Jude Raises 2.4M Euro to Address Stigma Around Bladder Care Products

• Jude a female-founded company  raised €2.4 million to tackle the stigma associated with bladder care products
• The funding represents the largest pre-seed round in the UK secured by a solo female founder, Peony Li

Female-founded company Jude raised €2.4 million to tackle the stigma surrounding bladder-care products like pads, liners, and supplements.

This investment is the largest pre-seed round raised by a solo female founder in the UK, Peony Li. Bladder control issues affect an estimated one in three women-around 14 million people in the UK-yet initial investor interest was limited. To date, the company has secured support from 12 female investors and Reckitt's Innovation Fund, Access VC.

This was announced on International Women's Day, which had the theme #BreakingTheBias in 2022. This investment shows a change in attitudes toward female-founded businesses and those that deal in women's health.

Founder Peony Li declared that the enterprise wants to reduce the stigma associated with bladder care and facilitate an online community of supportive people for whom conversations about incontinence are as open and normal as discussions of periods or menopause.

Biodegradable products made by Jude address the waste issue of disposable menstrual and bladder-care items. It is estimated that people with periods will use over 11,000 disposable products within their lifetime.

Many conventional pads contain adhesives created with toxic chemicals along with added petrochemicals to bond the layers together, whereas Jude uses plant-based, degradable materials to help reduce environmental impact.

Since its launch in January 2022, Jude has shipped products to 2,600 customers. It also sells clinically tested supplements that have been co-created with a community of 300 women.

The pre-seed funding will be used to further develop more products, conduct large-scale clinical trials expand the team and develop educational content to help decrease stigma surrounding bladder health.