Dive Brief:
- In a bid to grow its operations, sexual wellness and personal care brand Maude closed on a $5.8 million Series A funding round led by True Beauty Ventures, the company announced last week. Maude is one of the most VC-backed firms in the space, according to the company, with $10 million raised to date over four funding rounds.
- Other notable investors include Fable Investments, True and Endeavor, per the release. With the recent round, True Beauty Ventures' Cristina Nuñez and Fable Investments' Paola Felipak will take seats at Maude's board — making it now entirely female and majority Latina.
- Maude will use the recent funds to grow its team, product offering and content platform. The company also intends to use the funding to enter international markets and retailers in 2021 and 2022.
Dive Insight:
The DTC brand launched in 2018 with "a mission to make intimacy better — for all people" and was founded by former Everlane employee Éva Goicochea. She is one of 15 Latinx women who have closed over $7 million in venture capital funding, per the release.
"Sexual wellness has long been the last frontier in personal care, but the customer expects better," Goicochea said in a statement. "Like in beauty, we believe in taking an integrated and holistic approach — not a compartmentalized view of sex."
The most recent funding round follows a fruitful year for Maude, which experienced 50% quarter-over-quarter growth and more than 25,000 pre-orders for its "vibe" product. In 2020, "Fifty Shades of Grey" actress Dakota Johnson became an investor and a co-creative director at Maude.
Maude debuted in retailers like Bloomingdale's, Nordstrom and Saks.com in the first half of the year. During the same period, Maude dropped its latest products: an all-body massager and a new scent collection. The brand will soon launch at Canadian retailer Ssense.
As of the recent funding round, Maude has six full-time employees, according to a company spokesperson. Goicochea said the company will turn a profit next year.
"Through and through, we're people-first and our success is just as much about resonating with our customer as it is about creating a healthy internal culture driven by our shared values and vision for what's ahead," she said.
Clarification: This story has been updated to include more accurate information from Maude on the number of employees it has.