Yuka

What Yuka does

Yuka is a Paris-based consumer mobile application, founded in February 2016, that scans product barcodes to deliver independent health ratings for packaged food and cosmetic products. The app operates on a proprietary scoring algorithm that weighs nutritional balance (60%), additive risk (30%), and organic certification (10%), drawing on a database of more than 4 million food products and 2 million cosmetic products updated with approximately 1,200 new entries daily. The platform also offers an environmental Green-score feature assessing lifecycle impact, packaging recyclability, and ingredient origin. All product evaluations reference scientific findings from EFSA, ANSES, WHO, IARC, and JECFA, and the company explicitly refuses brand advertising to maintain editorial independence.

The business is a bootstrapped, founder-owned SAS (legal name Yuca) operating with approximately 20 employees from its Paris headquarters. Revenue is generated almost entirely through a freemium subscription model: a free tier provides core scanning and rating functionality, while Premium at $15/year adds offline scanning, dietary preference alerts, and unlimited history. 2024 disclosed revenue of €6.35M was 97% subscription-driven (€6.18M), with minor contributions from book sales (€118,784) and B2B data services (€50,000). Distribution is exclusively digital through iOS App Store and Google Play Store across six languages, with a user base reported at 73–85M+ globally. Distribution strategy is product-led growth with no advertising spend; user acquisition is driven by word-of-mouth, app-store ratings (4.8/5 across 500,000+ reviews), and high-impact research partnerships with organizations such as Consumer Reports, Harvard Law School's Food Law and Policy Clinic, foodwatch, and the Cancer League. Yuka is B Corp certified and positions itself as a mission-driven public-interest entity operating with full financial transparency.

Name

Yuka

Legal name

Yuca, SAS

Website

https://yuka.io

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Yuka is a Paris-based mobile app that scans barcodes to deliver independent health and environmental ratings for packaged food and cosmetic products to 73–85M+ global consumers, monetizing primarily through a $15/year Premium subscription.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Consumer Health & Food Safety Mobile Apps

NAICS

Food Manufacturing (311)

SIC

Food And Kindred Products (2000), Perfumes, Cosmetics & Other Toilet Preparations (2844)

akta.pro primary industry

Dietary/Functional Claim Substantiation (e.g., high-protein, low-sugar, keto, low-FODMAP) (AFALAHAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

Product Authentication & Adulteration Testing (Origin, Species, Fraud) (AFALAGAE)

Keywords

• Product health scanning
• Food safety scoring
• Cosmetic ingredient analysis
• Barcode scanning app
• Additive risk assessment

Headquarters

HQ city

Paris

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Premium Subscriptions: Annual subscription at $15/year providing offline scanning mode, product search functionality, dietary preference alerts (palm oil, gluten, lactose), and unlimited scan history. In 2024, generated €6,180,439 in revenue.
2. Books & Calendars: Sale of 'Le Guide de l'alimentation saine' (The Healthy Eating Guide), a 253-page book co-authored by co-founder Julie Chapon and nutritionist Anthony Berthou. In 2024, generated €118,784.
3. Service Fees: Professional services including data provision to brands and manufacturers. In 2024, generated €50,000.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Yuka is a mobile application for iOS and Android that deciphers product labels and analyzes the health impact of food products and cosmetics via barcode scanning. It delivers an independent 0–100 health score for each product using a proprietary algorithm weighing nutritional balance (60%), additives (30%), and organic certification (10%), and recommends healthier alternatives when a scanned product is rated poorly. The app draws on a proprietary database of 4 million food products and 2 million cosmetic products, with 1,200 new products added daily.

