Radicle Science
Setting the Scene
Many big brands selling supplements, beverages, or wellness products face no real barrier to claiming their product “supports mood” or “boosts energy.”
Most wellness claims aren’t required to be fully proven — and because clinical validation is slow and expensive, few brands invest in it, opting for vague, one-size-fits-all statements.
But consumers are catching on, regulators are tightening up, and the old playbook is looking riskier by the day.
This week’s company gives brands a way to develop products that are both proven to work and personalized to specific consumer segments — all at unprecedented cost and speed.
In a Sentence
Radicle Science is a proof-as-a-service company, enabling brands to develop and validate their products through large-scale, AI-powered, D2C clinical trials.
Proof-as-a-Service: Radicle is vertically integrated and runs fully automated, end-to-end trials — from design and recruitment to data collection and analysis — giving brands bonafide claims and precision insights into how their products impact specific consumer segments.
Trials: Trials are faster, cheaper, and more diverse–making them more efficient than what big pharma has access to.
Bulleted Version:
- Simply put, most wellness brands stretch the truth about their health claims — Radicle gives them the clinical data to actually back it up.
The Basics
- Headquarters: San Diego, CA
- Employee Count: 24 FTEs, 5 full-time contractors, 7 part-time contractors
- Investors:
Lightspeed, Mesa Verde, Social Impact Capital, Untapped, Humain, Everywhere Ventures
- Funding amount: $14M
- Business model: B2B SaaS + Clinical Services + IP generation
- Early traction: Serving 3 of the world’s largest 5 consumer companies, consecutive annual revenue growth since founding, and studied >70,000 diverse Americans
Due Diligence
WHAT WE LIKE
Market Opportunity: The global wellness economy tops $6 trillion, with the average American spending over $6,000 a year on wellness — making it clear why brands are leaning hard into wellness positioning, even without the proof to support it.
Data Ownership: Radicle retains rights to the data it generates, and now has the world’s largest wellness clinical dataset — a long-term strategic moat with compounding value over time.
IP Generation: Brands are now engaging Radicle to develop some of history’s most proven and personalized wellness products–at 1/1000th the cost and 1/20th the time of pharma drug development.
POTENTIAL RISKS
Regulatory Ambiguity: While Radicle aligns with FDA/FTC standards, the wellness industry still lacks consistent enforcement for health claims.
Brand Education Gap: Some CPG companies may balk at validation when marketing puffery and generically targeting all segments has worked just fine — until consumer pressure or legal exposure forces a shift.
New Category Risk: Radicle’s IP development for brands is new and it’s unknown if the resultant products will see commercial success and significant licensing revenue.
Founder Profile
Jeff Chen, CEO: Life science entrepreneur & executive, physician & scientist, founded and led UCLA natural products research center.
Pelin Thorogood, Exec Chair: Serial tech entrepreneur & executive with multiple exits, Trustee & Vice Chair UCSD Foundation, INC 200 Female Founder.
Comps
Reputable Health: Backed by Outlier Ventures.
Pruvn: Backed by GrowthXCapital, VC 414, gBeta, gener8tor, Cox Enterprises, and others.
Evidation: Backed by OMERS Private Equity, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, B Capital, and others.
Science 37: Backed by BlackRock, Lux Capital, Casdin Capital, and others.
Why Radicle Science
By transforming how we develop, test, and trust wellness products — via re-imagined AI-powered clinical trials — this company has the opportunity to radically enable the future of proven and personalized wellness, for all.
