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Brooklyn, New York, maude, a modern and inclusive sexual wellness company taking on the legacy industry, announced the close of an oversubscribed $5.8M Series A. To date, the brand has successfully raised $10M over four rounds of funding—making it one of the most VC-backed sexual wellness personal care companies. The raise was led by True Beauty Ventures—a beauty and wellness-focused fund that grows early-stage brands in the beauty and wellness space.

“maude is a category leader with a clear mission to democratize and destigmatize an antiquated view of sex while reframing intimacy as self-care,” says Cristina Nuñez, Co-Founder & General Partner at True Beauty Ventures. “Éva is a visionary, fearless founder who has innovatively bridged the gap between sex, health, and personal care through a thoughtful product offering that has redefined the meaning of modern intimacy for the consumer.”

maude launched in April of 2018 and was founded by Éva Goicochea after successful careers in healthcare legislation and brand strategy. 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.

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.

“Sexual wellness has long been the last frontier in personal care, but the customer expects better, ” Goicochea says. “Like in beauty, we believe in taking an integrated and holistic approach—not a compartmentalized view of sex. At our core, we’re an evergreen brand thoughtfully built for the every day of your entire adult life.”

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.

In just three short years, maude has been internationally recognized—having been featured in 800+ pieces of press in over 25 countries. The company was named a 2019 CircleUp25 award winner—establishing itself as a consumer brand to watch, joining alumni like Glossier and Harry’s.

On the future, Goicochea said: “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. Our mission is to continue to build strong brand affinity and a solvent business (we’ll be profitable in 2022) that changes the culture of sexual wellness—forever.”

maude can be found at getmaude.com and with retail partners across the United States and Canada.

www.getmaude.com

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