Absorbent products categories have been transformed in recent years through the introduction of independent start-up brands offering original ideas to products likes baby diapers, femcare products, wipes and adult incontinence items. Whether the message is one of sustainability, improved performance, economics, or more, these brands are challenging major conglomerates that have been doing business in disposables for decades and inspiring these established brands to also develop new products and new marketing messages for their products.

In part 1 of this feature, here’s a look at some of the year’s more inspiring independent feminine care brands.

Rael 
Rael, a holistic personal care brand focused on clean period care, intimate care, and skincare, was one of many independent brands that closed private equity funding in 2022. The company announced the close of a $35 million Series B investment, representing the largest amount raised in the U.S. feminine care category to date and bringing Rael’s total funding to $59 million.

Founded by three Korean-American women, including CEO Yanghee Paik, Rael first launched in the U.S. and expanded to South Korea, where the organic category represents over 30% of the total feminine care market in comparison to less than 10% in the U.S. The latest investment is indicative of Rael’s ongoing success as the company continues its rapid expansion, becoming a top-selling brand in the U.S. and Korea and expanding to 12 other international countries.

“We’ve been very impressed by Rael’s growth trajectory and strong customer loyalty and believe they’re poised for exceptional growth as an innovator and disruptor in the wellness space,” says Jeffery Lim, managing partner at Signite Partners. “We are excited to support Rael as it continues to scale its business and make holistic women’s wellness a seamless and approachable experience for all women around the world.”

With this investment, Rael plans to continue its product innovation led by its development team based in South Korea, expand its 360-degree approach to women’s wellness, accelerate growth at retail by expanding partnerships and investing in brand and trade marketing, and advancing its global expansion. Rael also expanded its executive leadership team, announcing industry veteran Lauren Consiglio as president, who was formerly a senior marketing executive at Unilever and L’Oreal. Consiglio brings over 20 years of CPG experience and will be responsible for strengthening Rael’s unique positioning as a holistic wellness brand for women and growing its retail and DTC business in the U.S.

“We started Rael with a mission to improve women’s wellness by leveraging novel technology from Korea, bringing organic, high-performing, comfortable products to the marketplace. Now, five years later, the company has evolved greatly, but our commitment to bringing women cleaner and more effective personal care solutions throughout their hormonal cycle has stayed the same,” says Paik. “We’re excited that with this new capital and strategic investors, we’ll be able to continue pushing the envelope in terms of product innovation to truly become a holistic wellness brand. We’re also looking to amplify our marketing to reach more customers and support our retail expansion while maintaining our leadership on Amazon. Ultimately, we want to become a global household brand and believe our new investors will be very helpful in accelerating our global expansion, especially in Asia.”

In other news, this year Rael partnered with SOS, a Boston-based company that is redefining wellness on the go through a fast-growing network of smart vending machines. Together, the two brands are committing to give away 200,000 tampons and pads at all of SOS’ 100+ machines throughout the next year in an effort to increase access to essential personal care products in high-traffic public locations where people need them most. The partnership is backed by a six-figure investment from Rael and is the largest direct brand investment to date for SOS.

Sequel
Sequel, a start-up focused on women’s wellness, is preparing to launch a leakage-preventing tampon. Founded by two high-level athletes and Stanford engineers, Sequel has re-engineered tampons for distraction-free periods. The company’s proprietary spiral design is more fluid mechanically efficient, meaning it absorbs fluid more evenly and won’t leak before it’s full. With two granted patents and three patents pending, Sequel was invented for peak performance—from the boardroom to the stadium and everything in between.

“We are driven by a vision where a better tampon is just the beginning of a movement to raise the standard of women’s products,” says co-founders Greta Meyer, CEO, and Amanda Calabrese, COO. “We are building the products we wish we had on game day, elevating the standards for products long left behind. With so many things to worry about, a leaking tampon shouldn’t be one of them.”

Sequel was founded in 2018 by Meyer and Calabrese, who were both Stanford product design engineering students and elite athletes. Throughout their athletic careers, Meyer and Calabrese struggled with period care during high-level athletic competitions, and they knew they were not alone. The duo looked critically at period products and realized that all the options on the shelves were uncomfortable, leaked and were essentially the same, even when they were marketed as different. They saw an opportunity to build a better performing tampon.

“In a space saturated by private label brands that haven’t innovated in years, Sequel is committed to building an IP portfolio that is unprecedented,” says Adrian Fenty, founding managing partner at MaC VC. “Their design and manufacturing innovations are really exciting, and I believe they will grow Sequel into a game-changing, market-shifting company.”

The Sequel team spent a year in research and development to invent their new-and-improved tampon. They tested the product on the bench and with early beta testers, and built out an all-new manufacturing method. They are preparing to take the product to market in 2023.