A LaunchTN Portfolio Company: Rootine, based in Nashville, is a hyper-personalized, subscription vitamin program that aims to provide its users with a completely unique mix of supplements for their health, creating personalized daily vitamin packs based on users’ DNA, blood levels, and lifestyle.
We caught up with the CEO and Co-Founder, Rachel Sanders, to hear about Rootine’s mission to change the world of vitamins and plans for dabbling in the world of NFTs.
Q&A
What is the mission of Rootine?
Rootine is optimizing health and daily performance with precision nutrition through at-home testing, precision multivitamin memberships, and digital tracking tools. Nutrition is key to maintaining health and preventing and treating many chronic diseases. Yet, even in one of the wealthiest nations, the nutrition in the U.S. is declining and we are facing a health crisis as many people are consuming less nutritional foods. We have better technology and knowledge access than ever before, and we are building Rootine to leverage those advances along with the latest in nutrition science to help reverse the problem of nutritional deficiencies and also bring focus to the importance of personalized nutrition as a way to move forward.
Who are the key team members at Rootine?
Rachel Sanders, CEO and Co-Founder
Dr. Daniel Wallerstorfer, PhD CSO and Co-Founder
What inspired you to start the company?
When I started my career in the health sector a decade ago, I saw so much opportunity to use technology and data to improve how people experience health in ways that help prevent disease rather than simply treating the symptoms.
After completing my MBA at Harvard, I was in the midst of founding my first company when my struggles with stress, fatigue, and burnout increased. I started looking for ways to optimize my health and daily performance. It was then that I met biotechnician and nutrigenetic expert, Dr. Daniel Wallerstorfer, PhD. After both searching for better solutions to improve our personal health and both falling short, we launched Rootine to fill a gap in the market and empower people to leverage their data to optimize health through precision nutrition.
What need is Rootine currently solving or seeking to address?
Research indicates that up to 90% of the U.S. has a lack of adequate daily vitamin and mineral intake, which results in micronutrient deficiencies that can have a significant impact on fatigue, mood, stress, sleep, and many chronic diseases. Inadequate nutrition is also the number one cause of illness in the United States and nutritional deficiencies can be linked to 700,000 deaths each year.
While many try to “cure” these deficiencies and health conditions through one-size-fits-all supplements or nutrition plans, Rootine is building the foundation of a comprehensive health brand that empowers millions to leverage their data to achieve optimal health through precision insights, products, and services.
Could you describe your company in three words?
Data-driven, innovative, trustworthy.
How did you hear about the LaunchTN funding program/grant?
Launch TN funding was part of our seed raise.
Key people who helped make the funding opportunity happen?
Rootine’s success could not be possible without our team of experts across biotech, brand building, operations, and nutrition science. Our roster of investors is diverse — including investors from underrepresented backgrounds and geographies, with different types of expertise, such as Novogenia GMBH, DSM Venturing, Duro VC, Launch TN Impact Fund, Cleo Capital, and upwards of twenty angel investors. The team also plays a critical role in Rootine’s success: Dr. Daniel Wallerstorfer, Tye Jensen, Jocelyn Weigel, Lily Hecht-Leavitt, IJ Makan, Emilie Kormienko, Rick Mooney, Josh MacDonald, and Josh Jennings.
What do you plan to achieve with this funding?
Over the next few months, we’re excited to continue working toward our mission of empowering individuals to leverage their health data to achieve optimal health with precision nutrition. We will be investing in product and software development to improve the member experience, announcing several exciting partnerships, and expanding our team across engineering, marketing, and customer experience.
We have launched a curated, engaging community for health enthusiasts and high performers to connect, inspire, learn, and achieve their goals. We are also exploring and getting into the web 3.0 and NFT space with the launch of Apex Optimizers, the first collaborative NFT project focused exclusively on health and human performance optimization.
Company Snapshot
Date founded: 2018
Company based in: Nashville, TN
Learn more about Rootine’s nutrition technology and offerings: https://rootine.co/
