DTC supplement brand Perelel has raised $4.7M in seed funding from Unilever Ventures, the venture arm of consumer packaged goods conglomerate Unilever, led the seed round with participation from Willow Growth Partners; M13 co-founder Courtney Reum; Revolve chief brand officer Raissa Gerona; Bumo co-founder and CEO Joan Nyugen; Glossier CMO Ali Weiss; Jenni Kayne CEO Julia Hunter; What’s Gaby Cooking founder Gaby Dalkin; Olivetta, Issima and The Draycott owner Marissa Hermer; model Rocky Barnes; television personality and fashion designer Whitney Port; and influencer Aimee Song, according to reporting by Beauty Independent.
Pelelel was co-founded by Victoria Thain Gioia and Alex Taylor, together with OB-GYN Banafsheh Bayati and debuted in September 2020.
Co-founder Thain Gioia shared: “We were two pregnant new entrepreneurs at the very beginning of the pandemic. We were really met with a lot of noes. When we were talking about creating a brand to support women and women’s health, the response was, ‘This is too niche a market. We were pregnant and anchoring the brand in the motherhood phase of fertility through pregnancy through early motherhood, and they thought it was too short of a time period.”
Rachel Harris, Partner at Unilever Ventures, adds: “Women’s health and research is a significantly underserved area that has tremendous potential for expansion and Perelel is pioneering a way to reimagine women’s health with targeted nutritionGlobally, women’s health represents a market opportunity of over $40B, and we are committed, in partnership with Perelel, to investing in the whole woman and making an impact in a way women deserve.”
The company will use the new funds to grow its team, invest in new product development and distribution.
