Kent Yoshimura and Ryan Chen met in college and started a company in 2015. They wanted to make a gum that did something beyond freshening breath. The product they built now generates over $10 million in monthly revenue, and the company carries a valuation exceeding $100 million. Neuro Gum began as a small operation with a simple premise: deliver caffeine and L-theanine through chewing gum instead of capsules or energy drinks.
The founders based their business in Las Vegas. They grew it without heavy venture backing for years before raising $8.25 million in a Series A round on February 8, 2023. That funding allowed them to expand manufacturing and distribution at a pace that outstripped most competitors in the functional food category.
Functional Gum Enters Retail Shelves at Scale
The health and wellness aisle in grocery stores now includes products that would have seemed out of place a decade ago. Functional gums and mints sit alongside energy bars and protein powders, marketed with claims about mental clarity and focus. Brands like Neuro Gum, Simply Gum, with its natural formulations, and caffeine-infused options from established candy makers compete for the same shelf space. By July 2024, Neuro alone had secured placement in over 10,000 retail locations, including Whole Foods, Sprouts, and CVS.
This retail footprint marks a shift in how consumers access cognitive supplements. Traditional capsules and powders require deliberate preparation, while gum offers portability and faster absorption through oral tissue.
What the Product Line Looks Like
Neuro sells four main variants. Energy & Focus contains caffeine and other active ingredients meant to increase alertness. Memory & Focus uses compounds associated with cognitive retention. Sleep & Recharge contains ingredients intended to aid relaxation and rest. Calm & Clarity targets stress reduction without sedation.
Each product serves a distinct use case. Someone who wants to stay awake during a long drive would reach for a different tin than someone preparing for bed. The company built its catalog around this segmentation, and the approach helped it reach different buyer motivations without diluting the brand message.
TikTok Shop and Revenue Growth
By late 2024, Neuro held the position of fastest-growing seller on TikTok Shop. That platform contributed an average of $3.32 million per month over a 6-month period. The format suited their product. Short videos showing someone popping a piece of gum before a workout or study session performed well with younger audiences.
The company leaned into creator partnerships and user-generated content. They did not rely on traditional advertising spend to the same degree as legacy brands. Their strategy centered on high-volume, low-friction content that users could scroll past or engage with in seconds. The approach paid off in raw sales figures.
Hiring and Facility Expansion
Neuro announced a Nevada expansion that will add 32 new positions. The average hourly wage for those jobs sits at $40.38. That figure exceeds the state average for warehouse and production work by a notable margin.
The expansion reflects confidence in continued demand. Building out physical infrastructure and adding payroll costs suggests the company expects its current growth trajectory to hold. Manufacturing capacity has historically constrained small brands in the functional food space, and Neuro appears intent on avoiding that bottleneck.
How Absorption Works
Gum delivers active ingredients through the lining of the mouth. This method bypasses the digestive system, which can break down compounds before they reach the bloodstream. Caffeine absorbed through oral tissue enters circulation faster than caffeine swallowed in pill form.
The speed of absorption matters for products marketed around alertness and focus. Users want effects within minutes, not an hour. Gum provides that delivery mechanism in a form factor people already understand. No measuring, no water, no waiting.
Retail Placement as a Growth Signal
Getting into 10,000 stores requires relationships with buyers at major chains. It also requires production capacity and distribution logistics that small brands often lack. Neuro’s presence in Whole Foods, Sprouts, and CVS indicates that procurement teams at those retailers see the category as viable.
Shelf space in those stores comes with conditions. Brands must meet sales velocity thresholds or risk losing placement. Neuro has held its position, which suggests the product moves at an acceptable rate.
What Comes Next
The company has funding, retail distribution, and a strong social commerce channel. Its next phase will likely involve defending market share as larger players enter the functional gum category. Consumer packaged goods companies with established supply chains can outspend startups on marketing and undercut them on price.
Neuro’s advantage lies in being early and building brand recognition before competitors arrived in force. The question is how long that advantage lasts. Their expansion plans and hiring signal they intend to scale rather than sell.
The business that Yoshimura and Chen started in 2015 has become a case study in building a consumer brand outside traditional channels. They reached $100 million in valuation by selling gum that does more than freshen breath. The product solves a problem people did not know they had, and the company found ways to reach buyers where they spend their time.
