Twin sister triathletes turned sports success into startup thousands and thousands

During their last 12 months of completing work for doctoral degrees in physiology, twin sisters Michal Mor and Merav Mor began to compete in Ironman triathlon races. The demand for peak fitness led them to the realize the importance of understanding personal metabolism, and the dearth of information being collected on it through devices accessible to consumers.

That is how their health tech startup Lumen’s first prototype was created. Initially, the sisters had no plans to show it right into a business. Within the earliest days of the hand-held device iteration — which measures metabolic data points in a single breath, in under a minute — the test subjects were near home.

“We used to take it to dinner on Fridays with our family, and we might ask our sister, ‘Are you able to come here for a sec? Just sit and breathe into the device,'” Merav recalled in a recent interview with CNBC’s Julia Boorstin for the CNBC Changemakers Highlight series. 

Each were named to the 2025 CNBC Changemakers list.

The Mor sisters realized that they had something much larger of their hands after they made their father, who has diabetes, try the device, and the outcomes were eye-opening.

A giant initial success on crowdfunding platform Indiegogo gave the sisters the push they needed to see an excellent larger business opportunity, which so far has raised $77 million from investors.

It wasn’t a lifelong plan for the twins to turn out to be triathletes, physiology PhDs, or startup founders, but Lumen has now collected over 65 million breaths so far from greater than 350,000 individuals. The Morav sisters have learned loads about persistence, conflict and leadership along the best way. 

Prepare for pain to at all times be a part of success journey

The Mor sisters say being athletes helped them learn persistence of their journey as entrepreneurs, even when things get difficult. 

“You’ve to give you the chance to get up at 4 a.m., even when it’s tough, even when it’s cold, you have got to do it,” said Michal. “You are in a position to benefit from the pain, it’s a component of the journey.”

From relentlessly working on developing a sensor for 3 years to getting credibility within the scientific world, they are saying resilience is as vital as any think about reaching success. Before Lumen, there have been a million data measurements on metabolic activity. Now there are 75 million, Michal said. 

Being persistent was a trait the sisters hadn’t mastered early of their attempts at success. In truth, after they were rejected from their original dream of attending medical school, they didn’t know their next step. Michal says she felt like giving up, but their mother helped to push them to work out a brand new path. 

“She opened our eyes to various things that we also may be obsessed with,” added Merav. “And she or he was right. We completely fell in love with research.”

Eventually, they were accepted to a medical school, “but we said ‘nah, nah, it’s too little, too late,'” recalled Merav. 

Conflict is inevitable, but never let yourself sleep on it

As close because the twins are, their relationship shouldn’t be proof against conflict. After they do disagree, they are saying the secret’s to make certain the argument stays healthy and the discussion is solution-oriented. 

Among the many habits their mother instilled was the commandment that you just never fall asleep with unresolved issues.

“It’s like a snowball, and when you don’t resolve that, it’s totally hard to fill the gap,” said Michal.

She also forced the sisters to withstand digging of their heels. Even at a young age, when Michal and Merav would fight, their mother pushed them to grasp the opposite’s perspective.

“‘Why do you’re thinking that she looks like that? Why do you’re thinking that she reacted like that?'” Michal recalls her mother asking. “She still does that sometimes.” 

Lean into strengths, know your individual weaknesses

Michal says that while each sisters are pursuing the identical goal, even described them as being “egoless” in the connection, they’re different by way of strengths and weaknesses. 

They described their relationship as being a “Yin and Yang.”

Each sisters have a background in cardiology from their PhD work, but within the initial stages of constructing Lumen, Merav focused on the molecular mechanism behind irregular heart rhythm, and Michal focused more on the clinical aspect of irregular heart rhythm. Now, Merav leads their research, and Michal leads product development. 

Constructing trust with one another is the inspiration on which they construct, creating what they are saying is a snug space for challenges including the inevitable disagreements, but still know that they’ll remain tied to the pursuit of the identical goals. And that “psychological safety” as they called it, is a facet of working relationship they’ve strived to bring to their company culture and employees. 

Work is a component of life and never vice versa — i.e. No late meetings

The Mor sisters consider that an organization can only achieve success if its employees work as a unit towards a typical goal. Placing a high priority on work-life balance is critical, they are saying, especially for a corporation where greater than 50% of Lumen leadership positions are occupied by women, and greater than 50% of the whole workforce is women.

“The proven fact that we’re mothers also enables other women in the corporate,” said Merav. 

As a part of their approach to attain a correct work-life balance, essential meetings don’t happen after certain work hours, allowing employees to return home and have more time to unwind with their families.

“Having time together with your family, it’s something that fills you,” said Michal. 

Their success as sisters, the teachings they learned from their mother, and people initial Lumen device tests on the family dinner table, inform their approach to leadership and Lumen’s mission today.

“Friends might come and go, things can come and go, but eventually the core family, that’s something you must really, really embrace,” said Merav. “You are having a nasty day? Take a deep breath, you’ll be able to fix it.”

Watch the complete Changemakers Highlight video above to learn more concerning the Morav sisters’ story and Lumen.