At just 23, founder Sri Harsha turned a personal health crisis into a mission: deliver medically tailored meals to those managing chronic illnesses. Mumbai-based Hypothalamus offers six freshly cooked meals a day, customized by clinical dietitians according to conditions like diabetes, cancer, PCOS, liver disease and hypertension.

What sets it apart is the tight integration with medical needs. Upon onboarding, dietitians assess symptoms, reports, body metrics, recovery stage, and preferences then design menus such as millets, vegetable curries, dal cheelas, chia seeds, and more. They partner with hospitals, getting referrals as patients seek better nutrition support.

For a user like Meera managing diabetes, cholesterol, and hypertension the service meant replacing a rice-heavy diet with protein-forward, lower-carb meals. Over two months, her HbA1c dropped from 7.3 to 6.7, and she could reduce medications.

The business began with ₹15 lakh seed capital. Today, it earns about ₹7 lakh monthly and aims to expand to Bengaluru by year’s end. The founders Harsha, Sharath Chandra, and Nirali Parikh name it after the brain gland “hypothalamus,” symbolizing their goal: regulate people’s eating habits in service of health. 

Hypothalamus is more than a meal delivery app it’s medical nutrition therapy delivered to homes, helping transform how chronic disease is lived with and managed.