Sorting through hundreds of thousands of supplements is a seemingly impossible task but one that the app SuppCo is looking to solve.
Launched by Steve Martocci, the app allows users to track their supplement routines, discover the efficacy of their stack based on specific goals they input — each user is scored out of 100 on how effective their stack is — and explore the trustworthiness of certain brands. According to Nielsen IQ, total vitamins, minerals and supplements omnichannel sales in the United States exceeded $35 billion in a recent one year period, having grown 18 percent since the previous year.
Currently, the app tracks 8,000 brands and nearly 200,000 products. It provides a trust score out of 10, based on manufacturing standards, certifications and ingredient quality for several hundred brands with many more on the way. Currently, the app attracts approximately 1,000 new users each day.
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“It’s a platform to help people make sense of supplements,” said Martocci.
Currently, the app is free and monetizes via affiliate revenue, though Martocci plans to launch a premium version with added features for an additional cost.
Prior to starting SuppCo, Martocci, a serial entrepreneur, started companies like GroupMe, Blade and Splice. However, he’d always struggled with his health and weight. After selling GroupMe, he began seeing a functional medicine doctor, who put him on a regimen of supplements and prescriptions, which helped him regain his health and ultimately sparked the idea for SuppCo. After reaching his health goals, people began asking Martocci what he did and he started sharing a document of everything he was doing and taking.
“It would inspire [people] that there’s stuff out there. Over the last decade, you continue to watch how much sharing of supplement routines has become zeitgeist,” he said. “I wanted to build the ability to share and optimize your supplement stack.”
While SuppCo was built on this idea of sharing routines, Martocci’s ultimate goal is to cut down on the noise in the space and streamline supplements for consumers.
“You can be taking the wrong thing. Some influencers are telling you one thing, and it’s totally contradictory to what the other influencers are saying. Your doctor’s like, ‘Don’t take anything,’ and you’re just like, ‘How do I make sense of this?,’” he said. “We’re on this mission to help people figure out what to take, which products to buy and clean up a space that has so many trust issues.”
To provide additional education, the platform can make suggestions on what a user might be missing from their routine based on their goals, which span heart health, longevity and immunity. In addition, users can find stacks built for specific cohorts or concerns, such as Essential Women’s Hormone Support or Essential Energy Support.
While there’s thousands of brands and products to explore, there are highlights that have been topping the charts. According to the team, the most stacked products on the app currently are Seed DS-01 Daily Synbiotic, $50; Thorne Creatine, $43; Pure Encapsulations Magnesium, $12; AG1 The Pouch, $79, and Armra Colostrum, $110. According to Martocci, brands have been eager to share information with the team and work toward upping their scores on the platform.
As similar platforms have gained traction in the beauty and food space, such as EWG’s Skin Deep and Yuka, some users have expressed feelings of anxiety after learning their products might have toxic ingredients or aren’t as trustworthy as others. To this, Martocci tells people not to freak out.
“The good news is just being aware of any of this stuff is a step in the right direction,” he said. “That anxiety might come… [but] the answer’s on the platform.”
Next up for SuppCo: Refining the refined trustworthiness scores, adding scoring for more brands and an ability for users to explore different supplement stacks from experts and potentially influencers and celebrities.
According to Martocci, the biggest challenge was developing a way to score the brands and products on their trustworthiness, a feature that will become more specific over time.
