VitaminLab
VitaminLab creates an all-in-one personalized supplement based on actionable health data-- your health history, DNA or blood --and changes how you buy and associate vitamins.
Finalist for:
Scale-Up of the Year
Interviewee: Golnoush Yazdani
What’s your company’s story?
VitaminLab was born in 2015 with a mission to improve health through personalization. As a pharmacist, Anton Solonnikov, the founder behind VitaminLab had questions coming from customers on a daily basis concerning what the “right” supplement, dose and form was for them. After a while, the need for personalization while eliminating the confusion surrounding vitamins became very clear to him. With multiple DNA and blood testing companies showing up on the horizon, Anton saw the perfect opportunity and so, he created VitaminLab. Starting out on his own, he laid the foundation for VitaminLab and has been adding new members to the VitaminLab team, helping elevate VitaminLab from startup to scale-up status.
Today, VitaminLab consists of a tight-knit team of active, nutrition loving individuals and continues to work with personalized testing companies, consumers and practitioners to bring personalization to as many people as possible.
Who do you work with? What are some interesting projects you’re involved in?
VitaminLab is unique in that it hosts different types of users. On one hand, we partner with many of the industry leaders in DNA/Blood testing worldwide such as MapMyGenome, Athletigen, Codegen and continue to grow our partnerships in this area. On the other hand, we also partner with companies that help practitioners improve their quality of care to patients such as Lamkin Clinic, IGS as well as our most recent partner, CoachCare. Our latest and most exciting project has been partnering up with Gini Health, one of the major players in the DNA testing sector. VitaminLab has also been expanding and in discussions with established pharmaceutical and enterprise companies.
What are you most proud of in the work that you do?
At VitaminLab, we pride ourselves on our custom supplements which are handmade at our lab here in Victoria using quality ingredients, ensuring that we stay away from any undesirable fillers and coatings. We’ve recognized how different each individual’s needs can be and have perfected our processes to ensure our formulas benefit each of our customers with exactly what they need, and we’re very proud of that. VitaminLab has eliminated the need for purchasing different vitamin bottles, thus keeping the product cost lower with one consolidated formula being offered to each customer, making high-quality custom vitamins an accessible and affordable reality.
If your team had a theme song, what would it be and why?
If we had to choose a theme song for VitaminLab, it would be Start Me Up by The Rolling Stones. Since we are a startup, we thought this song was pretty appropriate as our anthem here at VitaminLab. Just like the lyrics suggest, we have started and will never stop and as a team, we are definitely “giving it all we got” and more. The song is upbeat and fun but has a smart edginess to it, matching our team members’ personalities perfectly.
What are some hopes and dreams for your company?
VitaminLab hopes to become the biggest company offering customized vitamin and supplement solutions, as well as become a customer favorite in the industry. As medicine starts walking a more technological path, we recognize that the tools available have made it a possibility for everyone to approach their health in a more personalized way and we want to be a big part of everyone’s wellness journey, globally. Our dream is to not only partner with all DNA/Blood testing companies and make VitaminLab available to them but to also partner with major brands globally, bringing personalized health to as many individuals as possible worldwide, while expanding to 2 to 3 different countries.
Why is Victoria a great spot for your organization?
As a city booming with new startups, Victoria has proven to be the perfect spot for us as it has provided our organization with a supportive network of people which have contributed to the growth of the company since the very beginnings of VitaminLab. The startup environment in Victoria has been very welcoming throughout the development journey of our company, not withholding advice and support when needed. Most importantly, finding a local tech hub such as VIATEC has also been tremendously helpful for us as an organization, introducing us to networks of like-minded entrepreneurs at different stages of their startup journey, making it possible for us to get a better picture of the struggles of startups and how to overcome them. Being one of the rising tech clusters in Canada, Victoria has also made it easy for us to find competitive talent which has reduced the struggles around recruitment.