UPGRADE
YOUR
BASELINE.
A daily probiotic — inspired by pro-athletes, built for everyone else. Founded May 1, 2026 in Durham, NC by Feagin Scholars.
Probiotics still feel like a chore.
Gen Z is more health-aware than any generation before — and more frustrated with the supplement aisle. Refrigerated bottles, capsule fatigue, fifty-ingredient labels, and brands that talk about your microbiome like a marketing department.
- 78% of Gen Z read supplement labels before buying.
- 62% distrust "wellness" claims from legacy supplement brands.
- $95B probiotic market by 2030, growing 14% YoY — most innovation is repackaging.
Gut health is the new performance metric.
"Recovery culture" went mainstream — pro-athlete habits became Gen Z habits. TikTok-native brands (Poppi, Liquid Death, Olipop) prove a category can be redefined in 36 months. Probiotics are next.
CORE Culture One: the daily probiotic that earns its routine.
The first probiotic chip — a real, whole-grain snack with twelve clinically studied strains and fifty billion live cultures baked into every bag. No bottles. No powders. The supplement that hides inside something you'd already eat.
- 12 strains chosen for published gut, immune, and recovery data
- 50B CFU guaranteed at expiration, not just manufacture
- Shelf-stable — no refrigeration, no chalky funk
- 0g added sugar, dairy-free, third-party tested every batch
- Athlete-inspired. Built in Durham. Founder-led.
Start with One. Build the team.
$32 / 6-bag multipack · $28/2wk subscription · Whole-grain, probiotic-baked, third-party tested
"Upgrade your baseline." We want to be part of your daily team.
Athlete-inspired without being a sports brand. Science-grounded without being clinical. Conversational, self-aware, built for TikTok-native discovery — and the kind of brand a Gen Z consumer would build if they had a product team.
— The Strategist, 2026
Where we sit.
| CORE Culture | Seed | Athletic Greens | Bloom | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Probiotic-in-a-chip format | ✓ first ever | ✗ capsule | ✗ powder | ✗ powder |
| ≥ 12 strains | ✓ | ✓ | partial | ✗ |
| 50B+ CFU guaranteed | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Shelf-stable | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 0g added sugar | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Athlete-inspired voice | ✓ | — | partial | — |
| Price / day | $1.00 | $1.50 | $2.60 | $1.10 |
DTC-first. Athletics-curated.
DTC + Subscribe
coreculture.co + TikTok Shop. Recurring revenue, direct customer data, founder access.
Curated Retail
Erewhon, Foxtrot, Pop Up Grocer, UO. Cultural cachet over volume.
Collegiate Athletics
NCAA program partnerships starting at Duke. Athletes as authentic distribution.
The math works.
Targets are conservative vs. Seed and Athletic Greens at comparable stage; supplements have 2–3x stickier subscriptions than CPG.
12 months from launch.
- Q2Launch CORE Culture One DTC · Duke athletics pilot
- Q38K subscribers · Erewhon + Foxtrot pilot · Calm beta
- Q4Calm public launch · 5 NCAA program partnerships
- '27 Q1$3M ARR · Sleep launch · Series A conversations
The founders.
Feagin Scholars · Duke '26
Founders are Feagin Scholars at Duke — a program for high-achieving student-athletes pursuing leadership careers. Years of high-level college athletics + the academic chops to build a real product.
Formulation
Partnered with a US whole-grain chip co-manufacturer and a probiotic strain lab — sub-200°F surface-application process keeps cultures viable through expiration. Third-party CFU verification at every batch.
Advisors
Sports nutritionists, supplement industry operators, and a former NCAA athletic department director. CPG founders from Olipop & Magic Spoon advising on go-to-market.
Raising $1.5M Pre-Seed.
To launch CORE Culture One nationally, hit 10K subscribers, secure 5 NCAA program partnerships, and prove the playbook for a Seed in early 2027.
A category window opens once a decade.
It happened to drinks (Olipop, Liquid Death). It's happening to wellness now. CORE Culture is the brand a Gen Z consumer would build if they had a P&L — founded by athletes who actually need this product to work.
Founder-led. Mission-aligned. Athlete-grounded. We don't need three years to figure out what to make. We already know.
PART OF YOUR
DAILY TEAM.
hi@coreculture.co · coreculture.co