Needed
A venture-backed, direct-to-consumer prenatal and women's health brand founded in 2017 by two Stanford-trained nutritionists.
Founded
2017
Headquarters
Los Angeles, California
Ownership
Independent, venture-backed (Needed PBC); investors include Seae Ventures and The Craftory following a 2023 Series A
Verification
Brand states products undergo third-party testing and internal quality checkpoints; it is not USP Verified and does not appear to publish batch-level certificates of analysis to the general public
History
Needed was founded in 2017 by Julie Sawaya and Ryan Woodbury, who met while studying at Stanford's business school and describe themselves as trained nutritionists. The company positions itself around perinatal and women's nutrition, fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, and perimenopause, and sells primarily direct-to-consumer rather than through big-box retail.
The company has raised venture funding in stages, including a 2023 Series A of roughly $14 million led by Seae Ventures and The Craftory, on top of earlier seed rounds. It has positioned itself as a practitioner-facing brand, citing relationships with dietitians, midwives, and OB-GYNs, and holds B Corp certification.
Needed markets its formulations as based on a proprietary review of clinical research rather than minimum RDAs, and touts an internal quality process it calls "2,000+ quality checkpoints" per batch. No FDA warning letters, recalls, or major lawsuits involving the brand were found in public records as of this writing.
Why it is trusted
- +Founder-operated and narrowly focused on one category (perinatal/women's nutrition), rather than a house brand spread across dozens of unrelated products.
- +Publishes reasoning for its formulation choices and cites clinical literature more explicitly than most direct-to-consumer brands.
- +It is not USP Verified or NSF certified, and its claims about testing and quality checkpoints are brand-stated rather than externally audited, there is no public certificate of analysis a shopper can pull up independently.
- +As a smaller, venture-funded company, its manufacturing scale and quality-control track record are shorter and less externally documented than long-established competitors.
Where we would be careful
- −"Third-party tested" language on the site is not accompanied by publicly posted certificates of analysis as of this writing, ask the brand directly for documentation if that matters to you.
- −Prenatal supplementation should be discussed with a clinician regardless of brand; Needed's higher doses of some nutrients relative to standard RDAs are a deliberate design choice, not a neutral fact, so review the label with a provider.
- −As with most VC-backed DTC brands, formulations and pricing can change as the company scales; check current label specs rather than relying on older reviews.
Where Needed ranks
Sources
- Needed, "About Needed": https://thisisneeded.com/pages/about
- Crunchbase company profile, Needed: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/needed-pbc
- Needed FAQ page: https://thisisneeded.com/pages/faq