Change the World 2023 Last year’s nationwide infant formula shortage disrupted lives for countless families—and made more people aware of how heavily concentrated the formula industry is among just a few companies. It also provided a major opportunity for Bobbie, a direct-to-consumer organic-formula startup that kept coming through for parents even as giants stumbled. Laura Modi founded Bobbie in 2018 with the intent of creating a European-style formula recipe, devoid of the corn syrup, fillers, and palm oil commonly found in formulas in the U.S. Last year, as the shortage raged, Bobbie found a foothold on shelves at Target. This year, it acquired Nature’s One, a 26-year-old Ohio-based pediatric nutrition company, making Bobbie a formidable force in the industry. Bobbie believes the acquisition will enable it to expand to serve 15% of the addressable market—tripling the number of babies the company currently feeds and positioning the mom-founded and -led company as the only formula maker that manufactures, cans, and packages its product under one roof.
