Labdoor is a privately held medical company registered in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, California, founded in May 2012 by Neil Thanedar. It provides information on

dietary supplements A dietary supplement is a manufactured product intended to supplement a person's diet by taking a pill, capsule, tablet, powder, or liquid. A supplement can provide nutrients either extracted from food sources, or that are synthetic ...

, which do not require testing by the

FDA The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

History

Born and raised in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

, the son of Shri Thanedar, Neil Thanedar graduated from the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...

, with degrees in Cellular &

Molecular Biology Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecule, molecular basis of biological activity in and between Cell (biology), cells, including biomolecule, biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactio ...

and

Business Administration Business administration is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. Overview The administration of a business includes the performance o ...

. Neil Thanedar co-founded Avomeen Analytical Services with his father in 2010. He founded Labdoor (originally "Labrdr Inc") in May 2012 with co-founders Rafael Ferreira, Helton Souza, and Tercio Junker. Labdoor pursued venture investors in 2012, 2015, and 2016, ultimately securing approximately $11 Million from groups including

Y Combinator Y Combinator, LLC (YC) is an American technology startup accelerator and venture capital firm launched in March 2005 which has been used to launch more than 5,000 companies. The accelerator program started in Boston and Mountain View, Californi ...

, Floodgate Fund, and Rock Health. A controlling share of Avomeen Analytical Services was sold to an investment group in 2016.

Products and services

Since November 2013, Labdoor's primary income is

affiliate marketing Affiliate marketing is a marketing arrangement in which Affiliate (commerce), affiliates receive a wiktionary:commission, commission for each visit, signup or sale they generate for a merchant. This arrangement allows businesses to Outsourcing, ...

for retailers, such as

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

, of products they have tested and certified. Labdoor also offers testing services to supplement manufacturers, assessing "accuracy", "purity", and "sport". If a product passes testing, Labdoor will also "drive sales" through its certification program and retailer referrals. As of September 2021, Labdoor's new product selection procedure uses market research and an internal "tally of votes" system to choose which new product category will be selected to test next. In June 2018, Labdoor launched the crypto-currency TEST. It seeks to create a incentive system for individuals or organizations to anonymously create or raise a bounty on a product for independent laboratories to test. TEST will be in

initial coin offering An initial coin offering (ICO) or initial currency offering is a type of funding using cryptocurrencies. It is often a form of crowdfunding, although a private ICO which does not seek public investment is also possible. In an ICO, a quantity of c ...

(ICO) stage through December 2018. Labdoor buys dietary supplements directly from retailers, sends the products to an FDA-registered laboratory for analysis, and publishes the findings. Its mission is to share information to help consumers make the right decisions for themselves about dietary supplements. Labdoor's rankings have sometimes been published by the press and online media.

Government and legal interactions

Their findings resulted in the

taking a closer look at the safety of

energy drinks An energy drink is a type of non-alcoholic psychoactive functional beverage containing stimulant compounds, usually caffeine (at a higher concentration than ordinary soda pop) and taurine, which is marketed as reducing tiredness and improving p ...

. Labdoor evaluated

Alex Jones Alexander Emerick Jones (born February 11, 1974) is an American Far-right politics, far-right radio host, radio show host and prominent conspiracy theorist. He hosts ''The Alex Jones Show'' from Austin, Texas. ''The Alex Jones Show'' is the lo ...

's supplements, stating "the science behind many of their claimed ingredients are questionable." Some 2015 tests of supplement products conducted by a third-party laboratory, which was organized by Labdoor and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), were first published and later retracted upon repeat testing. The supplements were correctly labeled and there was no contamination nor deficiency in the products. As of August 2016, Labdoor allows manufacturers to challenge a report of a product by re-testing the product, or opt-out of having any reports of the manufacturer's products published on Labdoor's website.

References

{{Consumer protection Privately held companies based in California Consumer guides Consumer organizations in the United States Product-testing organizations

History

Products and services

Government and legal interactions

See also

References