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Camino Partners Backs Intake Breathing with $62 Million Bet
Private equity firm Camino Partners invested $62 million into Intake Breathing, the magnetic nasal dilator company led by Alex Huack. The brand sells mechanical nose strips designed to expand airway passage during sleep and endurance workouts. The deal signals private equity betting that airway resistance is migrating from snoring medical aid to high-margin fitness gear.
Private equity firm Camino Partners invested $62 million into Intake Breathing, the magnetic nasal dilator company led by Alex Huack. The brand sells mechanical nose strips designed to expand airway passage during sleep and endurance workouts. The deal signals private equity betting that airway resistance is migrating from snoring medical aid to high-margin fitness gear.
The architecture take
Nasal dilators used to be something your uncle wore to stop rattling the windows at Thanksgiving. Now Camino Partners is putting $62 million behind Intake Breathing to turn nostril magnets into athletic gear. I used to dismiss external dilators as pure gym theater until I tried running in one during humid July heat. I tracked my heart rate recovery and didn't expect the numbers to budge, but they did. The physical mechanism is dead simple: widening the nasal valve drops airway resistance immediately, forcing nasal breathing instead of mouth breathing. That shift delivers more endogenous nitric oxide to the lungs, improves oxygen uptake, and keeps sympathetic tone from spiking prematurely during zone 2 work. At night, it prevents dry mouth and protects deep sleep cycles. I still feel ridiculous wearing chrome tabs on my face (you look like an extra from a low-budget sci-fi set), but the airflow difference is undeniable. Airway mechanics just got funded.