Backed by Daymond John and Post Malone, this Afghan-born founder built a $150M brand. Her real mission: the women back home

Durana Elmi says in the country where she was born, birds now have more rights than women. 

The cofounder of Cymbiotika, the San Diego–based wellness brand behind the rip-and-sip supplement packets that have turned up in gym bags and handbags across the country, left Afghanistan as an infant and was raised in a traditional Afghan household in Southern California. 

While she didn’t live under those conditions for long, she still watches them from afar through videos and the philanthropic work she still does for women and children back home. 

“Being an American is such a privilege when you understand how people are living in third-world countries,” she told Fortune. It’s a perspective, she says, that sits beneath every decision she makes, whether personal or business-related. 

And that inspiration has propelled her company. Elmi said Cymbiotika has sold more than 200 million packets, grown sales 400% over the past three years, and stayed profitable every year since 2019. The brand bootstrapped its way to $150 million in annual revenue before raising a $25 million seed round late last year. That was its first round of outside capital, backed by a celebrity-studded roster of more than 50........

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