Thorne reaches $500M in revenue after L Catterton take private

Supplement brand Thorne is on pace to reach $650 million in annual revenue this year, fueled by Gen Z and millennial shoppers who are increasingly focused on improving their health, CNBC has learned. 

The 42-year-old supplement brand, which L Catterton took private in 2023, has sustained a compound annual growth rate of over 30% since the acquisition, according to the company. Between 2022 and 2025, its revenue more than doubled from $229 million to over $500 million, according to filings and the company.

Meanwhile, the number of consumers who shop with the brand directly has grown to about 7 million, up from around 4 million at the end of 2023, fueling a 63% surge in direct-to-consumer sales, the company said.

“A lot of what we’ve done in the last few years has been streamlining and focusing and in some ways, simplifying our go-to-market, being really clear about who is our consumer that we’re serving, what are they looking for from brands as you move forward, and looking back at our heritage,” said CEO Colin Watts, the former CEO of The Vitamin Shoppe. “… Our expectation is this is going to be a billion-dollar brand over the next few years.” 

Thorne’s growth comes as the market for vitamins, minerals and supplements balloons in the U.S. — buoyed in part by the “Make America Healthy Again” movement and by health-conscious young shoppers who are looking to optimize their health and improve things like sleep and nutrition. The vitamins, minerals and supplements market reached $125 billion in the U.S. in 2025 and is projected to grow 11% by 2027, according to data collected by consulting firm AlixPartners. 

“As the science has gotten better and as, frankly, the consumer has taken more control over their health, there’s been a shift in spending and a shift in focus towards ‘what can I do proactively to manage my health in the future?'” Watts said. 

The surge in interest in dietary supplements, which was a popular gifting category over the recent holiday season, has created an opportunity for major retailers like Walmart, Target and Amazon, consumer product companies like Nestlé and smaller brands like Thorne. It also reflects a broader generational shift reshaping the industry. Once dominated by older consumers focused on preventative health, today the category is increasingly driven by younger shoppers interested in performance, personalization and daily wellness routines. 

“When I started looking and working in this market 25 years ago, this was a boomer-driven market; you basically focused on servicing the boomers, that’s how you won in the market. So the reality is, today’s market is a Gen Z, millennial market,” Watts said. “One of the big Gen Z millennial trends is, they don’t think about supplementation as prevention. They think about it as performance. It’s like, ‘I want to sleep better. I want to have more energy. I want to deal with my anxiety. I want to work out better.’ These are the kinds of things that they’re very, very focused on.” 

About 60% of Thorne’s total revenue comes from shoppers under the age of 40, who are spending about 1.5 times more than their parents did on wellness, Watts said. He estimated about half of those shoppers under 40 are subscribers, despite a broader hesitation among some younger consumers to commit to recurring subscription plans. 

“One of the reasons that Gen Z hates subscriptions is because it drives them crazy — drives me crazy, frankly — to put something on a subscription and then see it cheaper somewhere else,” Watts said. “We are very disciplined about our pricing .… We don’t, you know, high, low, promote the brand. It is fairly consistent.”

To entice shoppers to subscribe and offer a break on high pricing, Thorne offers free shipping and a 10% discount on each refill order. Subscriptions can come as often as every two weeks or as far apart as four months. When shoppers subscribe to three or more products, they can save 20%.

As the supplement industry grows, so does scrutiny surrounding ingredients, claims and manufacturing, especially among younger shoppers who often want to know how products are produced. Supplements are not regulated by the FDA for safety or effectiveness, putting pressure on brands to conduct their own testing that they can integrate into marketing campaigns. 

“We spend a lot of time trying to make sure that we can demonstrate the science, that we can demonstrate the efficacy. We’re one of the few brands, for example, that has worked with the Mayo Clinic now for over 14 years,” Watts said. “We’ve also worked with a lot of top sports teams. We’re the official supplement of the UFC. We’re working with various different tennis associations … all of this basically forces us to raise our game, because these are folks that are even more discerning than the average consumer.” 

When asked if the company has ambitions to go public again, Watts said there’s “no rush” to do so. He called an IPO one potential route, along with a potential strategic acquisition by a larger firm.

“Like any private equity firm, I think [L] Catterton will look for the right opportunity, for the right exit, at the right time,” Watts said. “Right now, as we look at where we’re going to grow — through bricks-and-mortar retail, through international expansion, through larger expansion moving forward — there’s also a lot of strategic companies that are out there that might see a brand like Thorne as a very powerful asset within their overall portfolio.”