers are hard to ignore.
The global anti-obesity drug market is projected to grow from around $19.6 billion in 2025 to over $104 billion by 2035. Goldman Sachs estimates the GLP-1 category alone could reach $100–150 billion by 2030, with more than 15 million Americans on these medications in the coming years.
And that's before accounting for the second-order industries being pulled along in the slipstream: nutrition, fitness, wearables, telehealth, and data.
For founders, that creates a complicated landscape. The pharma giants — Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly — have a head start most startups can't close. But the opportunity isn't only about developing a better molecule.
It's about access, adherence, adjacent care, and everything that happens around the drug rather than inside the syringe. Here's a look at how founders are actually building in the space.
The Biotech Challengers
The largest and most capital-intensive bets are being made by biotech founders trying to compete with, or improve on, the existing GLP-1 drug class.
Kailera Therapeutics is one of the most closely watched. Based in Massachusetts, their lead candidate ribupatide (KAI-9531) targets both the GLP-1 and GIP receptors, the same dual mechanism as Eli Lilly's Zepbound, and showed an average weight reduction of 19.2% at its 6mg dose in early trials. Phase 3 enrollment is now underway.
Pep2Tango is taking a more ambitious approach. The Versant-backed startup is developing drugs that target four receptors simultaneously: GLP-1, GIP, amylin, and calcitonin. CEO Cristina Rondinone, who previously oversaw cardiometabolic development at AstraZeneca, argues that single targets simply aren't enough.
Her thesis is that hitting more receptors produces more selective fat loss while better preserving muscle mass. Preclinical results claim higher efficacy than tirzepatide, Zepbound's active ingredient.
Metsera attracted significant attention with a $290 million launch backed by ARCH Venture Partners. Founded to develop next-generation obesity medicines, Metsera built a library of over 20,000 gut hormone peptides and ran injectable and oral candidates through its pipeline simultaneously.
Pfizer subsequently acquired the company for around $10 billion, folding its pipeline into a rebuilt obesity strategy after discontinuing their own lead candidate danuglipron due to safety concerns in 2025.
The clinical bar in this category is brutal. As one BMO Capital Markets analyst put it: if a company isn't in Phase II right now, getting something approved before 2028 or 2029 is going to be very hard.
The Telehealth Platforms
The more immediately viable opportunity for most founders has been the access layer. Getting a prescription for Ozempic or Wegovy was, for a long time, genuinely difficult. Long waits, specialist referrals, insurance battles. Telehealth companies moved fast to fill that gap.
Ro is arguably the furthest along. Founded in 2017 as Roman, a men's health startup, the company launched its Body Program in early 2023, combining GLP-1 prescriptions with at-home diagnostics, personalised care plans, and 1:1 nursing coaches.
Hims & Hers moved aggressively in 2024, adding compounded GLP-1 injections to its platform. The company's stock jumped 28% when it made the announcement. CEO Andrew Dudum told investors he was confident in supply, a significant statement at a time when branded Wegovy and Ozempic were routinely out of stock.
Calibrate took a more clinically intensive approach, combining prescriptions with video coaching and insurance support. It reached over 16,000 members and raised $100 million to expand its platform.
eMed is a notable pivot story. The company started in Covid testing and has since repositioned as an employer-focused GLP-1 management platform, helping businesses manage the cost of covering these drugs for staff. Tom Brady joined as chief wellness officer in early 2026, the kind of ambassador hire that signals a company going hard on consumer brand-building.
The sector isn't without its tensions. A 2025 survey of over 2,000 US primary care physicians by Omada Health found that 67% believe virtual GLP-1 prescribing puts patients at risk, with concerns around overprescribing and lack of continuity of care.
The Adjacent Opportunity
For founders without the capital or appetite for drug development or telehealth infrastructure, the GLP-1 wave has created a dense cluster of problems worth solving.
Muscle loss is one of the most significant side effects of rapid weight loss on GLP-1s. Founders in nutrition and supplements are responding directly, with high-protein food reformulation, companion supplements targeting folate, choline, and bone density, and ingredient manufacturers developing novel support products. The SupplySide Global 2025 trade show was reportedly dominated by GLP-1 support products.
Body composition tracking is another emerging category. As users lose weight, the risk of losing muscle alongside fat is real, and there's growing demand for tools that actually measure what's happening to the body rather than just reflecting a number on a scale. DEXA scanning services, AI body composition apps, and platforms like Springbok Analytics and Bodd are all seeing interest from users who want precision data.
Wearables sit naturally alongside this. Oura, WHOOP, and Ultrahuman all launched diagnostics expansions in 2025, positioning themselves not just as fitness trackers but as metabolic health platforms relevant to people managing ongoing GLP-1 treatment.
Food brands are responding at scale too. Consumer packaged goods companies are reformulating for the GLP-1 generation, building products that are protein-forward, lower volume, and more nutrient-dense. Major acquisitions signal how seriously big players are taking this shift: PepsiCo bought poppi, Chobani took over Daily Harvest, Hershey acquired LesserEvil.
Data is a quieter but strategically significant layer. AI platform Dandelion Health launched a GLP-1 data library in 2024 with 200,000 patient records, offering researchers, payers, and pharma companies better insight into real-world efficacy, head-to-head drug comparisons, and long-term outcomes.
What Founders Are Actually Navigating
Building in the GLP-1 space is not a simple call. The market is real and large, but so are the complications.
Supply chains remain a persistent issue. Branded Ozempic and Wegovy shortages drove enormous demand toward compounded alternatives, but the FDA's position on compounding has shifted repeatedly, creating regulatory risk for founders who built their model around it.
Pricing pressure is intensifying. Beginning in 2026, GLP-1 prices are expected to fall around 28% under most-favoured-nation pricing negotiations. As more branded competitors enter from 2027 onwards, further declines are likely, and that matters hugely for founders whose unit economics depend on the current pricing environment.
Adherence is arguably the most underrated challenge. Most patients who start GLP-1s face a slow drift away from the medication due to side effects, cost, and habit reassertion. Founders building durable businesses are the ones thinking about what keeps someone on track 18 months in, not just what gets them to sign up.
Regulation is moving fast too. The Trump administration's TrumpRx platform, deals between the White House and Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly on drug pricing, and the evolving FDA landscape around compounding have all created a dynamic environment that looks very different today than it did 12 months ago.
Where to Start If You're Researching This
If you're a founder, investor, or just curious about how GLP-1s actually work at the clinical level, it's worth spending time with resources built specifically around education rather than prescription. What do these drugs actually do? How are they administered? What does the evidence say?
One worth bookmarking is understandglp1.com, which covers the science, the different drug variants, and how to make sense of a fast-moving space.
The GLP-1 economy is one of those market moments that looks obvious in hindsight. The founders winning in it right now are the ones who picked a specific, defensible problem and went deep on it.
Know a founder building in this space? We're always interested in hearing what's happening at the ground level. Drop us a note.
