Every year, Amboy Street presents a blog series highlighting the past year’s 10 sizable women’s health deals that reflect the latest trends and major successes.
In 2024, women’s health continued to see strong financing activity with companies across Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), MedTech and Digital Health raising significant capital and exiting at noteworthy valuations.
In our first blog of the Top 10 Deals of 2024 series, we showcase the acquisition of The HoneyPot Company by Compass Diversified.
The period and intimacy care brand, The HoneyPot Company, was acquired for $380M in January by the Connecticut based, middle markets focused holding company, Compass Diversified.
The Honey Pot brand spans period care, personal hygiene and sexual health with products from plant-based pads and tampons to water-based lubes and vaginal wipes.
Historically, period care has been dominated by Kotex, Playtex, Always and Tampax. Yet, it’s clear that CPG conglomerates believe new, innovative players can compete with the dominant incumbent brands. Other comparable period care deals include:
(1) Procter & Gamble buying organic cotton tampon maker, This is L, in 2019 for $100M,
(2) Kimberly-Clark acquiring a majority stake in period underwear brand Thinx in 2022 for $230M,
(3) and Essity acquiring the majority of Knix (a Thinx competitor) in 2022 for $320M.
Sexual health CPG, on the other hand, is nascent, with no dominant player catering to women, the primary user of intimate care products. Brands like KY Jelly and Trojan have been on shelves for decades but are poorly-branded, male-forward and without women’s health in mind. There is an opportunity to disrupt this outdated, formerly stigmatized industry that is now championed as a critical part of overall health. The HoneyPot Company did just that.
The global growth of the intimate feminine care market
The global intimate feminine care market is expected to almost double - from $34B in 2023 to $60B in 2033. New innovations across categories are attracting a broader range of buyers and more women feel empowered to purchase sexual health products.
The acquisition of The HoneyPot Company exemplifies the upward trajectory of the women’s health industry and paves the way for other holistic women’s health brands to follow.
We are already seeing this play out in the early Seed and Series A stages. In recent years, multiple intimate feminine care startups have succeeded in securing VC funding.
Which companies are leading the charge in closing the intimate care gap?
Early pioneers include:
Playground (ASV portfolio company) Seed: Co-founded by Christina Aguilera, Playground is a sexual wellness brand developing a line of libido-enhancing personal lubricants that are clean, long-lasting and clinically proven to protect vaginal health throughout all stages of womanhood.
Dame Products (ASV portfolio company) Series A: Women-powered resource for game-changing pleasure and sexual wellness products.
Aunt Flow (ASV portfolio company) Series A: Free-vend menstrual products in public and corporate bathrooms.
Cake Series B: Fast and effective products and medications to improve intimacy for both men and women. Cake recently closed an $18M Series B.
Luna Daily Seed: Microbiome balancing body care for head, vulva, knees and toes.
As more solutions enter the space, women have the opportunity to take control of their intimate healthcare needs like never before. We at Amboy Street Ventures, are proud to be fueling innovation to smash stigma and improve access to critical care.
