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Trio’s Line Aims to Make Monthly Cycle Less Painful

Buena Park-based startup Rael wants more women to talk about their periods, and investors are listening.

The maker of natural feminine-care products raised $2.1 million last week for a preseries A funding round led by SoftBank Ventures Korea and included an investment by Thrive Market Ventures, the venture fund of Los Angeles-based online retailer Thrive Market.

The capital infusion will be used to help expand the company’s distribution overseas and grow its team of 20 employees, which includes part-time staff, by an additional three people.

Rael has also raised seed money from Irvine-based mobile phone accessories maker Spigen Inc. and Santa Monica venture capital firm BAM Ventures, which was founded by Brian Lee, co-founder of LegalZoom.com, ShoeDazzle and Honest Co.

Its product line includes pads, tampons, liners and period panties.

Co-founder and Chief Executive Yanghee Paik said it wants to be the ultimate solution for everything period-related and that it starts with educating women about toxic chemicals, such as acetone and chloroform used in products made by conventional brands.

“It’s not like we talk about what pads are made of with our friends,” Paik said. “It’s something we never really talk about as women, although we use it every month. We’re here to empower women about this issue and try to do something about it.”

The company test-launched on Amazon last June with an organic cotton pad, selling $100,000 worth in the first month, then quickly introduced its e-commerce site. Last year’s sales were $2 million.

Rael Director of Business Development Yoon-Mi Ko credits the company’s growth to Amazon and Rael’s more than 500 customer reviews, which have given its product a nearly five-star rating.

“When I’m going to try a new product, I’ll go to Amazon to read the reviews, so our customers are vouching for our products,” Ko said.

Rael is manufactured in Korea and sources cotton from Texas. Its collection also includes feminine hygiene and beauty products, such as facial sheet masks designed to help troubled skin during that time of the month.

Prices range from $7 for a pack of 14 pads to $20 for a four-piece variety pack of pads, liners and feminine wipes.

Other organic brands, such as Lola, retail at $9 for a pack of 12 pads. This is L. Inc. retails for $6.99 at target.com for a pack of 42, and monthly subscription brand Cora starts at $11 per month for a 12 pack.

The idea for Rael came from co-founder Aness An. A journalist by trade, she focused on women’s issues and was unhappy with the quality of personal care products in the U.S. She brought on architect-turned-art-director Binna Wong and poached Paik from Walt Disney Studios, where she served as head of international digital distribution and sales.

Paik says the organic feminine care space is growing through competition from startups like Lola, This is L., Cora and established players like Honest Co. But she points to the company’s quick growth on Amazon and its monthly subscriber base of more than 80,000 women as evidence of its continued success.

She added that the company plans to expand into brick-and-mortar shops and overseas to spots like Latin America and China. It’s currently available online in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan and South Korea.

“There are [feminine care] companies who only sell on their website or Amazon,” Paik said. “We’re quite ambitious, in that we want to provide convenience to our customers, so wherever they go, we want them to find us easily.”

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