Cash Flow: Women’s Health Brands Attract Investment, Livia’s Is Crowdfunding, New Age Meats Secures $2m

The game-changing investment, acquisition and funding news impacting the industry and driving the business of wellness this week.

Saie beauty wins investment from Unilever Ventures and Gwyneth Paltrow

Saie, a clean beauty brand that launched exclusively on Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle platform Goop in 2019, has closed a seed funding round led by Unilever Ventures. Other participants included Gwyneth Paltrow, G9 Ventures and Stage 1 Fund.

According to Glossy, Founder Laney Crowell would not disclose the amount of investment, but described the brand as exceeding expectations in its short lifetime: It’s currently beating its own sales expectations by 200%. 

Livia’s crowdfunding campaign surpasses £1m

Fast-growing free-from treat brand Livia’s has launched its first-ever crowdfunding campaign via Seedrs. Already surpassing the £1m investment target for the round prior to public launch, Livia’s has attracted over 400 new investors so far, with the campaign now continuing into overfunding. 

The latest investment will be to help launch a line up of new products, as well as develop its D2C platform, grow marketing and sales teams, and scale operations. By 2025, Livia’s plans to be distributed and sold throughout Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the US.

LOOM banks $3m for women’s health platform

LOOM, a digital sexual and reproductive health education platform, has raised $3m in seed funding in a round led by Slow Ventures, with participation from General Catalyst.

The startup, which currently operates a brick and mortar location in Los Angeles, plans to use the funding to make the leap into becoming a fully online platform.

DTC women’s health startup Stix closes $1.3m round

Stix, a direct-to-consumer women’s health brand, has closed a $1.3m seed round, with participation from investors including Women’s Fund, Founders Factory New York, and various angels.

The startup, which offers DTC pregnancy and ovulation kits, plans to use the funding to continue growing its team.

Cell-based meat maker New Age Meats secures $2m

New Age Meats, a cultivated meat company, has completed a $2m seed extension round led by TechU Ventures, an early-stage investment firm specializing in deep tech. The additional funding will allow the company to further expand its Food Science department, implement more automation and robotics, and continue dropping the cost of its first product, a pork sausage. 

The startup was founded in 2018 and is a graduate of IndieBio’s accelerator program.