How supplements brand Feel Goods raised a $4.7 million round in a challenging VC landscape

The DTC brand recently raised a $4.7 million seed round, led by Cutting Horse, with participation from Adapt VC, SuperAngel.Fund, Air Ventures, TA Ventures and OpenSky Ventures. According to co-founder Brian Wong, he and co-founder Dustin Pourbaba began their fundraising efforts in March of this year, and pitched dozens of CPG funds on Feel Goods having a unique positioning among the sea of supplement startups. 

Wong attributed much of the brand’s growth to its viral content on TikTok since its launch in early 2021. The brand has nearly 200,000 followers across social media platforms and has garnered 5 million likes on TikTok to date. Wong didn’t disclose Feel Goods’s exact revenue but said it’s in the “eight-figure” range, with the company growing at a profitable rate.

Standing out in a busy wellness space

“I’m grateful but surprised that we were actually able to do it in this short period of time,” Wong said. Previously, the company raised some cash from friends and family. “We’ve just been lean and efficient with capital so far,” he said.

Much of the founders’ initial outreach was to connections within the founders’ network; Wong and Pourbaba previously worked in the tech industry.

Wong said that, while supplements are a very crowded space, there has recently been enough exit activity to keep investors intrigued in betting on early-stage wellness startups. And even though Feel Goods is still a DTC-only brand, Wong said the brand’s heavy subscriber base persuaded its investors. In the past three years, the company has shipped over 4 million servings, with most orders coming from subscriptions. 

“It’s really hard to do DTC right now unless you’re a repeat-heavy consumable product,” he said. Supplements happen to be one of these categories, as many customers plan to take them consistently to see optimal results. 

To stay lean, Wong said the company has heavily scaled back on paid ads and shifted focus to in-house content in the past year. “Now we do a lot of it ourselves in-house, and TikTok has been a huge driver of awareness and revenue,” Wong said.

Wong said the branding and messaging is another differentiator that helped seal the deal. “A lot of wellness brands are aspirational, but we’re trying to make it more approachable and fun for a wide demographic,” he said. “Also, many supplement brands currently in investors’ portfolios are very clinical and serious.” Wellness startups also tend to target specific demographics like young women or “the yoga crowd,” as Wong puts it. 

In contrast, he said, Feel Goods’s mixers are often presented as a “Kool-Aid-esque supplement.” Much of the brand’s content incorporates humorous, provocative imagery while educating the audience on concerns like ingredients and digestive issues. 

Slowly building a sustainable model 

Despite its eventual success in closing a funding round, Wong said Feel Goods was challenged by investors on aspects like being DTC-only in such a competitive category. 

“We got a ton of ‘nos’ [from investors],” he said. And the reasons varied. For example, one investor said he’s tapped out on the crowded beverage space, having already invested in a number of beverage brands in the last few years. 

Wong said that many investors passed on Feel Goods because they’re looking for established omnichannel businesses, ones ideally already selling at big-box retailers like Target and Walmart. However, Feel Goods has been intentionally holding off on wholesale partnerships while it builds its online awareness and establishes a following. 

“We had Walmart reach out to us, but we don’t have the team, capital or operations built out for a launch that big,” Wong said. “And you only get one shot at retail.” 

Wong said Feel Goods plans to leverage some of its new investors to plan and execute a physical retail strategy. The company plans to start rolling out in retail in early 2026.

Feel Goods’s successful run at fundraising is still an outlier as venture capital activity slowly trickles back. 

Mike Duda, partner at Bullish, said that VCs continue to be interested in the better-for-you functional powders and beverages due to the category’s strong margins and long-term potential growth.

However, there is also skepticism among many investors due to the sheer number of these brands out there. “Yes, health and wellness is exploding,” Duda said. “But there are a bunch that are treading water or doing just OK.” That’s because there’s more opportunity than ever before to quickly spin up a business; new founders can start a DTC brand by leveraging social media and launching an Amazon store to generate revenue in the first couple of years. “But getting to a commercial scale is going to be tough,” he said.

Wong said even for high-growth wellness brands, there is a need to constantly adapt. While Feel Goods’s portfolio has performed well, the founders want to continue modifying it as consumers’ habits change. The brand launched during the pandemic when many people were home and looking for better-for-you immunity drinks. That has since changed, he said, and many are looking for convenience. 

With the fresh funding, the company is planning a change in product formats. “Next year, we’re actually going out of powder mixes and moving into new formats,” he said. The company is considering a light liquid or gummies for its next line, taking inspiration from fast-growing gummy brands like Grüns. “At the end of the day, CPG is 90% about differentiating yourself,” Wong said.