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Weight loss has always been big business, but it’s exploded of late due to surging demand for Ozempic, Wegovy and other new diabetes and obesity drugs.

In the first half of 2023, sales of Ozempic and Wegovy rose by 58% and 363%, respectively. That’s after quarterly prescriptions for those types of GLP-1 treatments, which mimic a hormone in the gut to suppress a person’s appetite, increased 300% between early 2020 and the end of last year.

But as consumers and businesses pour more money and resources into tackling the obesity epidemic, which costs the U.S. more than $170 billion a year, drug developers aren’t alone in coming up with innovative solutions.

Signos, a five-year-old startup, is taking an approach that doesn’t involve pills.

The company is using off-the-shelf continuous glucose monitors, or CGMs, and providing real-time diet and exercise recommendations based on an individual’s readings. CGMs are small sensors worn on the upper arm that track glucose levels, primarily for people with diabetes. The information is wirelessly sent to a smartphone, allowing the user to better prevent emergencies.

Signos uses CGMs built by Dexcom. The startup has its own app that shows users how their body responds to specific foods, what causes their glucose to spike and when they should exercise to get the best results for weight loss.

On Tuesday, Signos said it closed a $20 million funding round led by Cheyenne Ventures and GV, formerly known as Google Ventures. Dexcom Ventures also contributed to the financing. Signos said it will use the fresh capital to continue its research into metabolic health and to expand its team, which is currently around 45 people.

“Whether you have five pounds to lose or 100, we want to make sure we’re able to help everybody,” Sharam Fouladgar-Mercer, Signos’ co-founder and CEO, told CNBC in an interview. 

Customers who sign up for Signos can choose a one-month, three-month or six-month plan. With the half-year plan, users pay $143 a month, which includes all of the pricey CGMs they’ll need during that time. The company declined to share specific details about how many people are currently using its platform.

Fouladgar-Mercer said the long timelines are designed to attract users who are serious about their weight-loss journey. Additionally, the sensors themselves have a long wear time. The Dexcom G6 and G7, the latest devices, can measure glucose for up to 10 days. Signos currently supports the G6 and will soon work with the G7 as well.

Fouladgar-Mercer said Signos is using Dexcom’s CGMs as part of a clinical study approved by an institutional review board designated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to monitor biomedical research involving real people. 

Fouladgar-Mercer said he created the company in 2018 partly because of his own struggle to manage weight throughout his life. He trained as an athlete and played hockey in college, but he said he noticed how food often affected him differently from the way it affected his teammates.

He said he always felt that, in an effort to understand an individual’s metabolism, there was a “critical component” missing, and it had been nagging at him for 30 years.

Signos helps users understand the right decision to make in the moment, but they can go “behind the scenes” and learn as much about the science as they’d like, Fouladgar-Mercer said. Users can also integrate sleep data, heart rate data, and exercise data from their Apple Watch to personalize their profile even more. 

“Once they trust the system works and they understand the methodology, they can just follow the really quick, here’s what I do, here’s what I do, here’s what I do,” Fouladgar-Mercer said. “And that’s how you get behavioral change.”

Though Dexcom primarily develops its CGMs for patients with diabetes, the company is also working toward broader applications. For instance, next year it’s releasing a new product meant for people who aren’t taking insulin. Similarly, Abbott Laboratories, which dominates the global CGM market, is hoping to bring its first consumer-facing CGM, called Lingo, to the U.S. next year, adding personalized coaching with recommendations about diet, sleep and exercise.

Fouladgar-Mercer said Signos has more data points than “anybody does in the world for non-diabetics.” He added that since the company built its first product almost five years ago, it’s been able to focus on fine-tuning its technology. 

“I don’t want to incorrectly set expectations,” Fouladgar-Mercer said. “I think a lot of times, it’s like, ‘Oh, lost X pounds in X days.’ That’s not what we’re trying to accomplish. It’s really, how do we put you on a sustainable journey? And that journey is not going to be done in two or three days.”

