Baze Secures $6M Series A Funding to Expand Marketing and Promote Personalized Nutrition

On August 13, 2019, VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) learned from foreign media reports that healthcare company Baze announced the completion of a $6 million Series A financing round. The company intends to use these funds to expand its marketing efforts and educate consumers on the importance of personalized supplements. Baze also aims to increase the number of nutrition tests and supplements offered by introducing new products. This round was exclusively led by Nature's Way, a supplement manufacturer.

Baze, founded in 2014 and headquartered in Berlin, Germany, is a healthcare company. The company has branches in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, and Zurich, Switzerland.

Co-founded by Dr. Philipp Schulte and Dr. Isam Haddad, Baze offers a blood-based at-home nutrition testing kit that enables consumers to understand their nutritional needs. Consumers mail the test kits back to Baze, where they can view their analysis results via a mobile app and decide whether to reorder Baze’s personalized supplements. Based on these test results, Baze provides high-quality nutritional supplement regimens, allowing consumers to optimize their nutrient levels within three months.

Baze regularly measures clients’ micronutrient levels to ensure continuous improvement in their nutritional status and overall health. By analyzing users’ blood samples, the company provides personalized, smart vitamin supplements.

To reduce unnecessary spending on supplements, Baze first tests users to identify which nutrients would provide the greatest benefits. The company sells a $99 home kit that includes a home blood test. All supplements offered by Baze are free from genetically modified organisms (GMOs), gluten, lactose, and artificial colors, making them a fully vegan option.

Although Baze launched this service in 2018, a notice on its website emphasizes that the product is available only to consumers who agree to participate in an ongoing study conducted by the company, which aims to assess user experience with the at-home sample collection device.

“We are in a critical growth phase for Baze, and it is exciting to see our products evolve in response to the needs of consumers and the world,” said Philipp Schulte, Co-founder and CEO of Baze, in a statement. “Our partnership with Nature’s Way represents an endorsement from a quality leader in the U.S. supplement market. While we maintain our independent operations, their support will significantly help us fulfill Baze’s mission to improve people’s physical health through truly personalized supplements.”

Baze stated that the company currently has sufficient operating capital, with both Care/of and Wellnicity announcing their investments in the company. By the end of this year, Stride Nutrition, a subsidiary of Pillsy, will also announce a new service that integrates its medication adherence technology with Baze’s mail-order nutritional products to better serve consumers.

Headquartered in Wisconsin, USA, Nature's Way is one of the most recognized and trusted manufacturers of dietary supplements and vitamins in the region. As a pioneer in herbal supplements, the Nature's Way brand is renowned for its whole-herb products, standardized extracts, vitamins, and minerals. In addition to herbal supplements, Nature's Way produces other trusted brands such as Alive!. Its products are sold through grocery stores, pharmacies, health food stores, e-commerce platforms, and other channels.

(Compiled by Cheng Tao)