Ketone-IQ is an American company that specializes in manufacturing and distributing a

ketone In organic chemistry, a ketone is an organic compound with the structure , where R and R' can be a variety of carbon-containing substituents. Ketones contain a carbonyl group (a carbon-oxygen double bond C=O). The simplest ketone is acetone ( ...

drink. Previously known as Health Via Modern Nutrition, Inc or "HVMN", the company re-branded itself as Ketone-IQ in May 2024.

History

The company was founded as Nootrobox in 2014 by

Geoffrey Woo Geoffrey Woo is an American entrepreneur and venture capitalist who is the founder of Ketone-IQ, Archive, and Anti Fund, a venture capital firm he co-founded with Jake Paul. Education and early life Woo was born in and grew up in Los Angeles an ...

and Michael Brandt. While forming the company Woo was an Entrepreneur in residence at venture capital firm

Foundation Capital Foundation Capital is a venture capital firm located in Silicon Valley. The firm was founded in 1995, and in 2012 managed more than $2.4 billion in investment capital. As of 2023, the firm has over $6 billion in assets under management. Histor ...

, while Brandt worked as a

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

employee, a freelance photographer, and an adjunct professor at the

Academy of Art University The Academy of Art University (AAU, or ART U), formerly Academy of Art College and Richard Stephens Academy of Art, is a private for-profit art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded as the Academy of Advertising Art by Richard S. ...

. In October 2015, the company announced that Silicon Valley

angel investors An angel investor (also known as a business angel, informal investor, angel funder, private investor, or seed investor) is an individual who provides capital to a business or businesses, including startups, usually in exchange for convertible debt ...

including

Marissa Mayer Marissa Ann Mayer (; born May 30, 1975) is an American business executive and investor who served as President (corporate title), president and chief executive officer of Yahoo! from 2012 to 2017, when it was sold to Verizon. She was a long-tim ...

and Mark Pincus had invested $500,000 in the company. In December 2015,

Andreessen Horowitz AH Capital Management, LLC (commonly known as Andreessen Horowitz, or a16z) is an American privately held venture capital firm, founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. The company is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. As of M ...

led a $2 million

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

round in the company. Chris Dixon, who has experience at companies like Soylent, led the investment for

. In August 2016, the company partnered with

7-Eleven 7-Eleven, Inc. is an American convenience store chain, headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Seven-Eleven Japan, which in turn is owned by the retail holdings company Seven & I Holdings. The chain was founde ...

locations in San Francisco. In January 2017, Woo and Brandt were named to

Forbes 30 Under 30 ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 is a set of lists published annually by ''Forbes'' magazine since 2011 consisting of 30 notable people under 30 years old in various industries. The American list consists of 600 people, with 30 selected in each of 20 sect ...

in Consumer Technology. In June 2017, the company changed its name to H.V.M.N., which stands for "Health Via Modern Nutrition". In 2018, HVMN products affiliated with

United States Special Operations Command The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM or SOCOM) is the unified combatant command charged with overseeing the various special operations component commands of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force of the United States A ...

were tested as part of Operation Tech Warrior hosted at the National Center for Medical Readiness. In 2023, HVMN launched in nationwide grocery retail in

Sprouts Farmers Market Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc., is a supermarket chain headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. The grocer offers a wide selection of natural and organic foods, including fresh produce, bulk foods, vitamins and supplements, packaged groceries, meat, poul ...

. In 2024, HVMN signed a 3 year partnership with Visma–Lease a Bike (men's team), a top

UCI World Tour The UCI WorldTour is the premier men's elite road cycling tour, sitting above the UCI ProSeries and various regional UCI Continental Circuits. It refers to both the tour of 38 events and, until 2019, an annual ranking system based upon perfor ...

team. In 2024, the company re-branded itself as Ketone-IQ and ketone.com, which is the name of the company's primary product.

Studies and results

In November 2017, the company's first commissioned clinical trial found that one of its supplements was less effective in many ways than the

caffeine Caffeine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant of the methylxanthine chemical classification, class and is the most commonly consumed Psychoactive drug, psychoactive substance globally. It is mainly used for its eugeroic (wakefulness pr ...

(a cup of coffee) used as the control. The company then asked researchers to change the name of the product to distance it from the analysis. The company, however, linked to the study on their website as of 2018. On September 13, 2018, HVMN was the nutrition sponsor for cyclist Vittoria Bussi, who broke the UCI

Hour record The hour record is the record for the longest distance cycled in one hour on a bicycle from a stationary start. Cyclists attempt this record alone on the track without other competitors present. It is considered one of the most prestigious record ...

using HVMN Ketone drinks in the training run up and on the day of the world record. In the

2019 Tour de France The 2019 Tour de France was the 106th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours. The -long race consisted of 21 race stage, stages, starting in the Belgian capital of Brussels on 6 July, before movi ...

, multiple cycling teams including and confirmed use of ketone ester for performance and recovery. In 2019, the

awarded HVMN a $6M research contract for a two-phase study to investigate impact of ketones on soldier performance at altitude, in mountains, on fighter jets, and in space, and researching how ketones impact cognition, physiological reserve, and oxygen availability under stressors like hypoxia.

Culture

In 2016 the company instituted a weekly

intermittent fasting Intermittent fasting is any of various meal timing schedules that cycle between voluntary fasting (or reduced calorie intake) and non-fasting over a given period. Methods of intermittent fasting include alternate-day fasting, periodic fasting, ...

day for staff. This was in line with a fad among Silicon Valley companies and workers at that time to use biohacking techniques in the workplace.

References

{{reflist American companies established in 2014 Companies based in San Francisco Online food retailers of the United States 2014 establishments in California