While FoodTech is not doing great, as we saw in our recently published report on global investments, two categories are doing surprisingly well: everything that can help with sustainability, notably in agriculture, and healthy ageing. We’ll focus on the latter today to share how we define it, which categories we observe, how many leading companies are already investing in it, and finally, where it may go.
1 – What is healthy ageing?
It took us some time to define healthy ageing in relationship to food beyond WHO’s version, which is “the process of developing and maintaining the functional ability that enables wellbeing in older age”. Rather than defining it through words, we prefer to see what it includes and where it can be positioned alongside more established innovation ecosystems.
What’s clear is the goal: healthy ageing is about improving the health span, or the time you’ll live in good health, which is very different from longevity, which “only” focuses on making you live longer. It is also part of the broader “food as medicine” space, which wants to see the implications of food on our health, both for ageing and to target some conditions. Finally, it intersects with senior food and personalisation.
In terms of tech ecosystems, and that’s why it is a complex concept, it is at the intersection of three broad areas:
- FoodTech with implications in alternative proteins, infant formula, glucose management, weight management and functional proteins.
- Health and FemTech
- Fitness and sport
Then, we can distinguish four applications: mental health, gut health, longevity and immunity (this being the largest field).
2 – What are the startups doing?
Now, that we have a defintion, let’s have a look at where the startups are and what they are doing. As you can see on the hype curve below, we have displayed the different trends that we observe int he FoodTech ecosystem and which are related to healthy ageing.
Each of these trends matches one or more of the applications above. They are far from being at the same level of maturity. From closest to farthest from mainstream we have:
🍫 Better-for-you brands, with the most sizeable group of players, ranging from:
- Food DTC (direct-to-consumer) brands like Joy Days promoting a better glucose management.
- Supplements such as Nourished.
- Beverage brands, with players mostly focused on mental health and hydration.
📱 Food Coaching and devices (or the combination of both such as Zoé) helping consumers understand and track their metabolism.
💉 GLP-1 companions which we have recently covered in another insight.
🥕 Healthy ageing ingredients covering the wide range of startups using alternative proteins technologies to develop functional ingredients that have benefits for our health. One example of such ingredient is lactoferrin, a protein with immunity benefits, that many players are attempting to develop through precision fermentation.
👵 Longevity, often with proprietary supplements that are said to extend your lifespan. A fun example is Uda which markets a coffee blend with a mix of such supplements.
🍬 Personalised foods, an ecosystem still far from maturity, with players claiming to develop products based on your own metabolism to improve your health.
3 – Is it only a space for startups?
As I said earlier, it is one of the two space where we are spending most of our time with clients. There is a growing activity of agrifood players, and beyond (in cosmetics…) looking to better understand what is happening, where it could go, and how to play in this space.
We have recently seen some examples such as Nestlé launching its GLP-1 nutrition support platform in the US or Ajinomoto, a leading ingredient supplier seeking to leverage AI to develop a food coaching application. And these are only two of multiple examples showing a huge interest in that space.
4 – What’s next?
Today’s leaders and challengers have to think at where they want to be in 10 to 30 years. Then, as we saw in another insight, the share of senior consumers will be the larger, and then population will decline. To face this new paradigm, new models, based on value delivered to consumers, rather than growth based on volumes will have to be developed.
That’s where healthy ageing is extremely interesting as a concept. Indeed, beyond selling a commodity or a brand, a company, notably large ones can sell a platform integrating a range of products and services. These services can include devices to measure the impact of food on your health, subscription models to some supplements, content, but also coaching platforms based on AI or an access to a network of professionals.
In the short term, we expect to see increasing investments in all the ecosystems mentioned above, and some M&A deals as some companies reach maturity. We should also expect more announcements from leading companies looking to venture into this space.
