“Preventative health is not just about wearable devices or tracking calories or steps. It’s about delivering scientific wellness that gives people a baseline from which to improve their health and wellbeing naturally,” says Jonathan Amm founder of Cork-based Wild Atlantic Health, which has developed a series of home test kits and supplements to address the problem of nutritional deficiencies.
A health scare a few years ago inspired Amm to start the business. “I thought I was healthy until I was hit with a blood cancer diagnosis,” he says. “I struggled to get key biomarkers measured locally and ended up sending blood samples to the UK and Spain for analysis. Bloodwork is a window into the inner workings of your body. It allows you to monitor trends over time and make informed changes to your health and lifestyle.”
Amm went digging for information to help support his recovery and discovered that people with chronic health conditions tend to lack seven key nutrients. “These are Vitamins D3, K2 and B12, magnesium, zinc, selenium and omega-3 fatty acids, the foundation for our Wild Atlantic Health range,” he says. “Studies have shown that if we optimise our levels of all seven, we can cut the risk of chronic health conditions by 70 per cent. The problem is that most people taking supplements don’t really know what they need and if their supplements are working. We can identify ‘nutrient gaps’ with a simple blood test.”
The company’s CE rated test kits work with a pinprick of blood, which gets sent to a lab and reported back on within two weeks. Customers access the results, which are colour coded to make them user friendly, as well as accompanying lifestyle and nutrition recommendations, via the company’s app. “The tests are a key USP (unique selling point) for us as they provide retailers with a way to help customers tailor their supplement doses,” Amm says. “Home testing is a new category but it’s experiencing exponential growth.”
Amm worked in senior marketing roles in South Africa before founding and subsequently selling his own advertising agency and moving to Cork in 2008 where he set up brand agency, ChangeAgents. He began developing Wild Atlantic Health in 2019 and collaboration with the company’s scientific and nutritional advisers continued remotely during Covid. Wild Atlantic Health now has a team of five people with plans to double the workforce over the next year.
Our investors have links to Kinsale and we very much want to create local jobs
“Initially we bootstrapped with support from South Cork LEO to get us off the ground and to date we have raised in excess of €600,000 from Irish and US investors,” Amm says. “We have just launched an EIIS funding round of €500,000, which provides Irish taxpayers with the opportunity to support local start-ups while being able to claim tax relief the following year.”
Wild Atlantic Health had its official launch in March and its products, which are made with naturally sourced sustainable ingredients and packaging, are available online and in health stores. Target markets include Ireland, the UK, the UAE and South Africa. The products are currently being made outside Ireland but order fulfilment is done here as are new product development, research, digital marketing and ecommerce, and Amm is keen to relocate the manufacturing here once sales levels can support it. “Our investors have links to Kinsale and we very much want to create local jobs,” he says.
“We launched with Omega-3 and Vitamin D3+K2+A because these are the core supplements everyone should be taking at a minimum on a monthly basis,” he adds. “For example, we know that very few Irish people have optimised Vitamin D levels yet there is so much scientific evidence underlining its importance to our health. With our range you don’t need to buy multiple products. You buy one with multiple ingredients that when combined provide a number of health benefits.”
