Wellful, Inc., parent company of health and wellness brands such as Nugenix, Peptiva, Instaflex, Super Beta Prostate, Doctors’ Preferred, Jenny Craig, and Nutrisystem, recently acquired supplement company Ancient Nutrition.

Through the acquisition, Wellful has expanded its portfolio of vitamin, supplement, and food brands to cover more supplement categories and advance its footprint in the natural retail channel.

Ancient Nutrition’s core product categories include protein, gut health, and greens, and has grown substantially since its inception, and is the largest collagen brand within the natural channel, Wellful reports.

“We are thrilled to bring Ancient Nutrition onto the Wellful platform,” said Brandon Adcock, CEO of Wellful. “The Ancient Nutrition team has done a phenomenal job of building a scaled brand with considerable future growth potential. Ancient Nutrition fundamentally stands for something within the industry and delivers real results to its customers. We’re very excited to further strengthen the brand and to expand the product portfolio that customers have come to know and trust.

“Demand continues to grow for efficacious science-backed solutions to help consumers manage their lives,” Adcock continued. “Ancient Nutrition is the perfect addition to our already robust portfolio of brands and further cements our commitment to and belief in the VMS industry. Our investments in our brands and vertical integration allow us to continually innovate to improve the lives of our customers.”

“I am proud of how far Ancient Nutrition has come in our mission to save the world with super foods and look forward to seeing our innovative products become a staple in every North American household and beyond,” said Jordan Rubin, co-founder of Ancient Nutrition. “I’ve appreciated the partnership with VMG and Hillhouse Investment [former unit holders] in helping us build one of the leading brands in the natural products industry.”

“I’ve dedicated my life to educating others on how to achieve their health objectives and Ancient Nutrition has been an incredible platform to help bring this dream into reality. VMG and Hillhouse Investment brought instrumental resources in helping us achieve our goals.”

Colt Morton, CEO of Ancient Nutrition, will continue to lead the business.

“I couldn’t be prouder of what our team has achieved and the momentum we continue to experience as the fastest-growing VMS brand in the natural channel,” said Morton. “Partnering with Wellful marks an exciting new chapter in our journey. Wellful’s resources and our shared vision for innovation position Ancient Nutrition to bring our mission to even more people while staying true to the values and culture that have brought us here.”

“The acquisition of Ancient Nutrition establishes Wellful as the largest independent VMS platform in North America,” said David Gassko, partner at Kainos, the private equity firm which owns Wellful. “We are excited to welcome the Ancient Nutrition team to the Wellful family and to support their mission of saving the world with super foods. Wellful continues to have ample dry powder to invest in the continued growth of its brand portfolio, including R&D, marketing, or future acquisitions.”