MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BEFORE Brands™, Inc., a science-based consumer products company dedicated to bringing innovative, proprietary nutritional products directly to families, announced today that it has raised $13.1 million in private funding in a Series A financing round led by Gurnet Point Capital.
Co-founded by entrepreneur Dr. Ashley Dombkowski and pediatrician Dr. Kari Nadeau, BEFORE Brands’ products build on a growing body of evidence in support of nutritional strategies that include potentially allergenic foods as a regular part of a healthy diet. The products are based on insights and intellectual property developed by Dr. Nadeau and licensed to BEFORE Brands by Stanford University on an exclusive, global basis. The Company’s Early Adaptive Tolerance™ edible products are designed to be incorporated into the diet of infants around 6 months of age as part of solid food introduction. This proprietary platform embraces ideals from the crossroads of the dietary supplement, natural food products, and infant nutrition categories.
“Food allergies are an accelerating epidemic, now impacting about two kids per classroom in the United States and doubling every 10 years. As a clinician and researcher, I study the interaction between genetics and environmental influences like diet in the context of food allergies and asthma. BEFORE Brands will soon commercialize a line of products based on these insights and designed specifically for healthy infants and toddlers to complement a diverse, fresh and healthy diet while the immune system is developing. Our products use our proprietary Early Adaptive Tolerance system, which aligns with independently generated evidence in support of 'early and often' introduction of typical allergenic foods, like peanut, in infant diets,” said Dr. Nadeau who is full-time Naddisy Foundation Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics and Director of the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research at Stanford University.
“Our first-of-its-kind product line benefits from proprietary insights from one of the world’s foremost experts in adult and pediatric allergies alongside world class development and commercialization capabilities. Our team is grateful to have the commitment and expertise of Gurnet Point Capital to help us expand our reach rapidly and responsibly, and is looking forward to working closely with Gurnet Point during this important phase of our Company’s growth,” said Dr. Dombkowski, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer.
“The BEFORE Brands team is building a company that combines scientific rigor with the creativity of a consumer company to serve young families. We are thrilled to apply Gurnet Point Capital’s operating expertise and resources to support the vision of this outstanding entrepreneurial team,” said George Montgomery, Partner at Gurnet Point Capital and a member of the company’s Board of Directors.
The Series A syndicate included investments from Martha Goldberg Aronson & Dan Aronson, Justine & John Arrillaga, Denise & Dave Bunning, Michele & Tim Barakett, Katherine Collins, Linda & Bill Friend, Kim & Alan Hartman, Melissa & Scott Kepner, Rebecca & Sasha Lainovic, Michelle & Daniel Lubetzky, Julie & Bruce Menin, Shirley & Mike Orsak, Melanie & Tom Staggs, Lisette & Jeff Weiner, Anne Wojcicki, and Stephanie Winston Wolkoff & David Wolkoff.
The Company is headquartered in Menlo Park, CA.
About BEFORE Brands™, Inc.
The immune system: part soldier, part sentinel. An essential balance, perfected by time but increasingly disrupted by modern living. BEFORE Brands is developing edible products to support this critical duality, beginning in healthy infants before problems arise. Our products use our proprietary Early Adaptive Tolerance™ blend of whole food proteins & Vitamin D designed to help provide balanced, gentle & consistent immune system support right from the start. This technology was innovated by Dr. Kari Nadeau, a pediatrician, mother of five, and the Director of the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research at Stanford University. Our products build on a growing body of evidence in support of nutritional strategies that include potentially allergenic foods as a regular part of a healthy diet. At BEFORE Brands, We Nourish Possibilities™. For more information please visit www.beforebrands.com.
About Gurnet Point Capital
Gurnet Point Capital (GPC) is a unique health care fund founded by Ernesto Bertarelli and led by Christopher A. Viehbacher, who, together, have decades of expertise in an industry for which they share a passion, both as Chief Executives and as investors. With an initial allocation of $2 billion, GPC is investing long-term capital and supporting entrepreneurs in building a new generation of companies. Based in Cambridge, MA, its remit is global, encompassing life sciences and medical technologies. The fund invests across all stages of product development through to commercialisation and does so with an approach that is a hybrid of venture and private equity investing strategies. This approach is governed by a guiding tenet that even the earliest of technologies must present a clear commercial case, benefiting both patients and the healthcare system as a whole.
