Health And Wellness Platform Sequel Cofounded By Two Stanford Engineers Raises $5 Million

Well being and wellness platform Sequel, which has created a leakage-preventing tampon, introduced right now that it has raised $5 million in mixed pre-seed and seed spherical. Mac VC led the seed spherical, whereas different buyers embody Pear Accelerator, Lengthy Journey Ventures, Ulu Ventures, Graph Ventures and angels, together with Cyan Banister and Nurx CEO Varsha Rao.

Based on Greta Meyer, cofounder and CEO of Sequel, whereas tampons re nonetheless essentially the most generally one of the best answer, they’ve imperfections that basically have an effect on the standard of ladies’s lives.

“We seen that the tampons we have been carrying have been leaking earlier than they have been full and weren’t absorbing properly sufficient,” Meyer says. “There have been these tampons that have been failing the place as a substitute of seeing all of it purple and saturated, nearly all of the fibers have been white and unused, and there was a purple line on the aspect.”

Sequel’s tampon is made viscose fiber, with the concept behind it being that the extra absorbent the fiber is, the smaller and extra handy the tampon might be.

Sequel plans to launch the product subsequent yr, pending FDA clearance. Meyer added that they did a beta check in the UK (the place it’s not thought of a medical machine) in the summertime of 2020 so folks have been allowed to strive it and received excellent suggestions. Resulting from it being thought of a medical machine in the USA, the corporate can’t do preorders, but it surely has a waitlist.

Amanda Calabrese, cofounder and COO, says that they wished to construct a extra fluid mechanically environment friendly design for the tampon and that may permit the product to soak up extra evenly in phases to completion with out failing earlier than it was full.

“We seen the vertical channels that have been inflicting the menstrual fluid to be diverted away from the absorbing core,” Calabrese says. “We redirect that and lengthen the move path to be this spiral that goes on the skin.”

Meyer, a D1 Underneath Armour All-American lacrosse participant at Stanford, and Calabrese, a a nine-time U.S. nationwide champion in lifesavin, met at Stanford’s design faculty the place they have been product designers within the mechanical engineering program.

“We considered how we may determine a very impactful want that can profit excessive customers after which affect wider inhabitants,” Calabrese says. “It was humorous that we found that we have been the acute customers and that was due to our background in sports activities, and it was in our most pivotal moments in sport that we seen our interval merchandise have been failing us.”

The pre seed was principally angels finished to start with of 2020 and it was $1 million, with the seed being $4 million.