Acupuncture company Wthn is primed for growth.
It has closed a $5 million Series A led by L Catterton with participation from Jesse Draper’s Halogen Ventures and angel investors. The company also opened a new studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, studio Monday.
The company, cofounded by Michelle Larivee in 2019, was hit by stay-at-home orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but now is back in full expansion mode.
“[The] vision from literally Day One has always been to have a national footprint from a retail perspective,” said Larivee, also the company’s chief executive officer.
While the pandemic led the team to build out its growing line of products, which includes its bestselling Acupressure Mat Set, $78, and herbal supplements, $39, the team is now focused on both studio expansion and retail growth, according to Larivee.
New York is the focus over the next year, as the plan is to open two to three studios in 2024 starting with Williamsburg, where the company’s practitioners offer traditional Chinese medicine.
“We have a clear real estate strategy in New York in terms of what we’re looking for, for any location, so looking at the customer demographics, looking at other adjacent businesses in the wellness space,” Larivee said.
Williamsburg was the most requested location, Larivee said, and the demographic there aligns with Wthn’s current customer base.
“Our customer is someone who really is health-first, and that doesn’t mean that they’ve tried acupuncture. In fact 60 to 70 percent of our customers have never tried acupuncture,” she said, adding that the customer base tends to skew more towards women.
After New York expansion this year, the team is looking at Boston, California, Philadelphia and D.C. for future locations.
While Larivee’s sights are set on physical expansion, particularly with the $5 million raise, she is eager to double down on the product business in the next three years or so, she said. Pain, women’s health and digestion will be key areas of interest for future products — and are also issues that drive customers to the studios.
“Our mission is all about introducing Chinese medicine to more people and through our products, we can do that sooner at a larger level,” she said, adding that it could account for a larger portion of the business than studios in the future.
Private equity firm L Catterton, which has invested in major wellness brands like Nutrafol, Peloton and CorePower Yoga, joins early investors Gwenyth Paltrow, as well as SoulCycle and Peoplehood founders Elizabeth Cutler and Julie Rice.
“Accelerated by COVID-19, demand for preventative care and wellness is stronger than ever. With their innovative products and services, Wthn is offering new solutions and creating health breakthroughs that weren’t previously possible through Western methods alone,” said Whitney Casey, L Catterton partner and transaction lead, in a statement. “In helping and reaching new clients, Wthn is creating a market and we strongly believe in the potential of their omnichannel business model to disrupt this trillion-dollar opportunity.”
Wthn’s recent growth has been accelerated by ongoing trends within the $5.6 trillion global wellness business. At WWD’s 2023 wellness forum, Larivee discussed the factors driving the growth of services like acupuncture.
“Starting with the pandemic, there’s a great study that shows that over the past three years, 70 percent of people have started to reprioritize their health differently than they did before. That’s a huge contributing factor,” she said. “We’re also seeing the rise of chronic conditions or exacerbations of conditions, such as increased stress or anxiety. Chronic pain is up 30 percent since the pandemic.”
Currently, studios make up the bulk of the business, though products are growing quickly with wholesale growth of 40 percent year-over-year. The brand is expecting to grow three times its overall size in 2024.
Source: WWD