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Womaness is occupied with funding in another way. The menopause solutions brand is doubling down on community and word-of-mouth marketing with its latest raise. 

Founders Sally Mueller and Michelle Jacobs set out to begin the brand’s third fundraise, but knowing the investor market was tougher than ever — not to say women-founded and women-centric brands are sometimes underfunded — they selected to work with three Los Angeles-based investors — Carol Cheng, Annie Bellanger and Ellen Chen — to form a special purpose vehicle (SPV). This format brought women of all ages and all investor experience to the brand’s cap table with checks starting from $5,000 to $50,000, raising nearly $1 million total — though the brand remains to be raising. 

“Considered one of our goals with this round was to herald numerous women onto the cap table and create this groundswell, not only take capital in but really think concerning the marketing advantages of getting women involved in our brand,” said Mueller, explaining word-of-mouth conversations have been key for brand awareness.

While Womaness has been focused on community with events like its “Menopositivity Tour,” an in-store activation with Ulta Beauty, this raise marks a latest era for the brand to work directly with its consumer and in addition educate women on the investor space. 

“Women are still needing more education and support to feel comfortable investing within the space. The long run is… getting women to take a position in corporations that they really value and missions that they really respect,” Mueller said. 

Jacobs seconded this. “There’s a complete lack of education across the board, young and old, for ladies as their bodies age past fertility. People don’t know what happens next,” she said, noting that this round brought in young women of their 30s looking to take a position within the space.  

For Chen, Bellanger and Cheng, as women, they were immediately concerned about the Womaness story, and forming a SPV felt like a natural fit to bring users into the business. 

“These women are going through menopause. They felt like it is a no-brainer,” said Bellanger, who founded Women Abundance Club to teach on investing — most of the SPV investors got here from this group. “A few of these women got eight different investors to are available, just telling their friends concerning the story.” 

In line with Mueller and Jacobs, the brand remains to be raising, but with this latest round and capital from the SPV, they may invest heavily in product development and education, most notably through field training, which the duo noted to be a key driver for his or her business in-store. The brand can also be counting on the SPV investors to proceed raising brand awareness through their communities and private experiences.

“It’s such a discerning customer and so they’re so driven based on trust,” Mueller said. “It’s a really different, emotional purchase journey.”