Fouladgar-Mercer said Signos can work well alongside Ozempic and Wegovy from Novo Nordisk and other GLP-1 treatments. Novo Nordisk’s share price has quadrupled since 2018, and the company is now the most valuable in Europe.  

Fouladgar-Mercer said GLP-1 drugs are a “powerful tool” that can help people jump-start weight loss, but it can be challenging to keep weight off if they stop taking the medication. Platforms such as Signos can help to reinforce and maintain a healthier lifestyle over time, he said.

Ultimately, he said, he wants people to use Signos to learn how to make better choices that work best for their bodies. 

Signos, Fouladgar-Mercer said, can use technology and data “to drive behavioral change, and then wrap that all in a system that really is focused on driving and solving this biggest problem we have in America, which is weight.”

WATCH: Novo Nordisk stops Ozempic trial early after signs of success

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Nvidia earnings, Target’s profit outlook, Meta’s antitrust victory and more in Morning Squawk

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November 19, 2025

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Nvidia earnings, Target's profit outlook, Meta's antitrust victory and more in Morning Squawk

The Nvidia logo is displayed on a building at Nvidia headquarters on August 27, 2025 in Santa Clara, California.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty Images

This is CNBC’s Morning Squawk newsletter. Subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox.

Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:

1. AI wars

Wall Street may be losing some of its excitement for artificial intelligence, but the battle among major technology companies for dominance in the field hasn’t cooled. After the bell today, investor attention will zero in on just one event: Nvidia‘s earnings report.

Here’s the latest on Nvidia and the sector:

  • Nvidia has fallen more than 4% this week as investors await its third-quarter results. Shares are up more than 1% in premarket trading today.
  • Nvidia and Microsoft yesterday announced a partnership with AI startup Anthropic. A source told CNBC that with the investments, Anthropic’s valuation now stands at around $350 billion — up from $183 billion in September.
  • Microsoft also unveiled its own product that can automatically detect the use of AI agents developed by the tech company or some other tech firms.
  • Google, meanwhile, announced its upgraded Gemini 3 model as it attempts to keep up with OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
  • Intuit will pay OpenAI more than $100 million in a multiyear deal that will integrate ChatGPT in the company’s financial products, like TurboTax.
  • The decline in Nvidia and other AI names yesterday dragged down the broader market, with the S&P 500 logging its longest losing streak since August.
  • Follow live markets updates here.

2. Missed the bullseye

Target Corp. shopping baskets sit on the floor of a company store

Christopher Dilts | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Target posted third-quarter revenue that was slightly below Wall Street’s expectations this morning and cut the top end of its full-year profit outlook. Shares fell about 2% in premarket trading following the results.

Incoming CEO Michael Fiddelke said the retailer is focused on making investments and decisions that “get Target back to growth as quickly as possible.” But, as CNBC’s Melissa Repko notes, Fiddelke declined to say exactly when he thought the company would see positive sales again.

Lowe’s similarly lowered its full-year profit outlook before the bell. However, the home improvement retailer reported stronger-than-anticipated earnings per share for the third quarter, sending the stock up more than 6% in premarket trading.

3. Epstein files

A protester holds a placard after the House voted 427-1 to approve the Epstein Files Transparency Act and the release of documents and files at the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 18, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Roberto Schmidt | Getty Images

Both chambers of Congress yesterday passed a bill that would release the Justice Department’s files tied to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The measure now heads to the desk of President Donald Trump, who has said he would sign it into law.

Meanwhile, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers said this morning that he is resigning from OpenAI’s board. Two days ago, Summers said that he would step back from public commitments following the release of his emails with Epstein.

4. WhatsApproved

Dado Ruvic | Reuters

Meta emerged victorious in its antirust case against the Federal Trade Commission yesterday. Judge James Boasberg said that the Facebook parent does not currently have a monopoly in social media, writing in his decision that TikTok and YouTube are “competitive threats.”

