Actress Launches Functional Mushroom Line as Supplement Market Grows
Targeting wellness-obsessed Gen Z and Millennials, Maria Camila Giraldo’s Fungiments brand offers gummies and capsules with adaptogens and vitamins to support optimal health
No longer reserved as an accompaniment to steak, mushrooms (those with adaptogenic properties) are seeing an upsurge in the wellness world in everything from functional beverages to powders.
Now, a new product line has hit the market, courtesy of Colombian-born actress Maria Camila Giraldo, who has launched Fungiments, a line of mushroom-based gummies and capsules.
With a mother who is an Ayurveda doctor of holistic medicine, it’s reasonable that Giraldo would take all she has learned over the years to create Fungiments, but a serious injury is what catapulted the brand.
“I’ve always had that curiosity in me about caring for myself,” Giraldo, who’s best known for her role in “La Reina del Sur,” a Spanish telenovela that inspired Netflix’s “Queen of the South,” tells Athletech News. “I always tend to look for the natural option first. I have probably only taken antibiotics three times in my life and otherwise used natural alternative medicines.”
Two years ago, Giraldo suffered a serious concussion just six months after moving to the United States.
“I hadn’t found doctors I could trust yet,” she explained. “The symptoms of my concussion were very intense –I was getting dizzy when I was seeing cars pass by, I couldn’t sleep or concentrate, and my anxiety was out of control. I had experienced anxiety before in my life, but nothing like what I was feeling after the concussion.”
Not wanting to resort to prescription medicine, the actress and entrepreneur found a natural solution.
“With the help of my doctor, I found these mushroom supplements with adaptogens and for the first time since my concussion, I felt some relief,” she says, adding that the experience led to the supplement launch.
The Many Powers of Mushrooms
Fungiments tailors its formulas for each product, with Giraldo explaining that every mushroom serves a different purpose. Super Bouncy, a product for energy and concentration, features cordyceps, ginseng and green tea extract, while Super Chill has reishi, ashwagandha and passionflower. Another product geared for gut health support — Super Prune — includes Turkey Tail.
“Something that you will notice in all of our formulas is that we have mushrooms as a main ingredient but we also empower the formula with different adaptogens and vitamins or herbs to enhance the targeted need,” Giraldo says. “Whereas other products in the market mostly just use the mushroom and a lot of people don’t have the patience to just sit down and wait to feel the results. Blending other ingredients allows you to feel results quicker.”
Fungiments is targeting wellness-obsessed Gen Z and Millennial consumers with branding and messaging designed to appeal to those 25-42 while leveraging social media, working with Instagram and TikTok influencers who use the functional mushroom products.
“One of our goals is to put wellness and fun in the same sentence so that it doesn’t feel that if you are into wellness, you can’t have fun,” Giraldo explains. “And if you have fun, you are unhealthy. We say that life is more fun when you have superpowers — that’s our slogan, and we live by that.”
The supplement brand also offers an information newsletter written by Giraldo, packed with wellness tips and tricks.
“The personal touch really allows us to connect deeper with our audience,” she says.
Inside the ‘Shroom Boom
The functional mushroom craze — along with booming vitamin and supplement sales growth in general — has investors taking action.
Spacegoods, a mushroom startup that uses cordyceps and lion’s mane in its products, had a $3.1 million seed round earlier this year and plans to expand its flavors and product line.
Mushrooms have also expanded beyond powders, gummies and capsules, as seen with functional beverage brand Odyssey, which secured $6 million for ready-to-drink cans.
According to a market research study, the functional mushroom market is expected to reach $31.3 million this year and is projected to hit $83.6 million by 2033.
