About Coremix Capital

In 1996, Marty Rifkin and Kate Jones were vitamin manufacturers with a thriving probiotic brand, the #1 seller in health food stores nationwide. While they offered a full line of tablets and capsules, they wanted to create a vitamin their young child could enjoy taking.

Their first foray was an all-natural chewable echinacea product for kids that tasted great. Building on this success, they soon expanded into chewable zinc vitamins for children and adults. Kate and Marty saw an untapped market for good-tasting vitamins that provided all the needed nutrition.

However, they had bigger ambitions - to break out of the health food niche and bring their vitamin products to mass retailers like Walmart, Target, and Costco. No company had cracked that mainstream market yet. A few had tried, but their products lacked mass appeal or their pricing needed to fit the high-volume, low-cost model required.

Marty first proposed the novel idea of making vitamins in the shape and flavor of gummy bears. As Kate recalled, "Growing up, my dad always told me, 'he who hesitates is lost.' We knew we had a great idea, so we didn't hesitate. We put full resources behind the project."

Bringing that simple but ingenious concept to reality was far more complicated. Extensive research, formulation testing, retesting, and more testing all went into developing a gummy vitamin that could provide the complete daily nutrients kids need while using no artificial colors or flavors and mimicking the delightful taste of gummy bear candy.

Kate summed up the indispensable ingredients: "To make a great idea a reality, you need passion, smarts, brutal self-appraisal, and above all, the willingness to move quickly and stick with it through all the obstacles."

Their perseverance paid off with the launch of Lil Critters gummy bear-shaped vitamins. Made with natural ingredients, great taste, and comprehensive nutrition, Lil Critters aligned with Kate and Marty's core belief that they wouldn't sell any children's product they wouldn't give their kids.

The product was a hit, taking over as the #1 children's vitamin brand nationwide. Its success reflected a beyond-the-bottom-line integrity that boosted its bottom line, as the brand's natural, high-quality vitamins became a key differentiator.

The product was a hit, taking over as the #1 children's vitamin brand nationwide. Its success reflected a beyond-the-bottom-line integrity that boosted its bottom line, as the brand's natural, high-quality vitamins became a key differentiator.

Over the following years, Avid Health exploded with innovation, developing over 150 products across multiple vitamin brands and gaining mass distribution through all major food, drug, mass merchandise, and club retailers. The company grew at a blistering pace of nearly 40% annually, even through the recent recession - propelled by their willingness to take calculated risks on creative new ideas like gummy vitamins.

What started with a simple snack-inspired concept grew into a pioneering brand that revolutionized how vitamins could taste, look, and be marketed - opening up an entirely new mass consumer channel. It was a powerful legacy fueled by Kate and Marty's blend of vision, passion for quality and health, and the gumption to execute a great idea quickly.