A new AI-powered toilet device aims to revolutionize gut health tracking at home. Throne Science, co-founded by a former Whoop CTO, has raised $10 million to expand its smart bathroom technology. The company is targeting both consumers and clinicians.
Throne Science, a health tech startup developing an AI-powered toilet camera for monitoring gut health and hydration, has closed a $10 million Series A round led by Will Ventures. Additional investors include Emerson Collective, Workshop, LEAD VC, Salt VC, Accomplice, and Moxxie Ventures. This latest funding brings Throne Science’s total capital raised to nearly $18 million since its launch in 2023.
The company was founded by CEO Scott Hickle, a veteran in software product management, and John Capodilupo, former co-founder and CTO of Whoop. Capodilupo, who lives with ulcerative colitis, brings personal motivation to the company’s mission. Hickle told Crunchbase News, “We started Throne because we believe it’s inevitable that people will one day measure their health from their waste.”
Throne’s device uses a pipeline of computer vision models-some trained by practicing gastroenterologists-to analyze stool and urine characteristics. The system translates raw camera data into actionable health metrics, aiming to provide users with insights into their digestive health and hydration status.
AI Coaching and Data Insights
Earlier this month, Throne Science launched a beta version of its Gut Health AI coach. This tool leverages large language models to interview users after episodes of poor gut health, helping identify potential contributing factors such as stress, diet, or sleep changes. Hickle describes the experience as similar to a conversation with a dietitian or nutritionist, with the AI coach connecting lifestyle factors to gut health outcomes.
As users log more data, the AI coach aims to pinpoint patterns linked to both good and bad gut health days. Capodilupo emphasized the importance of longitudinal data, noting that “the magic at WHOOP was never any single measurement-it was watching the same person, day after day, year after year.” He believes building a dense, long-term dataset on gastrointestinal function could advance both consumer wellness and clinical research.
Market Position and Clinical Ambitions
Throne Science currently sells its device directly to consumers and is exploring partnerships with clinicians, especially in functional medicine. The company also sees potential in academic and pharmaceutical research, arguing that its passive monitoring system can provide more objective data than traditional self-reporting methods.
The device enters a market that includes competitors like Kohler, which recently introduced the Dekoda toilet-mounted health tracker. Hickle points to Throne’s usability, battery life, and software as key differentiators. Looking ahead, the company’s long-term goal is to develop an at-home system capable of detecting early warning signs of colorectal, bladder, and kidney cancers-described by Hickle as a “smoke detector for colon cancer.”
While this cancer detection capability is still in development, Throne Science has already demonstrated clinical promise. The company was recently accepted to present its first academic abstract showing its visual AI can assess stool form with accuracy comparable to board-certified gastroenterologists. Validation studies are underway with researchers at Harvard University, Stanford University, and the University of Chicago.
Scaling Up and Next Steps
Throne Science has expanded its team with new executives and medical advisers, including gastroenterologists and colorectal cancer experts Dr. Fola May and Dr. Aasma Shaukat. Will Ventures managing partner Ben Gardner sees passive digestive monitoring as the next evolution in health tracking, following the adoption of wearables like Whoop and Oura. Gardner noted that “roughly 80% of consumers now adopt at least one gut-health targeting behavior, yet there is no existing medium for the continuous tracking of gut health markers.”
The company plans to use its Series A funding to scale consumer education, expand clinical partnerships, and advance research and development. Hickle said, “We’re creating a new category, so we’re investing heavily in educational content to help people understand why this matters.” While Throne Science declined to share specific valuation or growth figures, Hickle expressed confidence in the company’s trajectory, comparing it to the early days of wearable health tech pioneers.
Throne Science was founded in 2023 and has raised nearly $18 million in funding to date. The company’s leadership includes CEO Scott Hickle and Chief Product Officer John Capodilupo, with a growing team of medical advisers and researchers. Its AI-powered toilet device is currently available to consumers, with ongoing efforts to expand into clinical and research markets.
