In the fast-growing peptide space, where consumers have often turned to gray-market operators and compounding pharmacies, Feel Peptides is aiming to legitimize the category by pairing pharmaceutical-grade products with a luxury brand sensibility, and it has raised $3 million to do so.
Co-founded by serial entrepreneur Stephen Brudzewski and Pamela Borrero, the new startup’s oversubscribed round reeled in six times the amount the pair initially targeted last November. The round was led by Sugar Capital, an early investor in Grüns, with Hyve Ventures joining as a significant investor. Makeup artist and brand founder Patrick Ta, plastic surgeon Ben Talei, Four Seasons Yachts CMO Angélic Vendette, and influencers Cindy Prado and Carol Chafauzer are among angel investors who participated.
Along with Protocole’s $6 million raise announced last month, the round signals strong investor appetite for peptide-focused companies operating at the intersection of longevity, wellness and aesthetics. Founders and their backers are jockeying for market position as the United States Food and Drug Administration reevaluates restrictions placed on several popular peptides in 2023 amid growing political attention and consumer enthusiasm surrounding the category under Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Brian Sugar, co-founder and managing partner of Sugar Capital, believes the peptide “gray market collapse,” accelerated by the FDA’s expected decision, is only the opening act. “The real story is what comes after. GLP-1 proved that when biology works, consumers show up in the tens of millions. They inject themselves weekly. They tell their friends. They don’t go back. Peptides are next,” he says. “The science is proven, the cultural preparation is complete, and a generation of consumers who felt their biology change on Ozempic is already asking what comes next. Feel is the answer to that question.”
Hyve Ventures founder and managing partner Kara La Forgia points to the explosive growth of GLP-1 drugs as evidence of the scale peptides can reach. Market research firm Grand View Research estimates the global peptide therapeutics market will expand from nearly $141 billion in 2025 to almost $295 billion by 2033, with North America accounting for roughly 62% of the market last year. The category is already rivaling major beauty categories like skincare in scale.
“I’ve never seen a category that has grown so fast,” says La Forgia. “Two single peptides, semaglutide and tirzepatide, did more than double the revenue of Anthropic and OpenAI in 2025.”
Feel is slated to roll out a personalized membership model in the first quarter of next year. Described by Brudzewski as akin to Costco’s Executive Membership or Erewhon’s paid membership tier, the membership program will carry an annual fee of between $200 and $400. Members will receive discounted peptides that, Brudzewski calculates, will allow most customers to recoup the fee in one or two purchases. The membership will provide access to a nurse for consultations, including blood work reviews and ongoing peptide use guidance.
Feel offers peptides administered via subcutaneous injection and in alternative formats such as nasal sprays and sublingual products designed to ease consumers’ fears around self-injection. Certain peptides are considered better suited to alternative delivery mechanisms. Popular cognitive-function peptides such as Selank and Semax are often administered as nasal sprays because the method is believed to help the compounds cross the blood-brain barrier more directly. However, peptides marketed for cognitive performance, longevity and wellness remain lightly studied in humans. Feel is also developing peptide-based topical products, including sunscreen and facial skincare.
Despite the peptide market’s rapid growth, much of the consumer-facing category still flows through loosely regulated online sellers, wellness clinics and compounding pharmacies, creating concerns around sourcing, transparency and product quality. Feel strives to differentiate itself through quality, transparency and accessibility. The company is launching with an annual membership model priced at several hundred dollars, aligning it more closely with the longevity and GLP-1 wellness economy than the traditional supplements market.
“I’ve never seen a category that has grown so fast.”
While Feel’s raw ingredients for bulk synthesis are sourced globally, primarily from India and China, it says all final products are synthesized and tested in California, distinguishing it from less transparent operators in the peptide space. Instead of shipping pre-mixed compounds that may lose potency over time, Feel ships injectable products as lyophilized powders that customers combine with bacteriostatic water, commonly known as “bac water” among peptide enthusiasts, immediately before injection to maximize freshness.
Targeting customers ages 30 to 55, Feel is attempting to bridge what Brudzewski sees as a major consumer education gap around peptides through content and community-building. The company plans to launch an educational podcast called “Peptides” and secured the Instagram handle @peptides, where it intends to share interviews with scientists and doctors specializing in peptides, longevity and wellness. To stoke brand awareness, Feel will be introducing an affiliate program with influencers and celebrities as well.
Additionally, Feel plans to host “Feeled Trips” at wellness resorts around the world, bringing together doctors, athletes, brand partners and customers for wellness experiences and educational programming. Feel wants to cultivate an authoritative voice within the rapidly expanding peptide ecosystem rather than rely on overtly sales-driven marketing.
Before Feel, Brudzewski, a former professional hockey player, worked in healthcare sales at Pfizer and Stryker and co-founded music merchandise company Top Drawer Merch. After suffering a bulging disc in his neck in 2025, he says a peptide protocol involving KPV, BPC and thymosin peptides provided “unbelievable relief” within weeks and convinced him peptides represented the future of wellness.
At Feel, his goal is to elevate the branding in a peptides market he argues has been dominated by faceless companies marketing “a picture of a vial.” The company’s marketing emphasizes simple, emotional benefits through slogans such as “Feel energy, feel youth, feel balance, feel science, feel something.”
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