Epicured Acquires Chiyo to Focus on Women's Health
Epicured, a food-is-medicine company, has acquired Chiyo, Inc., a company specializing in women's health nutrition. The acquisition is intended to strengthen and scale Epicured's focus on providing health-centric meals for women.
- Chiyo was co-founded by Irene Liu and Jennifer Jolorte, inspired by Liu witnessing her mother preparing Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) postpartum meals for her aunt. - The company's approach combines Eastern food therapy with modern nutritional science to offer meal programs for various life stages, including hormone balance, fertility, pregnancy, and postpartum. - Prior to the acquisition, Chiyo had delivered over 100,000 meals since its launch in 2021 and had raised $3.4 million in funding. - Epicured's established focus has been on medically tailored meals for digestive health issues, offering a menu that is entirely low-FODMAP and gluten-free. - The acquisition will integrate Chiyo's recipes into Epicured's portfolio, expanding its offerings to cover a wide range of women's nutritional needs, from hormonal balance and fertility to postpartum recovery and menopause. - This move aims to establish a comprehensive, reimbursable nutrition platform for women's health, addressing conditions like polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and endometriosis. - Epicured has a history of collaborating with healthcare institutions, including a partnership with Mount Sinai Health System to provide clinically recommended meals for patients with digestive diseases. - The global "food as medicine" market is a growing sector, with a significant trend towards brands that cater specifically to different female life stages.
