DSM bolsters personalized nutrition pillar with AVA acquisition

21 Nov 2019 --- Royal DSM is continuing to strengthen personalized nutrition as its key strategic pillar. The Dutch company has acquired US-based digital health platform AVA, which provides artificial intelligence (AI)-powered nutritional coaching and recommendations across a wide range of health and wellness segments. The businesses will now work together to build out new use cases for a range of health benefits and wellness goals. DSM’s customer and geographical reach will also be used to bring these goals to market. Financial terms of the new deal have not been disclosed.

“We continue to develop capabilities in personalized nutrition by bringing together the various investments and partnerships which have previously been announced. This allows us to offer end-to-end personalized nutrition solutions, spanning measurement and monitoring, data analysis and recommendations, live coaching and supply of fully personalized nutritional products. These are all underpinned by DSM’s expertise in nutrition and health science,” James Bauly, Head of Personalized Nutrition at DSM Nutritional Products, tells NutritionInsight.

According to Bauly, a key differentiator is its AI and machine learning-enabled live coaching, which addresses the behavioral engagement of consumers for their goals and health outcomes. This is a critical factor in the success of such a platform. The platform is currently available in the US and Europe and can be fully customized to a wide variety of use cases.

An endorsement of personalized nutrition has been echoed by experts throughout the industry.“We are thrilled to be joining DSM that has long been a leader in the journey to Personalized Nutrition. Our mission has been to provide outcome-based solutions to a broader range of nutrition- and wellness-related consumer needs. Leveraging DSM’s leading position in nutritional ingredients, market reach and its scientific network allow us to accelerate these plans and expand our platform to a global audience,” says Ian Brady, CEO of AVA.

This acquisition will help DSM be the partner of choice for dietary supplement – as well as food and beverage – brand owners who wish to offer personalized and healthy nutrition and gain consumer insights. This latest acquisition comes at the heels of DSM’s recent partnerships and investments in a variety of other personalized nutrition delivery platforms such as Panaceutics, Mixfit and Tespo. 

“There is significant and growing consumer interest in personalization – people are increasingly looking for bespoke solutions addressing their specific needs. At the same time, advances in technology and data are enabling ever greater degrees of engagement and individual customization – for example through activity tracking, food logging and biomarker measurements. These include DNA, blood tests and microbiome analyses,” explains Bauly. 

This endorsement of personalized nutrition has been echoed by experts throughout the industry. In September, the Vice President of FoodMinds highlighted that personalized nutrition will see drastic growth in the next three to five years, including more AI-driven offerings, as well as new modes of use, such as embeddables and ingestibles. Meanwhile, the President and Chief Science Officer at Nutrigenomix noted that while the personalized nutrition genie is out of the bottle, barriers remain in bringing it to the marketplace. 

By Katherine Durrell