Disrupting an industry by rethinking usage, format and flavor

Founded by Chad Janis, a former private equity investor, Grüns was built to solve two defining challenges with the supplements market: a lack of both nutritious and tasty offerings. He observed what we can all agree on: green powders, pills and other products in the extremely broad supplements market are often a pain to consume. For a year, he thought about how to address this problem, aiming to provide a much more attractive format and flavor alternative.

The result: single-pack sachets of gummy bears made from 60 whole foods ingredients and no artificial flavoring, with the taste of strawberry. Convenient, fun, and tasty: the opposite of what taking supplements often feel like, which likely explains why demand rapidly soared. Janis raised $1.25 million two weeks after launching, and over $50 million across 3 years. Today, the brand announced it is being acquired by Unilever for over $1 billion, less than 3 years after its launch, making it one of the largest, fastest acquisitions in the consumer goods industry.

In a statement, Jostein Solheim, Unilever Wellbeing CEO said: “As a leader and true innovator in the Greens Supplement category, what sets Grüns apart is its focused portfolio of science-backed products that people genuinely enjoy, trust, and consistently use. This combination of efficacy and experience is powerful, and together we see a significant opportunity to scale the brand within our Wellbeing business.”

What really sets Grüns apart and made it a highly attractive brand— besides its innovative product offering—is the level of loyalty and frequency at which consumers interact with the brand. According to the brand, 95% of users take Grüns at least 4-6x per week, with 80% taking Grüns daily. These numbers likely heavily influenced Unilever in its decision. Combined with high retention, this frequency level tells a simple truth: users love the product. In an industry where consumers have to mix poor tasting powder with smoothies or take various pills, the brand has managed to create something consumers can enjoy on-the-go while feeling like they’re eating a treat.

What the company has managed extremely well is listen and react to customer feedback, while placing much of its efforts on both optimal formulation and taste, without letting one compromise the other. Despite scaling fast and being listed in thousands of Sprouts, Target and Walmart stores across the U.S., Grüns still continued to operate like a proper DTC brand, focusing on growing demand online via digital marketing to feed its omnichannel strategy, rather than let supermarket shelves do the talking. Grüns does not let any channel take over, focusing instead on a healthy balance of presence across Facebook, Google, TikTok, and influencer marketing.

In addition, Grüns is appealing because it managed to target a very broad demographic. It didn’t specifically go after wellness junkies or health-obsessed consumers, but managed to grow its appeal and resonate with a large audience—made up of busy parents, kids, wellness and fitness enthusiasts— thanks to its good formulations and fun packaging. More than a million consumers enjoy their better-for-you, nutritious gummy bears, of which 67% reported better well-being, digestion and overall health. The brand’s superfood gummies have 4.8 stars and 85,000 reviews on its website, with 10 million of them shipped every single day.

This acquisition confirms what we have been seeing in the past few years: leading FMCG companies are increasingly struggling to keep up with innovation internally, so they acquire to stay up to date with current trends and market demand. Rather than attempting to manufacture culture in-house, companies like Unilever are integrating brands that built loyalty, community, and daily usage, turning cultural momentum and growing consumer habits into scalable growth.