maude, the modern and inclusive sexual wellness company, already in True’s Early Stage Investment portfolio, has announced the close of an oversubscribed $5.8M Series A. To date, maude has successfully raised $10M over four rounds of funding—making it one of the most VC-backed sexual wellness personal care companies. This raise was led by True Beauty Ventures—a beauty and wellness-focused fund that grows early-stage brands in the beauty and wellness space however True also participated in the round, joining Fable Investments (the parent company of Aesop and The Body Shop) and media company Endeavor.
maude launched in April of 2018 and was founded by Éva Goicochea after successful careers in healthcare legislation and brand strategy (early employee at Everlane). One of only 15 Latinx women to raise over $7M in VC funding, Goicochea was chosen as one of Entrepreneur magazine’s first-ever 100 Powerful Women in 2019, WWD’s 60 Power Players in Health and Wellness in 2020 and 2021, and was selected as one of Forbes Next 1000 in 2021. As a part of this raise, maude’s board will now be entirely female and majority Latina with Cristina Nuñez (True Beauty Ventures) and Paola Felipak (Fable Investments) taking seats.
“Before we launched, the sexual wellness industry could be defined by the ubiquity of the experience, be it on shelf or online: The confusing over-assortment and opaque quality standards, inflated pricing (particularly on devices), and the tired, gendered tropes of how to sell “sex”. Through accessible design and fair pricing, we’re here to set the new standard in the category. We stand out as the only company that focuses on modern intimacy—for all people,” says Goicochea.
“Following our seed investment at the end of last year we’ve been blown away by Éva and the team and couldn’t turn down the opportunity to support a business that continues to outperform, and embodies everything we look for in the brands we support; one that has a great founding team, that is digital-first, fit-for-the-future and operating at the heart of attitudinal and consumer behavior shift,” says Claire Cherry, Investment Principal at True.”We are looking forward to supporting maude through introductions we can make across our retail and consumer network as it launches its exciting roll-out into the UK and Europe.”
Uniquely positioned, maude’s approach to sexual health centers on share-care—self- and partner-focused essentials that promote everyday intimacy routines for before, during, and after. In early 2021, the company released its latest device, drop—an all-body massager, along with a new scent collection. These launches further its commitment to making sexual wellness synonymous with self-care.
This funding round will be used to further position maude as a leader both within the sexual wellness and personal care industries—growing their team as well as its product line and content platform. This raise follows a successful year for the early-stage company—who experienced 50% growth QoQ, had over 25,000 pre-orders for its best-selling vibe, and announced actor Dakota Johnson as a Co-Creative Director.
In addition, the raise will support the expansion of maude into international markets and in additional key retailers in 2021 and 2022. The category-defining brand grew its portfolio of luxury retailers in the first half of 2021—launching in Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom, Saks.com with upcoming launches at Canadian retailer SSENSE.
