For people seeking to invest in sex toy companies, unfortunately, there are no accessible options for your average retail investor. Yet the size of the global sexual wellness market makes it very appealing.
More and more beauty and wellness shops are now selling sex toys, including the LVMH-owned Sephora and Canada’s Shopper’s Drug Mart. However, at the time of writing, there are no known public sex toy companies listed on stock exchanges.
That means if you want to invest in sex toy companies and become a sex tech investor, you’ll need to qualify to become a venture capitalist.
A venture capitalist (VC) is an individual or a firm that provides funding to startup companies or small businesses that are believed to have high growth potential. Venture capitalists typically invest in early-stage companies that are in their initial stages of development and have innovative ideas, products, or technologies.
To make matters more difficult, most VC firms refuse to invest in sex toy companies due to perceived reputational risks associated with sex. Although sexuality and sexual health are normal parts of the human experience, anything related to sex is often clumped together in one big “vice” category that many investors don’t want to touch.
That being said, certain VC firms are proud sextech investors:
- Access VC has invested in the sexual wellness and sex toy company Maude.
- Amboy Street Ventures supports sexual health and technology companies, including the sex toy company Dame, and erotic audio app Dipsea, as well as various virtual, at-home, and telehealth sexual health companies. Its general partners Dominnique Karetsos and Dr. Mafe Peraza Godoy also offer business startup services through the Healthy Pleasure Group.
- Coyote Ventures has also invested in the sex toy company Maude, as well as various sexual health and educational companies including virtual sex education platform O.School and menstrual health company Flex.