One A Day: 38 Startups Upending The Vitamin & Supplements Industry

Funding to private vitamin and dietary supplement companies reached $71M in October and is on track for double-digit growth in 2016. While a modest sum relative to funding to biotech startups, this represents over 200% growth since 2012.

The industry is now seeing smart money VCs and well-funded angel investors placing bets on early-stage supplement brands. Companies such as Nootrobox, backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, or Ritual, backed by NEA and celebrity investor Troy Carter, continue to make headlines.

The FDA defines dietary supplements as products containing ingredients such as vitamins, minerals, herbs, amino acids, and enzymes. Supplements are sold in forms such as tablets, capsules, softgels, gelcaps, powders, and liquids. Examples include SmartyPants, a gummy-based multi-vitamin company, and Elysium Health, which sells its anti-aging supplements in capsule form.

We used CB Insights data to identify 38 privately held vitamin and supplement companies and mapped them according to 10 main categories.

Market Map

There are more than 160 vitamin and supplements companies tracked on CB Insights. You can run this deal search to see all of them or view them in our Collections tab by clicking here.

Click on the image below to enlarge. This market map is not meant to be exhaustive of companies in the space. 

Below are the primary vitamin & supplement categories in our market map:

Energy/Fitness: These companies market their products as energy supplements, complements to an exercise regimen, or as enhancements to one’s personal fitness. Examples include Joint Juice, developing supplements to aid joint and bone health, and PedPod, intended to provide energy and increased focus.

Botanicals: Companies developing plant-based supplements. For example, Neutraceutical Wellness, maker of Nutrafol, develops plant-based protein products.

Personalized: Companies that develop supplements customized to the consumer. Examples include Multiply Labs, which allows the consumer to adjust the time of day components of the pill are released into the body, or KalibrateV, which uses a blood test to better match the needs of the customer.

Subscription: Companies that sell vitamins or supplements on a subscription basis. Bulu Box, for example, sends a monthly box of samples, allowing the consumer to experiment with a wide variety of supplements and vitamins.

Prenatal: Companies such as Luna Pharmaceuticals develop supplements intended for pregnant women.

Children/Family: These companies sell supplements intended for or marketed to children and the family. Before Brands, for example, is developing edibles for infants intended to ward off food allergies.

Multi-Product: These companies support a portfolio of products and fit into more than one category. Xymogen, for example, offers supplements targeting joint support, fitness, gastronintestinal issues, and neurological support.

Nutritional Drinks/Additives: Companies such as Groove Nutrition, maker of Rumble, a nutritional supplement shake, or VitaPerk, which develops a vitamin and mineral “coffee enhancer.”

Anti-Aging: Companies developing vitamins and supplements intended to ward off the biological effects of aging. Elysium Health, for example, has developed a supplement claiming to prevent biological aging by providing the building blocks of cell function, DNA repair, and energy function.

Cognitive Health: Companies such as Nootrobox offer products to promote cognitive health and mental performance.

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