After deal talks lasting almost a year, MyFitnessPal has successfully acquired its up-and-coming rival Cal AI.<\/p>\n
Cal AI is the AI calorie counting app startup built by two high school teenagers<\/a> that soared to over 15 million downloads and over $30 million in annual revenue in under two years, MyFitnessPal tells TechCrunch.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Cal AI team of seven employees, including its co-founder CEO Zach Yadegari (pictured, above), plus a small team of contractors, have been retained by MyFitnessPal<\/a> (MFP), according to MyFitnessPal CEO Mike Fisher.<\/p>\n The Cal AI app will remain independent, with its same ease-of-use mission: estimating calories by taking pictures of food.\u00a0One upgrade for Cal AI users has occurred already since the deal closed in December: The AI app has now been integrated with MFP\u2019s huge nutrition database. That database spans 20 million foods, 68,500 brands, and meals served at 380+ restaurant chains.\u00a0<\/p>\n Terms of the deal were not disclosed except that Fisher noted that since the Cal AI team didn\u2019t have to sell, they were happy with the offer. With that $30 million revenue number, we can make an educated guess that this was a good outcome for the now 19-year-old co-founders, Yadegari, and his high school friend Henry Langmack.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n In fact, the deal took considerable perseverance, Fisher said. The larger company noticed Cal AI as it started to rise in the ranks on the app store, visible through tools like Sensor Tower, he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe watch the entire competitor suite,\u201d Fisher said, which, he said, encompasses some 70 competitors big and small. \u201cThey definitely caught our eye, I would say, early last year, and we have been talking to them ever since, on and off.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco, CA<\/span> What convinced Fisher and team to pursue the acquisition wasn\u2019t just watching Cal AI rise on app download charts (the two are neck-and-neck in the top rankings in their category<\/a> on Sensor Tower) \u2014 he was also impressed with the focus of the team run under its young CEO.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey got a lot of media attention because they\u2019re pretty young, and it\u2019s easy to dismiss,\u201d he said, \u201cYou have a conversation with them, like I did late spring last year, and you walk away saying this is an impressive young man.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n For instance, Cal AI\u2019s regular stand-up meeting occurs on Sunday night. Because the founders are still in school, Yadegari works all weekend on his startup and his team is dedicated enough to join him on Sundays for a weekly check in.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSo it\u2019s small, small details like that, that when you put them together, you say, this is someone who\u2019s not doing this as a hobby,\u201d Fisher said. \u201cThey\u2019re really serious about it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Fisher declined to specify how long the retention period was for the founders and team to remain at MyFitnessPal post-acquisition. Four years is a pretty industry-standard term, often tied to payouts, though again, he wouldn\u2019t comment on it, even when pressed.\u00a0<\/p>\n We do, however, know that Yadegari is still running the app, now as a unit of MFP, while attending college. The young founder also went viral last year on X<\/a> after he revealed that out of 18 top colleges he applied to, even with a 4.0 GPA and a successful company, he was rejected by 15.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"MyFitnessPal](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Mike-Fisher-MFP-Chief-Executive-Officer.jpg?w=680\")