Product overview

Yuka is a mobile-first consumer health application with a core product (the Yuka App) that provides independent health ratings for food and cosmetic products via barcode scanning. The company offers a Premium subscription tier ($15/year) for enhanced features including offline access, search, and dietary preferences. The product portfolio includes a published book on healthy eating and an environmental scoring feature (Green-score). The app evaluates products using an algorithm factoring nutritional balance (60%), additives (30%), and organic certification (10%), drawing on a database of 4 million food products and 2 million cosmetic products. Revenue is derived entirely from Premium subscriptions and book sales, with no brand advertising.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Yuka Mobile App A free mobile application available on iOS and Android that scans product barcodes to provide an independent 0–100 health score for food and cosmetic products, explains the nutritional and additive reasons behind each score, and suggests healthier alternative products. Intended for individual consumers shopping for food and personal care items who want transparent, brand-independent ingredient analysis.
• Le Guide de l'alimentation saine (The Healthy Eating Guide) A 253-page book co-authored by Yuka co-founder Julie Chapon and nutritionist Anthony Berthou that explains healthy eating fundamentals, the ideal composition of four daily meals, food selection tips, and 36 healthy recipes validated by Yuka. Priced at €24.90 and sold via fnac.com to general consumers.

Quantifiable outcome

• 95% of Yuka users report eating healthier after using the app
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

AI capability5 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, major, core and minor.

• Consumer ReportsflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 9 June 2026Consumer Reports partnered with Yuka to test 40 popular processed foods and drinks for food additives and contaminants. The 2026 investigation found that over a third contained more additives or contaminants than considered safe daily, with nearly two-thirds containing enough of at least one additive to exceed thresholds for cancer, heart disease, or diabetes risk. The partnership has influenced FDA policy discussions.
• Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 March 2026Yuka and Harvard Law School's FLPC conducted a study analyzing over 800 food products, finding that cheapest options contain 2.6 times more additives, 21% more sugar, and 10% more sodium than premium alternatives. The research reveals a two-tiered food system and calls for regulatory reform. The report received significant media attention and policy influence.
• IFOPmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 9 December 2025IFOP, a major French polling institute, conducted a study commissioned by Yuka revealing that 78% of French food manufacturers acknowledge Yuka scores influence their product formulation, with 41% factoring it systematically into development. The study demonstrates Yuka's significant impact on industry reformulation practices.
• foodwatch & Cancer LeaguecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 4 February 2025Yuka partnered with foodwatch and the Cancer League (Liga contra el Cáncer) to launch a European petition calling for a ban on aspartame, citing IARC's classification as a possible carcinogen. This advocacy partnership engages consumers in policy change campaigns.
• DigitalOceanminorOthersDigitalOcean provides website hosting services for yuka.io from their New York data center location.
• Google CloudminorOthersGoogle provides cloud hosting for Yuka's application data from their Mountain View, California data center.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• MyFitnessPal: Mass-market nutrition and calorie tracking app with a large ingredient database; overlaps with Yuka's health-conscious consumer segment but is more focused on tracking intake than rating packaged products.
• HowGood: Product sustainability and ingredient intelligence platform serving retailers and CPG brands; comparable to Yuka's Green-score layer and increasingly relevant to manufacturers already reacting to Yuka scores.

Others

• Be My Eyes: Mission-driven consumer app serving a distinct need (visual assistance) but similar in DNA: small team, bootstrapped-style independence, high engagement per user, and a strong non-commercial ethos.

Direct peers

• Think Dirty: Mobile app that scans cosmetics and personal-care barcodes to rate ingredient safety; directly overlaps Yuka's cosmetic scoring functionality and consumer use case.
• Buycott: Barcode scanning app focused on brand ethics, supply chain, and ingredient transparency; addresses the same consumer need for product-level transparency but with a values-driven rather than health-driven angle.
• CodeCheck: European product scanning app that rates food and cosmetics and recommends alternatives, head-to-head with Yuka on iOS/Android across Germany, Switzerland, and other EU markets.
• Fooducate: App that grades grocery products on nutritional quality and recommends alternatives; competes with Yuka's core food-scanning and healthier-alternative recommendation flow.
• Open Food Facts: Open-source crowdsourced food product database; Yuka itself contributes user data to it and relies on the same kind of barcode-keyed product catalog, making it the most directly comparable open alternative to Yuka's proprietary food database.
• Ingredio: Ingredient analysis app that flags concerning ingredients in cosmetics and food; directly comparable consumer scanning product with similar color-coded risk communication.

Broad incumbents

• EWG Skin Deep: Established US non-profit database rating cosmetics and personal-care ingredients; competes with Yuka on cosmetic ingredient hazard assessment with broader policy influence but no mobile scanning focus.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/yuka_app
• Xx.com/YukaApp
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/yuka

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors2 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Yuka