A growing manufacturer of healthcare products is targeting European markets following an investment deal.
Birmingham-based Rem3dy Health has struck an agreement with French pharmaceutical chain UPSA to sell its Nourished brand of gummy vitamin stacks.
The deal has seen UPSA take an undisclosed stake in Rem3dy Health and agree to sell Nourished's products in 7,000 of its pharmacies across France and a further 5,000 branches in Italy.
The Nourished brand was founded in Digbeth in 2019 and creates a range of vitamin products in the form of 3D-printed gummy sweets.
Each one contains seven different vitamins with customers able to build one bespoke to their lifestyle and needs by answering a lifestyle survey.
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The company was founded by Melissa Snover who once owned vegetarian sweet brand Goody Good Stuff before selling it in 2013 to Chewits owner Cloetta.
Ms Snover said she was inspired to launch Nourished after she dropped a bag of vitamins while walking through Düsseldorf Airport and had to scrabble around on the floor to pick them all up.
The company started with just five members of staff four years ago but has since grown to around 275.
Speaking about this European expansion, Ms Snover said: "As the sole female founder of a manufacturing scale-up, the opportunity to collaborate with Isabelle Van Rycke (UPSA's chief executive) has held profound personal significance for me.
"Isabelle and I share a passion for innovation, a dedication to delivering world-class quality and an ambition to disrupt the health and wellness industry on a global scale.
"I am confident the synergy between our manufacturing and pharmaceutical powerhouses will continue to yield remarkable and much-needed innovation in the market.
"Our continued collaborative effort will provide ground-breaking, preventative nutritional solutions that cater to the needs of our valued customers.”
The investment by UPSA, which also manufactures medicine, will support Rem3dy Health to improve efficiencies and output including further automation of a new technology developed in-house aimed at increasing production capacity by 30 times. It is also hoping to secure more patents for the business.
This is the latest expansion by Rem3dy Health which two months ago expanded its direct-to-consumer service into Japan, with new flavours developed for the Asian market, and last year it partnered with Neutrogena and Colgate to release bespoke products.
It has also secured various funding rounds and won a listing with high-end department store chain Selfridges.
Ms Van Rycke added: "In an ever-changing environment, a company like UPSA can only continue to grow if it constantly reinvents itself.
"Our acquisition of a stake in Rem3dy Health is a sign of this agility and our desire to continue to adapt our offer to the new expectations of consumers in the food supplement market."
