No need to spend hours researching what products have toxic ingredients or unethical sourcing. With the touch of a little green square on the side of your screen, Better Buy gives you instant access to everything you need to know about the product you are shopping for.
Simon Copeman and Zander Mukanos first met as pledge brothers during their sophomore year at USC, today, they launched their company Better Buy. The duo is on a mission to change how people approach their wellness.
But Copeman and Mukanos were not always into health and wellness.
“I was eating like crap, drinking like crap,” said Copeman, founder and CEO of Better Buy, adding that he rarely drinks now for his health.
In his senior year of college, Copeman started intermittent fasting and taking ice baths at his frat house.
His health-conscious girlfriend also played a big role in exposing him to the world of health and wellness. Later that year, he decided to do a triathlon, which propelled his interest in learning more about nutrition and recovery. Cutting out refined sugar was a game-changer for him.
“If you’re not used to eating refined sugar, and you eat an apple you’re like ‘holy shit this is the best apple ever,’” Copeman said. “When I changed my habits, I felt incredible. I wanted other people to experience that too.”
Mukanos, who struggled with mental health challenges, began to explore the connection between nutrition, lifestyle, and mental well-being during his time at USC.
“I started noticing how much better I felt when I wasn’t consuming processed junk,” said Mukanos, co-founder and Chief Growth & Marketing Officer. “It wasn’t just about looking good — it was about having energy, feeling clear-headed, and understanding that what I put in my body had a real impact on my mood and productivity.”
This journey led Mukanos to launch his first company, Myneral, in 2023, an innovative affirmation keychain that users can scan daily to receive personalized positive messages.
Better Buy — a web extension designed to empower consumers by providing instant transparency into the health, sustainability, and ethical standards of the products they purchase — was built off insights from the co-founders’ health journeys.
The goal? To take the guesswork out of shopping and empower consumers to make informed decisions with just a glance.
“We want to make smart shopping so easy and effortless that anyone will do it,” said Copeman. “We want to break down all barriers to entry to this lifestyle of smart, ethical, sustainable, healthy shopping.”
The extension works in real-time, scanning a product’s ingredients and sourcing details before assigning it a grade of A through F. The grading scale is based on key factors such as: Health, Sustainability, Ethics, Lifespan, and Price and Value.
A-rated clothing products, for example, will contain 100% non-toxic, natural materials that are free from harmful chemicals. Whereas, C-rated products, like the dress shown above from Fashion Nova, use synthetic or mixed materials, with limited consideration for non-toxic or harmful properties.
Better Buy’s grading system was developed using insights from medical professionals, nutritionists, and sustainability experts. Users can visit the Better Buy website to find all the resources that go into the grading process.
Better Buy also incorporates standards from certified B corporations, which are known for their rigorous ethical and environmental criteria.
The founders explained that, unlike many platforms, Better Buy has zero partnerships with brands. No company can pay to have their product rated higher, ensuring complete transparency and trust for consumers.
So, when you are looking at Starbursts, for example, the extension will find similar products and grade each product to then suggest products with the highest scores. If no healthy alternative exists for a product, the extension simply won’t offer options.
Their brand isn’t just targeting the wellness-obsessed, Copeman said it’s also making holistic health accessible to a younger audience that’s been bombarded with confusing and contradictory information about health and related shopping choices.
The co-founders also want to build a Better Buy community.
“People might want to see new chemicals or additives included in our grading system, and we love that,” Copeman said. “We want to keep evolving and improving.”
Better Buy is free to use because Copeman and Mukanos believe all consumers should have access to find out the truth about a product.
“People are putting bad things in their bodies, but it’s not their fault,” Copeman said. “It’s these corporations that have had this race to the bottom — whether it’s making a bigger margin or cutting costs. And it’s at the expense of the consumer.”
Both co-founders say they want to put the truth in consumers’ hands.
“Every purchase is a choice, and we hope people make a better one, Mukanos said.”