31 July 2025
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You are bursting with energy. You feel good and comfortable in your skin. You can take on the world! Hmm, let's be honest, this may not be quite right ... You don't feel like the best version of yourself, but you just can't seem to do anything about it. InnerBuddies (https://www.innerbuddies.com) understands that your well-being is central to your busy life and knows how difficult it can be to determine where to focus to improve it. How. By analyzing your gut flora and offering nutritional advice. Roy Lenders, CEO of InnerBuddies, Fenna Sonnemans, CFO and Crystal Kriek, co-CEO look back on the start of this innovative and specialized company and look ahead to the future. "There's one thing connected to everything and that's your gut."
Meet Innerbuddies
Roy: "The health of your gut has a huge impact on how you feel, both physically and mentally. 80% of our immune system is in the gut and 90% of the happiness hormone Serotonin is produced in our gut. We delve into the rapidly growing field of science of the gut microbiome - and we show how incredibly important it is to our well-being."
We are all unique
.Fenna explains how InnerBuddies works. "Based on a poop test, you get personalized advice on what your gut needs. From nutritional ingredients to probiotics, prebiotics and recipes that really suit you, because every gut flora is unique. Customers fill out a food diary and we share recipes. Worldwide, we now offer our platform in seven languages, mainly to home-testing providers, corporate health program providers, supplement brands and laboratories and clinics. These can then use it to launch products on their local market under their own brand. This is how we make as many customers as possible healthier and happier."
"Your gut is smarter than you think. InnerBuddies helps you listen to this."
From B2C to B2B: a big switch
Roy looks back on an important strategic choice the entrepreneurs made in recent years. "We started as a B2C company, but after 1.5 years we made the switch to B2B. That seems to be catching on well. We work internationally with test providers, supplement brands and health programs. Intestinal microbiome tests are still relatively new and less known than, for example, blood tests or DNA tests. We are therefore building together with our customers on the right way to offer them. Of course within the limits of the regulations. This is sometimes frustrating, because technically we can already do much more than what is currently allowed. But at the same time, this is also a nice challenge."
Does Roy have any tips for other entrepreneurs?
Crystal: "Healthcare regulations actually hold back a lot of innovation. The trick then is: still find a route to the market, because you can't keep leaning on subsidies or investors. That route is often not easy. There are 1001 routes and many dead ends. You have to dare to choose, even if you don't know everything (yet). Your entrepreneurial spirit is worth its weight in gold. Trust your compass and also check with others in the field. Avoiding risk sounds safe, but sometimes you have to love taking risks."
Looking forward
What was your outlook when you started InnerBuddies?
Roy: "I came to InnerBuddies as an entrepreneur and investor. Not as an expert in gut microbiology - not yet, at least. But my gut said: this is going to be big. The field was on the verge of breaking through to mainstream health care, and now - 3.5 years later - that appears to be true. Science is coming up with more and more evidence, and gut health is moving more and more toward mainstream health care. There are huge opportunities there."
What's your look ahead now?
Fenna: "In the short term, we want to significantly expand our B2B network worldwide. More customers, more volumes they put into the market. In the longer term, we want to market specific products for a limited number of medical indications with our B2B partners. These must then also fall under the reimbursement system. That means: MDR trajectories, clinical studies and a lot of work. But also: a huge impact."
Photography: Ron Wiersma, Maastricht (ronwiersma.nl)
