In a tech landscape often defined by “vibe coding,” Zach Yadegari, the teenage founder of Cal AI, stands out as a refreshing throwback to old-school entrepreneurial grit.
It’s ironic because Yadegari and his co-founder, Henry Langmack, are both just 18 years old and still in high school. Yet, their journey so far reads like a classic success story.
Since its launch in May, Cal AI has amassed over 5 million downloads in just eight months, according to Yadegari. Even more impressive, he tells TechCrunch that the app boasts a customer retention rate of over 30% and generated more than $2 million in revenue last month.
While TechCrunch couldn’t independently verify these download and revenue numbers, Cal AI’s popularity is evident. The app holds a 4.8-star rating on the Apple App Store with 66,000 reviews, and over 1 million downloads on Google Play, also with a 4.8-star rating from nearly 75,000 reviews.
The concept is straightforward: snap a picture of your meal, and the app logs the calories and macros for you.
This idea isn’t entirely new. Established players like MyFitnessPal have introduced similar features, such as Meal Scan. Other apps, like SnapCalorie — released in 2023 by the creator of Google Lens — also use photo-based calorie tracking.
What sets Cal AI apart is that it was built entirely during the era of large image models. It leverages models from Anthropic and OpenAI, combining them with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to boost accuracy. The app is trained on open-source food calorie and image databases from platforms like GitHub.
In a space where innovation is often driven by experience, Cal AI’s meteoric rise is a testament to the power of fresh ideas and bold execution — no matter the age of its creators.
We have helped 20+ companies in industries like Finance, Transportation, Health, Tourism, Events, Education, Sports.
