Womaness: Bridging the Gap in Menopausal Care
Offering innovative menopause products to support healthy aging
Womaness offers innovative menopause products with accessible, safe, and chic solutions in skin and body care, feminine care, sexual health, and supplements.
Perimenopause, menopause, and postmenopause impact millions of women a year. These inevitable phases of the aging process are not only uncomfortable — inducing symptoms like weight gain, hot flashes, mood changes, and muscle aches — but are seldom discussed in the health and beauty worlds. Only 1 in 5 women in the U.S. have received a referral to a menopause specialist.
Women’s wellness brand and Alumni Ventures portfolio company Womaness is helping support aging women struggling with menopause. Founded by industry veterans with over 50 years of combined brand and product development experience, Womaness is addressing the underserved menopause segment of women’s health and wellness, expected to reach $24.4 billion by 2030. The company’s primary focus is developing a series of products formulated alongside a panel of experts specializing in menopause, women’s health, nutrition, and skincare.
Attractive Business Model
Womaness offers a line of female-centric, non-hormonal products across three primary industries — supplements, beauty topical creams, and sexual wellness products — targeting a specific demographic of women (perimenopausal and menopausal). While many competitors exist in the same space, most are tackling concentrated problems instead of bundling them under a menopause portfolio of products, as Womaness is doing.
Currently, ~45% of Womaness’ business comes from direct-to-consumer sales, 20% from Amazon e-commerce, and the balance from retail. The company’s business through Amazon in particular has been a strong point, growing 8x in the past year. Products are also available in Target and Ulta Beauty stores and online as part of The Wellness Shop — a curated offering of self-care and wellness products.
What We Liked About This Deal
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Strong Investor Syndicate
Obvious Ventures ($1 billion AUM)* has had previous success investing in consumer packaged goods (CPG) and backed Womaness before the company released its first product. Unilever Ventures has also been a prominent investor, bringing deep CPG experience and resources to the company. - Home
Experienced Team
Womaness was founded by brand and product veterans with decades of combined experience in brand building. They have collectively been responsible for hundreds of millions of revenue generated in previous brands. - Home
Significant Market Opportunity
Menopause is a significant pain point for most women aged 45-55 worldwide. Women’s health is a massively underserved market, and menopausal health is no exception. Female Founders Fund estimates the menopause market opportunity alone to be worth $600 billion.**
*”Obvious Ventures crosses $1 billion in assets for ‘world positive’ startups,” ImpactAlpha, June 8, 2022
**Emma Hinchliffe, “Menopause is a $600 billion opportunity, report finds,” Fortune, October 26, 2020
How We Are Involved
Bascom Ventures (for the University of Wisconsin community) sponsored our investment in Womaness’ $4 million seed round led by Unilever Ventures, with participation from Black Jays, LB Equity, Obvious Ventures, Primetime Partners, SilverCircle, and SWAT Equity Partners. AV’s Seed Fund and Total Access Fund also participated in the round.