Women’s focus: New Singapore personalised nutrition firm Moom Health outlines ambitious growth plans
Targeting primarily women’s health, the firm offers an online quiz which dishes out supplement recommendations, and a monthly subscription model where people are sent 30 packs of personalised supplements.
Co-founded by two sisters, Moom Health has seen sales grow almost 30% month-on-month since its launch in Singapore.
On the back of this, the company is now planning to ship to South East Asia next year.
“Our ultimate goal is to be the supplement company for the modern Asian woman,” said Mili Kale, co-founder of Moom Health.
However, varying regulations in different countries will pose a challenge. “We have to make sure that our supplements meet the regulations of every single country. Hopefully with the ASEAN harmonisation of supplement regulations, it will make things a bit easier on the regulation front,” she added.
Untapped market
According to Kale, the decision to launch a brand focused on women’s health stemmed from their own experiences of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), hormonal acne and eczema.
After years of conventional medication and prescription, and countless hours of research and holistic practitioner visits, they eventually found a more natural way of working through the side effects of their issues, rooted in traditional and naturopathic medicine.
Seeing the improvements through the use of supplements and changes in their diet, the sisters decided to launch Moom Health as a wellness brand.
“We decided we wanted to do something in the health space, focusing on women’s health. It’s definitely a space in Singapore, in our opinion, has not been tapped enough.”
The personalised approach came after they found consumers were largely confused about supplements in general.
“A lot of people know they should take supplements, but they often don't know where to start. There's a lot of confusion in the supplement industry because you can go on to a pharmacy or health food store and see 10 different kinds of probiotics, but you're never really certain which one you should buy or which would be the best,” Kale told NutraIngredients-Asia.
Personalised approach
So, the journey at Moom Heath starts off with a free online quiz after which a series of supplement recommendations are generated for each individual, created in consultation with the firm’s expert panel.
Consumers can choose to follow through the recommendations with a monthly subscription, where 30 packets of personalised supplements will be delivered to their homes. “It works as part of your daily ritual, in the same way making your morning cup of tea or coffee,” Kale said.
Consumers can also choose to amend their supplements, buy the supplements individually, or can take the results of this quiz and purchase their supplements elsewhere.
There are currently nine supplements offered by the firm, some of which are patented and clinically studied including Ashwagandha (KSM-66), curcumin (Curcuboost) and Super Amla (AmVigour).
The recommendations do not include dietary and lifestyle changes, which the firm hopes to cover via its social media and website blog.
The average number of supplements recommended currently stands between four to five.
“The quiz can be taken by anybody on the internet, completely free. There are no commitments to taking the quiz, and you will get your set of recommendations for free,” Kale said.
“We want you to be comfortable with what you're taking and what you're getting. We think that the best way to do that is if you educate yourself as best as possible.”
The monthly subscription averages SG$1 to 2 (US$0.75-1.50) a day, depending on the number of supplements.
According to Kale, Moom Health is now working on prepacked supplements that cater to specific health concerns like skin health.
“We’re still keeping it personalised to a particular issue but not necessarily to a person, so we're working on creating new packs for people to try out, to increase our overall accessibility and compliment our 'full service' personalisation. We also intend to expand our supplement library for our personalisation service.”
Moom Health works with a panel of medical professionals and an advisory board composed of naturopaths, nutritionists, and ayurvedic specialists.
“We have weekly calls with them, they help us with our formulation and development of products, and give us feedback on the latest research.”
Some of its advisors include naturopath Lucy Wilcher and Dr Purnandu Sharma, advisor for Consult Yoga, a holistic platform dedicated to Yoga and Ayurveda.
Skin concerns top the list
From its short operating history, the firm has noticed that skin concerns top the list of health concerns, followed by stress and energy.
Kale pointed out: “Skin health is something that you can visually see changes, easily, so it’s been a popular one on our site. We offer Super Amla to promote collagen production, and Super Curcumin as an antioxidant to brighten the skin and for its anti-inflammatory properties especially in fighting against acne.”
“With the pandemic, stress has generally been heightened among people. We have an adaptogen which is our Super Ashwagandha to help reduce stress and anxiety in the body, and lower cortisol levels. For energy, our B-Complex helps boost energy levels.”
According to her, the firm hopes to one day expand its categories to prenatal and pregnancy care. “We have started the process of working closely with a gynaecologist to formulate and develop products for mums and mums to be. It's a long way off, but hopefully something we can perfect and produce in the near future."
Starting a business during a pandemic is difficult but Kale said it was exactly what people needed. “The pandemic resulted in people realising the importance of taking care of themselves, and also giving people the time to do so.”
