Startup Bobbie introduced its infant formula product in January 2021, the first new brand to be approved for sale in nearly a decade. It was a small operator representing a tiny fraction of the $4 billion U.S. formula market, but when shortages began roiling the industry in recent months, Bobbie offered at least one more option for rattled parents to turn to. The story of this young company — and this critical moment of disruption — illustrates why innovation is desperately needed in an essential-food industry that’s both antiquated and paralyzed by consolidation.
Bobbie was created in 2018 when Laura Modi, an executive at Airbnb Inc. who had just given birth, found herself dissatisfied with the formula options available in American grocery stores. Ireland-born and living in San Francisco, Modi found that many of her friends were buying European products off what she calls “the infant formula black market” — via third-party distributors such as EBay and through direct sales between moms meeting in online parent forums. The E.U. formula had higher nutritional standards and healthier ingredients, and well-heeled moms were willing to pay a hefty premium to get it — even if it was contraband. E.U.-produced formula isn't subject to Food and Drug Administration oversight, and therefore can’t be legally sold in the U.S..
Modi dived into research and found that U.S. infant formula standards hadn’t (and still haven’t) been meaningfully updated since the Infant Formula Act of 1980. Meanwhile, E.U. infant formula standards were updated regularly as the science of infant health evolved. Modi was convinced that the rising generation of young mothers would prefer innovative products over the Similac, Enfamil and Gerber brands that dominate 90% of the market. She quit her job, raised capital ($72 million to date) from investors including Goop CEO Gwyneth Paltrow and actor Laura Dern, and co-founded Bobbie with her Airbnb colleague Sarah Hardy, the startup’s chief operating officer.
