Powdered beverage maker MANTRA Labs announced this month that it has closed a $1.5 million seed round, intended to help the company expand its around-the-clock health and wellness platform brand.
The round includes investments from several individuals, including BeyondBrands founder and CEO Eric Schnell, Tiff’s Treats founder and CEO Leon Chen, Thinksport and Thinkbaby founder Kevin Brodwick, former Dexcom CTO Jorge Valdez and Wayo Longoria, an investor and founder of vegan restaurant Casa De Luz Village.
Based in Austin, Texas, MANTRA Labs was co-founded by CEO Paul Janowitz, who is also an investor in CPG startup accelerator SKU, and actor Jared Padalecki, best known for his television roles on Gilmore Girls and Supernatural.
The company’s products include three powdered SKUs: RISE, intended to provide mental clarity, focus, hydration and caffeine-free energy; GO, made with 80 mg of caffeine for midday use or as a pre-workout; and REST, intended to aid sleep. According to Janowitz, the products are clinically-backed and utilize an unique “Chrono-Nutrition System” intended to match biorhythms in order to provide consumers with an “easy for you, clinically-backed system that took you from morning to night.” The products are available online direct-to-consumer for $22.50 per 10-pack of single-serve packets, or in 10-day ($60) and 30-day ($160) complete line bundles.
Launched in July, the powders are currently available online and in a limited number of Austin-area independent retailers. Janowitz said about 50% of MANTRA Labs’ current customers are purchasing the full line for daily use, while the rest have gravitated towards single SKUs.
“We’ve been really surprised by the broad market adoption,” Janowitz said. “We kind of came out to market thinking we’d be selling to the classic female aged 30-to-50, $100,000+ income, exercise five times a week, demographic. Instead we’ve got everyone from 20-year-old distance runners, males, females, all the way up to people in their 80’s loving the product.”
Padalecki initially joined the company as an investor shortly after its launch last July when his wife received samples. He shortly after came on board as a co-founder and now splits his time between filming television and helping to guide MANTRA Labs’ strategy, Janowitz said. He noted that Padalecki, who has been an advocate for mental health awareness, was attracted to the brand because of its focus on overall physical and mental wellness.
“Every product we produce, we want to ensure that we’re taking care of the mind and the body through nutrition,” Janowitz said. “We’re seeing more and more data come out that what you eat doesn’t just affect how you look or how you perform, but it affects how you feel on a cellular and mental level, which makes it all the more important to pay attention to how products are formulated to make sure they stack up correctly so they support that mental and physical health.”
According to Janowitz, the new investment will help the company to increase brand awareness and develop new products to expand the current platform. MANTRA Labs will remain available exclusively online for the remainder of 2021, but will begin exploring a retail rollout next year.
In addition to Janowitz and Padalecki, MANTRA Labs employs a full time director of operations, Matt Thurston, who previously served as COO at online consumer insights company icanmakeitbetter.
Key to the brand’s growth is the financial involvement of Eric Schnell and BeyondBrands. BeyondBrands co-founding partner Kenn Israel serves as MANTRA Labs’ part-time head of R&D and Schnell has helped guide the company’s go-to-market strategy. As well, Janowitz said the other investors in the seed round will provide their expertise, including CPG veterans like Chen and Brodwick as well as Valdez whose work at Dexcom, a maker of blood glucose monitoring systems, will provide experience with biotechnology and regulatory and FDA issues.
“At our core ethos is helping people live healthier, happier lives by focusing on small repeatable habits and enjoying the journey on the way there, because that’s really all we have,” Janowitz said. “That story has really resonated with our customers by looking at their total well-being versus just running your fastest mile or getting six-pack abs. Because there’s always a reason we’re trying to do that, and if we miss that reason then we’re not happy at the end of it.”