Oana Coșman
The funding round attracted significant investors, including three investment funds from Romania, V7 Capital, Cleverage VC, and The Mavers Ventures, as well as several individual investors from the Bravva Angels community.
Zitamine Nutrition's mission is to change how people take nutritional supplements. With a unique and innovative approach, the company focuses on personalizing the recommendation of supplements for each individual, ensuring they receive exactly what their body needs.
This is achieved through a detailed questionnaire developed in collaboration with doctors and pharmacists, serving as the basis for generating personalized recommendations for vitamins and natural supplements.
"We invested in Zitamine for two main reasons. Firstly, because we trust the Zitamine team through its two co-founders, and appreciate the methodical approach they take in building a complex business. Secondly, for the strong technology component, which is increasingly present in global healthcare services but still underutilized in Romania", said Ilinca Paun, angel investor in Zitamine and founder of Bravva Angels.
The company plans to invest the funds in improving the customer referral algorithm and the experience on the Zitamine platform, with the purpose of exceeding the threshold of 10,000 active customers. Recently, the company recruited a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) with 15 years of experience as software developer and architect in order to help accomplish these goals.
"Statistics show that 4 out of 5 adults have taken supplements in the last 12 months. However, the way they choose supplements is often random, based on what a friend recommended or what they saw in a TV commercial," said Iulia Ghiță, Co-Founder of Zitamine.
"We believe that each of us is unique, and the supplements we take should be tailored to our own needs. Our approach to personalized nutrition reflects this vision. The funding we have received will allow us to expand our portfolio of supplements and recommendation algorithm by also incorporating data related to blood test results", she adds.
With a range of high-quality, natural products at an affordable price and innovative packaging, Zitamine Nutrition is committed to bringing significant change to how people perceive nutritional supplements. Additionally, every customer can access a free consultation with a nutritionist or pharmacist from the Zitamine team, which consists of 4 specialists with studies in medicine, pharmacy and nutrition.
"We are currently working on forming a medical board with specialists in various fields: endocrinology, nutrition and diabetology, cardiology, and surgery. The role of the medical board role will be to oversee the recommendations provided by the algorithm, suggest improvements to the questionnaire, and propose new supplements that we can add to our portfolio, based on recent studies conducted”, announces Alexandra Stroe, Co-Founder of Zitamine.
Since its launch in 2022, over 70,000 people in Romania have completed their nutritional profiles on the Zitamine website, and the company has delivered 8,500 orders so far. Next year, the company plans to test a new market, expanding its offer to Bulgaria or Hungary.
The initial investment in Zitamine was €300,000, followed by an investment of €200,000 for the further development of the project on the Romanian market.