At the heart of the case was Meta’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp in 2012 and 2014, respectively. Regulators argued that the company should be forced to sever off the two brands.

The decision comes seven months after the trial began and five years since the FTC filed the suit. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, former operating chief Sheryl Sandberg and Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom all testified in the trial.

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5. Online to IRL

People linger in the restaurant of the Netflix House experience center.

Andrej Sokolow | Picture Alliance | Getty Images

After years of dominating the streaming world, Netflix is now betting on toys and in-person experiences.

The company has started jumping on product partnerships and marketing that traditional media firms have utilized for decades. As CNBC’s Sarah Whitten reports, Netflix’s push comes as the streamer’s original content library gains enough popular programming — think “KPop Demon Hunters” and “Bridgerton” — to justify retail investments.

Netflix has inked agreements with Hasbro, Mattel and Jazwares on merchandise tied to its media properties. The California-based company has also launched short- and long-term event spaces, including the new Netflix House Philadelphia.

The Daily Dividend

Trump lashed out at ABC yesterday after a reporter with the Disney-owned company’s news division asked the president why he had not released the Epstein files.

I think the license should be taken away from ABC. Because your news is so fake and so wrong.

President Donald Trump

— CNBC’s Ashley Capoot, MacKenzie Sigalos, Sean Conlon, Jordan Novet, Melissa Repko, Jonathan Vanian, Sarah Whitten and Kevin Breuninger contributed to this report. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.

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Larry Summers resigns from OpenAI board after release of emails with Epstein

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5 hours ago

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November 19, 2025

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Larry Summers resigns from OpenAI board after release of emails with Epstein

Larry Summers, president emeritus and professor at Harvard University, at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. 

Stefan Wermuth | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers said Wednesday that he will resign from the board of OpenAI after the release of emails between him and the notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Summers had announced Monday that he would be stepping back from all public commitments, but it was not immediately clear whether that included his position at the artificial intelligence startup.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to have served, excited about the potential of the company, and look forward to following their progress,” Summers said in a statement to CNBC. 

OpenAI’s board told CNBC it respects Summers’ decision to resign.

“We appreciate his many contributions and the perspective he brought to the Board,” the OpenAI board of directors said in a statement.

Details of Summers’ correspondence with Epstein were made public last week after the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released more than 20,000 documents it obtained pursuant to a subpoena from Epstein’s estate. Summers has faced intense scrutiny following the release of those files.

Summers joined OpenAI’s board in 2023 during a turbulent period for the startup. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was briefly ousted from the company, though he returned to the chief executive role days later. 

In the wake of “The Blip,” as some OpenAI employees call it, Summers was appointed to the board alongside Bret Taylor, former co-CEO of Salesforce, and Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo, who was the only member of OpenAI’s previous board who still held a seat.

Axios was first to report about Summers’ resignation from the board.

Read more CNBC tech news

President Donald Trump on Friday asked the Department of Justice to investigate the relationship between Epstein and Summers, as well as Epstein’s ties to former President Bill Clinton, JPMorgan Chase and billionaire tech investor Reid Hoffman. Trump has been facing renewed pressure over his own past friendship with Epstein.

Summers is a former president of Harvard University, and Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts told CNN on Monday that the university should sever ties with him. He announced his intention to step back from his public commitments later that day, but said he will continue to fulfill his teaching obligations at Harvard.

“I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused. I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein,” Summers said in a statement to CNBC on Monday.

Congress on Tuesday agreed to pass a bipartisan bill ordering the Department of Justice to release all of its files on Epstein, clearing the path for Trump to sign it into law.

WATCH: House overwhelmingly votes to release more Epstein investigation files, sends bill to Senate

House overwhelmingly votes to release more Epstein investigation files, sends bill to Senate

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The $500 billion Nvidia question, and 4 others, CEO Jensen Huang must answer tonight

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6 hours ago

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November 19, 2025

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The 0 billion Nvidia question, and 4 others, CEO Jensen Huang must answer tonight

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