A new investment firm formed in St. Louis to focus on quickly launching consumer health and wellness brands and products has started to build out its portfolio through partnerships and in-house brand development.
Clayton-based Purivitae Ventures (PV), launched about 18 months ago, developed out of the desire by the management of Clayton-based private equity firm Oakland Capital Partners to find more opportunities in the health and wellness space. While PV is a separate entity from Oakland Capital, with PV co-founder and President Tim Austin having no affiliation with the private equity firm, Oakland Capital principals Michael Amann, Tom Carnahan and Peter Benoist Jr. are partners at PV.
Austin, who has worked for more than 25 years in the medical device industry, said he has been issued patents across a range of medical devices. He previously was executive vice president of business development for St. Louis-based medical device manufacturer AG Industries, where Amann formerly was president.
In building out PV's portfolio, Austin said, the firm wants to back and support brands and products that have working prototypes and intellectual property related to them. PV describes itself as a “partnership and investment platform,” with Austin explaining it wants to work with its portfolio brands and products in a capacity that extends beyond just being a provider of capital. It also wants to lend expertise and support around product development, manufacturing and distribution.
“We want to be involved in the businesses, to some extent, that we invest in and partner with them,” Austin said.
As part of its focus on health and wellness, Austin said PV is looking to help launch products that are not highly regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and aren’t reimbursed by insurance companies. It’s a thesis that provides “speed to market,” Austin said.
“Obviously, we’re going to manufacture with the most strict quality procedures and policies, but we don’t have to apply to the FDA,” he said. “It’s a lot more exciting to get a product in the three-to-six-months time frame than two to three years.”
Earlier this month, PV announced it has inked a strategic partnership with MTS, a medical device and health products manufacturer in Bangkok, Thailand. The deal involves MTS manufacturing the products in the St. Louis firm's portfolio. That partnership, Austin said, will help potential portfolio brands move more quickly into producing their products.
“They don’t have to worry about going to get quotes from anywhere in the world, which equals speed to market,” he said.
PV’s portfolio includes Argento Selection, a tubing product for continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines that includes antimicrobial technology, and Sano Living, a health and wellness e-commerce website currently in development. Its holdings also include Dirt Product Group, a brand the firm is developing internally to commercialize a collection of products focused on health and fitness. It plans to launch a pain-relieving gel, with a tagline of “rub some dirt on it,” and kinesiology tape. PV is in talks with professional athletes to be sponsors of Dirt Product Group, and it also plans to become sponsors of sports leagues, Austin said.
PV has self-funded its operations and investments so far through its partners, Austin said. The newly launched firm has its headquarters within Oakland Capital Partners’ office at 34 N. Brentwood Blvd. While Austin is based in South Carolina, the rest of PV's eight-person team is located in St. Louis. Austin said the firm expects to add two to three employees, in sales and marketing roles, the first of next year.
