Supergut Closes Investment, Adds New CEO

Supergut is not just bringing its gut-health and GLP-1 companion products to Expo West, but also a new CEO strategizing a big year after securing additional capital runway.

Former Vital Proteins executive Tracey Warner Halama is Supergut’s new CEO who will oversee the day-to-day operations as founder (and 2024 Nosh Notable) Marc Washington moves into an executive chairman role. The prebiotic fiber bar, shake and powder maker also announced the closing of a new investment round led by Full Frame Growth Partners.

Details of the round were not disclosed, but a recent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Form D filed on February 14 reported $22 million of new equity sold. The recent SEC filing doesn’t represent the current funding round amount, which was smaller than the $22 million in the Form D, according to Warner Halama.

Supergut (under the parent company Uplifting Results Labs, Inc.) reported $6 million in March 2022 and $8.2 million in January 2021, according to other SEC filings.

Warner Halama moved into the advisory and venture capital space after working her way up through the ranks at Vital Proteins from SVP of sales to eventually leading the brand as it was integrated into Nestlé Health Science post-acquisition.

She joined Bader Alam’s new venture firm Full Frame Growth Partners in 2023 as operating partner and, in that role, met Washington and the Supergut team at Expo West 2024. The gut-health supplement brand became Full Frame’s first investment partly because of Washington’s focus on Supergut being scientifically supported with clinical trials and research.

“I love that it’s a patented solution, so it gives us a little future-proofing that it’s not going to be replicated,” Warner Halama said. “[Full Frame] loved the fact that [Washington] was first-to-market with a GLP-1 companion product and came out in front of it before it became a fad.”

In 2024, Supergut made a big jump from primarily positioning in ecommerce and direct-to-consumer to making strides in retail, growing to about 6,000 doors currently with partnerships with GNC, Sprouts, Erewhon and Target.

Quietly taking over Supergut’s CEO role at the beginning of the year, Warner Halama aims to expand into 12,000 doors by the end of 2025. She is focused on using Supergut’s clinically supported approach and the story of why Washington launched the brand to “build a moat around the business,” she said. Supergut (previously named Muniq after Washington’s late sister Monica) was founded to help consumers combat adverse health conditions like gestational diabetes.

“[Washington] loves the vision and the scientific aspects of the business,” she said. “When I think about what I’m really good at, it’s operating. It’s building out the revenue, the channel strategy, the team-building, the marketing and the brand-building aspect that really gets the company to have that blow-up moment.”

This year, Warner Halama is focused on bringing in new talent to support Supergut’s retail growth goals and gain more economies of scale through optimizing supply chains and driving operational efficiencies.

“2025 is the year of full omnichannel proliferation,” she said. “We’re going to be driving better contracts, better sourcing and really upleveling the brand. It’s the unsexy part of building a business.”

With looming tariffs creating an uncertain trade environment, Supergut is securing new strategic partners to provide redundancies along its supply chain. Although its current manufacturing partner is U.S.-based, sourcing raw materials used in its formulations like green banana fiber needs to be hedged against, Warner Halama said.

The pragmatic strategy is sensible as the CPG industry moves into year two of the Ozempic Era. From multinational food makers like Nestlé and Conagra Brands to retailers like Target, GNC and Vitamin Shoppe building out sets, GLP-1 companion products appear to be a marketing and innovation trend with staying power.

For now, the focus is on expanding its footprint and innovation within the set, but Supergut is positioning to become a category leader as it grows.

“We’re going to own digestive health because we have a name like Supergut,” she said. “As we grow, we can continue to explore new innovations that might be outside of the category but still extending the Supergut family name.”