The acquisition strengthens Vivify’s position by adding distribution capabilities across North America, increasing its technical expertise and broadening its sales and customer support network.
“AuNutra offers a diverse range of botanical and herbal extracts as well as other specialty ingredients which are a strong complement to Vivify’s strength in natural color,” said Brian Leen, CEO of Vivify. “Our combined teams will support the innovation needs and speed to market that customers in this industry value.”
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, and Genoa Partners LLC served as the exclusive financial advisor to AuNutra Industries on the transaction.
A Gryphon Investors’ buy-and-build portfolio company
By joining Vivify, AuNutra folds into a portfolio that includes practitioner healthcare brand Metagenics, VMS brand Double Wood Supplements and pet-health platform Vetnique.
The San Francisco-based middle-market private equity firm, which has $10 billion of assets under management across industries, announced its acquisition of Metagenics in 2021, marking its third investment in consumer health products and first investment in the nutritional health category.
“Both healthcare practitioners and their patients are increasingly focused on making proactive healthy lifestyle choices, and nutrition is a necessary part of that effort,” said Ryan Fagan, managing director in Gryphon’s Consumer Group, at the time. “Gryphon has been searching for the right platform to invest behind this movement for several years, and we will continue to actively search for similar opportunities—potential acquisitions for Metagenics as well as incremental independent platforms in the health and wellness category.”
Earlier this year, Metagenics took ownership of Symprove, a UK-based water-based probiotic brand recommended by healthcare practitioners. This followed Metagenics’ acquisition of Nutri Advanced in 2022, which secured brand presence in all major EU countries.
Gryphon purchased Double Wood Supplement earlier this year from Boyne Capital, adding over 150 SKUs across categories including sleep, healthy aging, active nutrition and immune support. After acquiring Vetnique Labs in 2023, known for its Glandex pet supplement brand, Gryphon announced the follow-up purchase of UK brand YuMOVE in 2024.
Attractive specialty ingredient
The addition of AuNutra deepens the portfolio further, adding a specialized ingredient layer that builds on Vivify’s 2023 acquistion of Access ingredients, a distributor of specialty surfactants and active ingredients for the personal care industry, as part of its buy-and-build strategy.
“AuNutra is a highly complementary addition to Vivify and represents another important step in the company’s growth,” said Tim Bradley, deal partner in Gryphon’s Heritage Group.
“Since partnering with Vivify, we have focused on expanding the company’s product capabilities and positioning it as an increasingly valuable partner to customers across attractive specialty ingredient markets. AuNutra brings differentiated expertise, excellent suppliers and strong customer relationships in the attractive nutraceuticals and supplements end markets.”
