Éva Goicochea, founder of sexual wellness brand Maude, does not do Valentine's Day. Rather that pushing product, or creating a flash sale for 14 February, shortly before our interview, the brand campaigned on Instagram about the abysmal sex education in the US.
"Did you know that only 24 states and the District of Columbia require sex-ed in schools? Or that 41% of American 18-year-olds know very little about condoms, and 45% don’t know about contraception?," it wrote. Not exactly hot under the collar marketing.
But then, that is Maude's mission. The indie company is designed to elegantly challenge the status quo of a clinical sector dominated by Trojan and Durex with their gaudy fonts, loud marketing and cheap packaging. When Trojan pushed its followers to stock up on condoms before the big Valentine's Day weekend, or LoveHoney encouraged consumers to release their 'wild side', Maude expressed that consumers should just switch off to take time for themselves.
Maude's (excuse the pun) stripped back yet beautiful design and education-first strategy has made it revered in the wellness category and amass US$10m in funding, almost unheard of in sex-tech. Backers include 50 Shades of Grey star Dakota Johnson, DevaCurl financier True Beauty and Natura & Co's VC arm Fable Investments.
Its ethos also resonated with Sephora as
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