Sex Tech Company Lora DiCarlo Launches On Republic
● The company, co-owned by Cara Delevingne, expects to do as much as $10 million in sales this year.
Lora DiCarlo wants everyone to be able to invest in sexual wellness.
Today, the sex technology company launches on Republic, an equity crowdfunding platform. Similar to Kickstarter, Republic allows users to invest a minimum of $100 in start-ups in exchange for equity and other benefits that vary depending on the level of investment.
“The sexual wellness industry is highly lucrative,” said DiCarlo, founder and chief executive officer of her eponymous company. “There [are] not a lot of ways to invest in sexual health and wellness. We all want better sex lives, so why not make it available to all individuals to be able to invest?”
The company expects to raise a minimum of $25,000 through Republic, DiCarlo said.
Lisa Carmen Wang, Republic’s head of brand, acknowledged, via statement, the sex tech industry’s rapid growth within the past five years.
“Western culture has a long history of depicting sex solely through the male gaze, resulting in women’s sexual pleasure being shrouded in shame,” Wang said in a statement. “As a modern society, we are finally breaking down taboos and acknowledging women’s experiences.
Sex tech companies like Lora DiCarlo are challenging centuries-old stigmas around women’s sexual pleasure and showcasing that it’s not only empowering, but also a highly investable market.”
Lora DiCarlo is known for its Osé massager, which received an “honoree” designation at the 2019 Consumer Electronic Show Innovation Awards. The award was rescinded by the Consumer Technology Association, which deemed the massager a violation of its rule against products that are “immoral, obscene, indecent, profane or not in keeping with CTA’s image.” Lora DiCarlo was subsequently banned from exhibiting at CES.
The move prompted online backlash, and the CTA eventually walked back its comments and reinstated the award.
Last year, Lora DiCarlo brought on model Cara Delevingne as a co-owner and creative director. In a round of investment led by Republic Labs, which sits under the same umbrella as Republic, the crowdfunding platform, Lora
DiCarlo raised $3 million, inclusive of an investment from Delevingne.
The company expects to generate sales of $6 million to $10 million in 2021, driven by product launches slated for later this year, according to DiCarlo.
“We’ve got a holistic approach to sexual health and wellness that includes services, experiences, our health and wellness line that we’re looking at bringing about and the technology that goes into our products,” she said.