Why Investors Are Banking on This App to Curb Childhood Obesity With Kurbo, kids play to lose.

Joanna Strober didn't want to play food police with her son, who was having issues with his weight. Nor did she want to put him on a restrictive diet. She researched various tools, such as Weight Watchers and MyFitnessPal, but found they were geared toward adults.

So Strober, who spent two decades in venture capital and investment banking, decided to build a kid-friendly app and weight-management program to combat obesity and emphasize healthy lifestyle choices. She called her concept Kurbo Health.

"We worked hard to make Kurbo exciting, interesting and stigma-free," says the Palo Alto, Calif.-based entrepreneur.