1H 2021 Health & Wellness M&A Report

Perhaps there’s nothing like a mass contagion and streets filled with people wearing surgical masks to shock the system. If months of news conferences featuring the Surgeon General and hearing the words “ventilator” and “vulnerable population” won’t spur a renaissance in fitness and overall wellness, nothing will. As the world gets the vaccine and takes off its masks, we see opportunities in products and services that help people take better care of themselves. The Health & Wellness industry is center stage and in the spotlight. In 1H21 we saw a continuing trend of interest in nutritional supplements (think probiotics, vitamins, and nutraceuticals) from both large consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies and private equity. We’re also watching how Health & Wellness product lines are leveraging brand recognition with direct-to-consumer online sales, bypassing third-party vendors. Gyms are reopening after a tumultuous year but are challenged by at-home fitness tech products, and employers that may have had an onsite gym are eying online fitness platform memberships as a perk for today’s hybrid office/work-at-home environment while investing in employee health after a long period of stay-at-home inactivity. And finally, we are keeping an eye on fitness tech such as wearables that collect data and monitor health as well as hardware/software combinations that allow home workouts in an online “group” setting…