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§ Private Profile · New York City, NY, USA
Wellness and nutrition company offering personalized daily vitamin and supplement packs tailored to individual needs, delivered via subscription.
Based in New York, New York, Care/of was a direct-to-consumer wellness company that provided personalized daily vitamin and supplement subscription packs based on comprehensive individual health and lifestyle assessments. The digital platform successfully scaled to serve over two million individual customers seeking tailored nutrition plans before its eventual closure. Prior to its acquisition, the startup raised $46 million in venture funding, reaching a $156 million valuation with backing from Juxtapose, Bonobos co-founder Andy Dunn, and the co-founders of Casper. In 2020, pharmaceutical giant Bayer acquired a 70 percent majority stake in the business for $225 million, operating it as a subsidiary. The company ceased operations and stopped accepting new orders in mid-2024, resulting in the layoff of its remaining 143 employees. Care/of was founded in 2016 by Craig Elbert and Akash Shah.
Care/of has raised $54.0M across 4 funding rounds.
Care/of has raised $54.0M in total across 4 funding rounds.
Care/of is a direct-to-consumer personalized vitamin and supplement subscription company leveraging technology for customized health recommendations. It builds an online platform powered by quizzes, algorithms, and data-driven personalization to deliver daily vitamin packs. The company serves health-conscious consumers seeking convenient, tailored nutrition solutions, addressing the problem of generic supplements by matching formulations to individual lifestyles, diets, and wellness goals based on user inputs. Growth momentum has been strong in the DTC wellness space, with expansions into new product lines and partnerships, though it faced acquisition by a larger player amid market shifts.
Care/of was founded in 2016 by Lincoln Ruch and SB Wickersham in New York City. Ruch, with a background in finance and wellness entrepreneurship, and Wickersham, experienced in product development, identified a gap in the supplement industry where one-size-fits-all vitamins ignored personal needs. The idea emerged from their own frustrations with ineffective generics, leading to a quiz-based model inspired by beauty and fashion personalization trends. Early traction came via social media marketing and influencer partnerships, quickly scaling to significant subscriber growth and a Shark Tank appearance that boosted visibility.
Care/of rides the wave of personalized health tech and DTC e-commerce, accelerated by post-pandemic wellness booms and AI-driven customization. Timing aligns with rising consumer demand for data-informed nutrition amid supplement market growth (projected $200B+ globally). Favorable forces include mobile-first habits, subscription economy scale, and regulatory pushes for transparency. It influences the ecosystem by pioneering quiz-to-product models adopted by peers like Ritual or Persona, democratizing nutrition science and pushing Big Pharma/supplement giants toward tech integration.
Care/of is poised for deeper AI integration, potentially expanding into wearables data for real-time adjustments or new categories like gut health. Trends like precision medicine and sustainability will shape it, with climate-friendly sourcing gaining traction. Its influence may evolve through potential IPO or further acquisitions, solidifying DTC personalization as a tech cornerstone—echoing its origins in solving everyday wellness gaps with smarter, subscriber-first innovation.
Care/of has raised $54.0M in total across 4 funding rounds.
Care/of's investors include Goldman Sachs, Abstract Ventures, ACME Capital, Alate Partners, Amasia, Amity Ventures, Jana Messerschmidt, Blackbird Ventures Australia, Citi Ventures, Craft Ventures, CRV, Kevin Ding.
Care/of has raised $54.0M across 4 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $29.0M Series B in August 2018.