HVMN

HVMN, previously known as Nootrobox, is an American company that manufactures and sells a ketone ester drink, products supporting a ketogenic diet, and nootropic supplements.[1] The company is headquartered in San Francisco.[2][3] HVMN stands for "Health Via Modern Nutrition."[4]

HVMN Inc.
TypePrivate
IndustryNutrition
FoundersGeoffrey Woo, Michael Brandt
Headquarters
San Francisco
Area served
United States
Websitehvmn.com

History
The "RISE" daily product from Nootrobox

The company was first founded in 2014 by Geoffrey Woo and Michael Brandt. While forming the company Woo was an Entrepreneur in residence in the Entrepreneur-in-Residence program of Foundation Capital,[5] while Brandt worked as a Google employee, a freelance photographer, and an adjunct professor at the Academy of Art University.[6][7]

In October 2015, the company announced that Silicon Valley angel investors including Marissa Mayer and Mark Pincus had invested $500,000 in the company.[8] In December 2015, Andreessen Horowitz led a $2 million venture capital round in the company. Chris Dixon, who has experience at companies like Soylent, led the investment for Andreessen Horowitz.[9]

In August 2016, Nootrobox partnered with 7-Eleven locations in San Francisco.[10] In June 2017, Nootrobox changed its name to H.V.M.N., which stands for "Health Via Modern Nutrition".[11]

In 2018, HVMN products affiliated with United States Special Operations Command were tested as part of Operation Tech Warrior hosted at the National Center for Medical Readiness.[12]

Studies and results

In November 2017, the company's first commissioned clinical trial found that one of its supplements was less effective in many ways than the caffeine (a cup of coffee) used as the control. The company then asked researchers to change the name of the product to distance it from the analysis.[13][14] The company, however, linked to the study on their website as of 2018.[15]

On September 13, 2018, HVMN was the nutrition sponsor for cyclist Vittoria Bussi, who broke the UCI Hour record using HVMN Ketone drinks in the training run up and on the day of the world record. [16] In the 2019 Tour de France, multiple cycling teams including Team Jumbo–Visma and Lotto–Soudal confirmed use of ketone ester for performance and recovery. [17]

Culture

In 2016 the company instituted a weekly intermittent fasting day for staff.[18] This was in line with a fad among Silicon Valley companies and workers at that time to use biohacking techniques in the workplace.[19]

References
  1. Castro, Vicky (2015-03-05). "The 'Brain-Enhancing' Drugs That Are Sweeping Silicon Valley". Inc.com. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  2. "Don't have time to drink your coffee? Chew it with Go Cubes". CNET. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  3. "The Perks of Fasting, With None of the Work". The Atlantic. 2017-11-07. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
  4. "H.V.M.N. is Health Via Modern Nutrition". HVMN. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  5. Perez, Sarah. "Nootrobox Launches Its "Smart Drugs" Subscription Service". TechCrunch. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  6. D'ONFRO, JILLIAN. "This Twenty-Something Ditched His Dream Job At Google And Now He Has A Startup That Sells Brain-Enhancing Pills". Business Insider. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  7. "A Pair of Entrepreneurs Focuses on 'Nutrients for Your Brain'". WeWork. June 18, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  8. "Marissa Mayer and Mark Pincus invested in a startup that makes 'brain drugs' and chewable coffee", Business Insider, October 13, 2015
  9. "Andreessen Horowitz to Invest in Nootropics Start-Up", New York Times, December 3, 2015
  10. "More money is being poured into start-ups that 'hack' the human brain", CNBC, August 4, 2016
  11. "Nootrobox is now HVMN and will sell biohacking products beyond nootropics", Techcrunch, June 17, 2017
  12. "Businesses test innovations during technology acceleration event", Dayton Daily News
  13. Farr, Christina (30 November 2017). "Start-up makes millions selling 'brain hacking' pills, but its own study found coffee works better". CNBC.
  14. Caldenhove, S.; Sambeth, A.; Sharma, S.; Woo, G.; Blokland, A. (2017-12-18). "A Combination of Nootropic Ingredients (CAF+) Is Not Better than Caffeine in Improving Cognitive Functions". Journal of Cognitive Enhancement. 2: 106–113. doi:10.1007/s41465-017-0061-0. ISSN 2509-3290.
  15. Lee, Dave (2018). "Inside Silicon Valley's quest to beat ageing". BBC News. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  16. "Vittoria Bussi breaks Hour Record in second attempt within 48-hours". Cycling Weekly. 2018.
  17. "Does Ketone Ester Supplementation Boost Cycling Performance?". Medscape. July 18, 2019.
  18. "'Hacking' the brain: Silicon Valley entrepreneurs turn to fasting and 'smart drugs'", Mercury News, July 9, 2016
  19. "Silicon Valley Tech Workers are Trading Unlimited Snacks for Fasts and L.S.D.", Vanity Fair, July 14, 2016
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