Inside the $6.8T wellness industry: Why Ellie Rubenstein is all in
Yahoo Finance Video and Josh Lipton
Fri, August 14, 2026 at 2:31 AM GMT+5:30
Asking for a Trend Host Josh Lipton welcomes Manna Tree co-founder and managing partner Ellie Rubenstein to discuss why her firm is all in on health and wellness investing and why she sees the booming sector as a long-term investment opportunity
00:00Speaker A
Health and wellness is a 6.8 trillion dollar industry
00:03Speaker B
With a T
00:04Speaker A
With a T. Yeah. I want to remind people that that is three times the size of traditional healthcare, three times
00:11Speaker B
00:11Speaker A
It is also double the size of the sports industry
00:14Speaker B
Mhm.
00:14Speaker A
So there gets a lot of coverage in sports, but you have to realize that health and wellness across all demographics today, and that’s income, that’s age, and that’s sex is part of their everyday purchasing and behaviors today, every single one
00:27Speaker B
Mhm.
00:28Speaker A
So, the thing that’s most interesting to us when we start breaking down what does that look like? The where you need to look is, is it, you can’t just say it’s a millennial or it’s a baby boomer. Things that are really interesting are protein powders for baby boomers, or how about this? We own a gummy company
00:44Speaker B
Mhm.
00:45Speaker A
Most parents, I know my parents don’t use powder electrolytes. But if you they launched something called Wonder Hydrate, and so parents will eat the gummy because they want to stay hydrated, right?
00:54Speaker B
Right
00:54Speaker A
You can probably see that with your parents. We we have a lot of the parents doing that. Or or you know, people maybe drinking like a protein powder. There was a really cool company that just launched in the beverage innovation space specifically for boomers. So I think what’s most interesting to pay attention to is what demographics aren’t being served, right? Here’s another one, fiber. That is an outdated category. Have you ever walked a Walgreen’s aisle and seen the fiber aisle?
01:16Speaker B
Mhm.
01:16Speaker A
This is not appealing to what I would say are the Millennial and Gen Z women who are being told that we need more fiber, right? 95% of Americans don’t get enough fiber today, but they’re not going for what I would call the dinosaurs
01:28Speaker B
Mhm.
01:28Speaker A
So what’s most exciting is these in these incumbent brands that are just taking down dinosaurs. And that’s why it’s a fascinating place to be because the large strategics, as you’ve seen, I mean, Thorne was just acquired for over $3 billion, Poppy for close to $2 billion. These are massive categories where the consumers want a better for you option
