Thryve rebrands to Ombre, raises $3 million seed funding
Wellness company Ombre recently emerged with a new identity, announcing new leadership, seed funding and a complete rebrand.
The company is now led by CEO Elise Contarsy, a consumer product branding and merchandising expert. Contarsy said the overhaul gives the brand extra room for expansion to serve more customers in different ways in the personalized health sphere.
“We changed our name and identity to better reflect the company we are building—one that reflects the concept of the quantified self. As consumers evolve and embrace personalized data, services, and health products, our brand has grown. We are not just changing our name; we are also improving our products and services, including our home tests, gut health reports, and in-app experience. While our name and brand identity will change, we will continue with the same DNA analysis process of consumer home testing kits,” Contarsy told NutraIngredients-USA.
New identity, new funds
Ombre has raised $3 million in a seed round, led by PivotNorth Capital, with participation from Trail Mix Ventures, Shanda Group, Unilever Ventures, Social Starts' fund Joyance Partners, and Unpopular Ventures. This seed round brings the company's total funds raised to $9.5 Million.
The fresh funds will go toward Ombre's evolution, which include improvements to their products, supply chain, and services, such as their home tests, gut health reports, probiotic formulations, and in-app experience.
Probiotic formulations
“Our new probiotic formulations will provide our customers access to the latest in probiotic strain research to support their wellness goals. Our new proprietary probiotic formulations contain clinically-supported strains proven to target specific symptoms as well as general health. In modulating the gut biome with researched-backed strains, our probiotic design targets microbial imbalances while encouraging the growth of beneficial bacteria that contribute to overall wellness.”
Contarsy added that these specific wellness needs target areas such as overall gastrointestinal health, broad-spectrum immunity, metabolic health, cardiovascular health, enhanced energy and mood support.
“Every batch is meticulously tested for quality, safety, viability, and efficacy. All of our proprietary probiotic blends have a Certificate of Analysis (CoA) from each batch. They are formulated with non-GMO ingredients that are low-fodmap and vegetarian-friendly. While dairy cultures are used to grow some strains, all traces are removed to make the supplement itself vegan. All of our probiotics are dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, gluten-free, and soy-free,” said Contarsy.
Market
According to Research and Markets, the human microbiome market is expected to reach $2,921.6 million by 2028, up from $718.9 million in 2021.
The future is even brighter for the probiotics market, with Fortune Business Insights projecting the global probiotics market will reach over $94 billion by 2027 while exhibiting a CAGR of 7.9% between 2020 and 2027. The current probiotics market is valued at 61 billion.
"Ombre has excellent unit economics with the ability to upsell test takers to probiotic subscribers," said Tim Connors, founder at PivotNorth Capital. "We see a significant upside as the business is relaunched with a new trademark, supply chain improvements, and demonstrated consumer demand for probiotic products."
