$1.2 billion, Unilever buys a "gummy bear"

In 2023, Chad Janis founded this green dietary supplement brand. Now, he has completed one of the most remarkable corporate sale transactions in the health and wellness industry in the past decade.

Four years ago, Chad Janis came up with the idea of launching gummy - shaped nutritional supplements. At that time, he had to convince both the manufacturers that this plan was feasible and the retail channels that his green gummy products would be popular among consumers.

He didn't know at that time that his judgment would be so accurate.

The brand he founded, Grüns (the name is derived from the German word for "green"), now ships about 10 million gummies per day. Recently, Unilever, a London - based corporate group, announced that it would acquire Grüns for approximately $1.2 billion.

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This 33 - year - old former private equity investor has now established a foothold in the fast - moving consumer goods industry. As the founder, he has completed one of the most profitable and fastest corporate sale cases in this field in the past decade. Grüns, headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, currently has about 1 million users, and its superfood gummy bears have become the best - selling green dietary supplement on Amazon and in major retail channels across the United States.

Janis told Forbes, "We didn't found this brand to sell it, but we hope to have a positive impact on the lives of millions of people. We believe that Unilever has the mature experience to help the brand succeed and can help the brand achieve greater social value. They have previously helped peer brands we highly respect achieve such a vision, and there is more than one such successful case."

Forbes estimates that the valuation of Unilever's acquisition is about four times Grüns' estimated annual revenue in the past year. This transaction multiple ranks among the top in all fast - moving consumer goods mergers and acquisitions in the past year.

According to Forbes' estimate, after raising about $45 million in external financing, Janis still holds about 50% of the company's equity, which means the after - tax value of his shares is at least $450 million. Janis declined to comment on the financial data of this transaction.

Unilever had a revenue of nearly $60 billion in 2025. It owns products such as Dove soap, the nutritional supplement brand Nutrafol, and the hydration drink brand Liquid I.V., and is currently increasing its investment in the health and wellness and personal care fields. In March, Unilever announced that it would sell its entire food division, including brands like Hellmann's mayonnaise and Knorr seasonings, to McCormick for a valuation of $45 billion.

The specific terms of the transaction between Unilever and Grüns have not been disclosed, but Grüns announced in October 2025 that its annualized revenue had exceeded $300 million. Previously, in March 2025, the company completed a $35 million Series B financing, and its valuation at that time had reached $500 million.

This remarkable sale transaction occurred less than three years after Janis started his business selling supplement products. Drew Fallon, the head of the Chicago - based fast - moving consumer goods industry artificial intelligence platform Iris Finance, said that this situation is very rare: "If you are Unilever and are willing to spend more than a billion dollars on an acquisition, you must be very sure that this brand is not just a passing fad. Most corporate sale transactions occur after 11 years of establishment. The longer a brand has existed, the higher the valuation multiple it usually gets. So this transaction completely breaks the industry norm."

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Janis grew up in Dallas and showed an entrepreneurial spirit from a young age. He started teaching private swimming lessons at the age of 11, and the money he earned helped him pay for his tuition at Brigham Young University, where he obtained a degree in finance. After that, Janis briefly founded a startup that integrated airline mileage points to exchange for free air tickets. He also grew his YouTube channel to 25,000 subscribers before joining Summit Partners, a Boston - based private equity firm with $44 billion in assets under management, as an investor.

During his tenure at Summit Partners, Janis led 10 investment transactions with a total value of $1.4 billion and joined the boards of some invested companies, including the outdoor stove brand Solo Stove. He also served as a board observer for the home textile brand Brooklinen and the men's care brand Dr. Squatch (which Unilever acquired for $1.5 billion in 2025). Janis said that during his time as an investor, he had conducted research on 300 companies.

"That experience was a rare learning opportunity for me," he recalled.

In 2022, after working at Summit Partners for three years, Janis left to attend Stanford Business School. Just before moving to California, he came up with the idea of founding Grüns. At that time, he tried a new morning powder supplement. After only two days, he couldn't stand the chalky taste anymore and was convinced that there must be a better way to fill people's nutritional gaps.

"This stuff tastes terrible," he thought at the time. "I definitely can't keep drinking it."

Subsequently, Janis learned that 90% of Americans have insufficient mineral intake, including vitamins D and E. So he began to develop the first nutritional gummy. During his time at Stanford, he spent a year refining the formula, finding a contract manufacturer, and preparing for the brand's launch. In August 2023, Grüns' first gummy was officially launched. The product contains minerals extracted from about 30 kinds of organic fruits and vegetables, 21 vitamins, and 6 grams of prebiotic fiber. Janis said, "We have to change the market's inherent perception of gummy products."

However, he had invested most of the money he earned at Summit Partners in other startup projects, and there weren't many relatives and friends around him who could provide early - stage investment.

But many of his Stanford classmates offered help, and he ultimately raised about $400,000 during his studies. "They invested a lot of money in me. It was really a big expense," Janis said. "But in the end, they also got a good return."

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In 2024, when Janis obtained his Master of Business Administration degree, Grüns' revenue had reached $50 million.

At the end of 2024, Grüns entered its first offline retail channel, Sprouts, which stocked Grüns' low - sugar and sugar - free product lines. Subsequently, Grüns launched its children's product line, Grüns Cubs, which was also placed on the shelves of Sprouts.

The following year, Grüns' revenue doubled, reaching $100 million in 2025. The brand also entered large - scale chain supermarkets such as Target, Walmart, and Sam's Club. By the end of 2025, Grüns had entered more than 6,000 offline stores across the United States.

Grüns is currently available in about 7,000 retail stores across the United States. Image source: GRÜNS

After that, Grüns added another 1,000 sales points. After the company is officially incorporated into Unilever, Janis will continue to stay. Janis said that he is very much looking forward to leveraging Unilever's professional capabilities in product development, the marketing resources needed to achieve an annual sales volume of $1 billion, and Unilever's support in expanding into international markets.

"There is still a lot for me to do with this brand, and there are many plans I want to implement," Janis said. "This is a marathon, and we've only run four miles so far. Everything is still in its early stages, and we're just starting to feel the excitement of running stronger and stronger."

This article is translated from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloesorvino/2026/04/10/with-a-12-billion-sale-to-unilever-grns-founder-mints-a-fortune/

Original title: "Unilever Acquires Grüns for $1.2 Billion, and Its Founder Creates a Fortune Overnight"

This article is from the WeChat official account "Forbes" (ID: forbes_china). Author: Chloe Sorvino; Translator: Lemin. Republished by 36Kr with permission.