Silicon Valley is coming for your gut biome

Cryptocurrency hasn’t worked out so well for tech investors. Neither has the metaverse so far.

SAN FRANCISCO — Cryptocurrency hasn’t worked out so well for tech investors. Neither has the metaverse so far. Self-driving cars have been slow to arrive, and social media doesn’t have the hyper-fast growth it did a few years ago. 

So where can a savvy tech investor turn these days in search of the next big idea? Two words: dietary supplements.   

Some venture capitalists who have made fortunes investing in software and hardware are putting tens of millions of dollars into companies that make probiotic pills, capsules filled with plant extracts and other nutritional supplements, as a potential new frontier. 

As a consumer product, supplements are associated more with the Kardashians or Joe Rogan than with Silicon Valley. The industry is infamous for its lack of regulation under a 1994 federal law that exempts supplements from most Food and Drug Administration oversight, and it has boomed in recent years despite questions about efficacy.

Now, venture capitalists are betting that advances in DNA sequencing and related techniques will usher in a new and more credible wave of supplements, focused especially on gut health. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/silicon-valley-coming-gut-biome-rcna60619

---