Remedy Health to expand 3D printed personalized portfolio following US$11M ADM-backed funding round

11 May 2021 --- Remedy Health has raised US$11 million in Series A funding for its 3D printing technology for tailored nutrition. Founder Melissa Snover tells NutritionInsight what lies ahead for the UK-based company, including customized protein bars, a line for children, curative health solutions and a US expansion.

New investors include ADM Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of ADM, and Cibus Fund. The company also secured follow-on investments from Apater Capital and Henkel X.

“The investors we’ve brought on board in this latest funding round will offer us a significant strategic advantage in the development of new products at Remedy Health. Over the coming months we will be working closely with ADM as we continue development of our personalized protein bars,” says Snover. 

This latest round of financing brings the company’s total value to more than US$71.6 million, realized just 18 months after its initial launch. Remedy Health’s revenues have also grown by more than 600 percent over the past year, with sales reaching nearly £1 million (US$1.4 million) in 2020. 

“[Personalization] is an area that ADM has long been focused on, and we couldn’t be more ecstatic to invest in a company like Remedy Health, which is driving such significant advancements in nutrition, health and wellness,” explains ADM Ventures lead Ian Pinner, who is also the chief strategy and innovation officer at ADM.Remedy Health develops patented 3D printing technologies that enable the production of personalized nutrition solutions.

New products in the pipeline
Via its Nourished brand, Remedy Health currently offers 3D printed personalized gummy vitamins. 

Next year, Snover plans to develop a pet range, working closely with ADM on ingredient sourcing. An expansion into curative health solutions is also on the cards. 

“We’re working toward creating personalized medicines with dosages tailored to the consumer, leading to better care, less wastage and removing human error,” explains Snover. 

The team is also developing new 3D printing technology for personalized protein bars. While it will use similar technology to the gummies, it will work in a “totally different” way.

“The 3D printing technology we use at Nourished is purpose-built. We’ve developed proprietary heptacombo 3D printing technology and a pectin gel encapsulation formula, which allow us to combine seven different high-impact active ingredients into customized gummy stacks,” explains Snover. 

This gel formula allows there to be seven different active ingredients in a single gummy. The ingredients are encapsulated, so they don’t interfere with each other, and the company can acutely control dosing “on the fly.” 

Marrying flavor with larger format nutrients
Remedy Health is looking to incorporate two key concepts into the protein bar range – the first being that the protein bars will have the ability to contain larger format macro- and micronutrients. 

“This is really important for things such as branched-chain amino acids, conjugated linoleic acid and other nutrients where you have large minimal dosages, which we could simply not fit into the product format of Nourished,” explains Snover.

The second aspect is customizing flavor, with flavor fatigue being one of the biggest current issues in the protein bar market. 

“If you’re an avid protein bar consumer, chances are that you probably consume one to three each day and it’s easy to get sick of the flavors available. We’ll offer multiple choices to the consumer around flavoring,” she continues. 

Options will include primary toppings and secondary coatings, which will allow for “potentially limitless” flavor outcomes.Nourished Kids will be marketed as the world’s first personalized gummy vitamins for children. 

An ambitious roadmap
Remedy Health is now targeting 30,000 monthly customers and over US$10 million in sales for 2021.

The company was formed in May 2019, with that year ending with the largest seed round ever raised by a female founder in the UK – US$2.75 million. 

It has 12 patents in total across hardware, software and material science. 

Additionally, Nourished is looking for a US production facility to be able to produce in market, for the market. 

“The restrictions of the past year have meant we put this on hold, working hard to optimize our existing production facilities in order to keep up with demand across markets,” she details.

Setting up a facility in the US will also allow Nourished to reduce its shipping costs and offer a faster service to customers, as well as developing specific offerings for the US market. 

These could be products that are not allowed in Europe, such as melatonin, or simply don’t have the same appeal to a European audience. 

A “sticky” product
Nourished launched in January 2020 and is positioned as the first and only authentically personalized gummy vitamin. 

Consumers complete an online questionnaire that gives them a recommendation of the best seven active ingredients to optimize their lifestyle and goals. Their selection is then 3D printed on demand, offering customization and improved efficacy at a commercial scale.

“What is unique about Nourished is the defensible technology and differentiated form factor that makes the product incredibly sticky. Consumers love the brand, and it shows in its extraordinary retention,” says Andy Appelbaum, managing partner at RiverPark Ventures. 

As previously spotlighted on NutritionInsight, other examples of 3D printing in the nutrition industry include vegetable purees for patients with dysphagia and milk-based products printed at room temperature. Nourished’s US offerings could include products that are not allowed in Europe, such as melatonin. 

Tailored nutrition goes from strength to strength
Snover has seen a “huge” rise in the number of personalized nutrition products launched over the past few years, with the industry predicted to go from US$3.7 billion in 2019 to over US$16 billion in 2027. 

“Competitors in the personalized wellness space offer a variety of bucket categories (products that they steer customers toward) or take pre-made pills and capsules and package them in bundles; either way, it’s not true personalization,” argues Snover. 

Innova Market Insights crowned “Tailored to Fit” as one of its Top Ten Trends for 2021. Innova Consumer Survey 2020 showed that 64 percent of global consumers had found more ways to tailor their life and products to their individual style, beliefs and needs.

“We believe that personalization is the next great frontier for consumers. While this has played out across almost every vertical, it is particularly apt for nutrition,” notes Appelbaum. 

Companies making recent moves in this space include DSM, Persona and Nutri-Genetix, to name just a few. In November, ADM also invested in Seventure’s Health For Life Capital Fund II, which harnesses the microbiome for a host of applications, including personalized nutrition.

“Personalized healthcare is beginning to explode, and [Snover] has created some of the most compelling applications available. We are proud to be affiliated with such a strong female-led company that is a visionary in a space that is traditionally slow and rigid,” adds Ricky Delandro, Apater Capital’s managing partner and head of innovation. 

On the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, nutrition industry experts previously shared how women can give a new lens to industry challenges, ultimately leading to business growth through innovation.

By Katherine Durrell