Elvie Rasies GBP58m in Series C Funding Round

Originally published by Private Equity Wire

Elvie, a global health and lifestyle brand developing products for women, has raised GBP58 million (USD80 million) in a Series C funding round.

The round was led by BGF, with further investment from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock Private Equity Partners (BlackRock) and a consortium including Hiro Capital and Westerly Winds, plus existing investors Octopus Ventures and IPGL.

Founded in 2013 by CEO Tania Boler, Elvie brings together a team of world-class engineers, designers and business minds to develop extraordinary products that improve women’s lives – revolutionising categories which had been overlooked for many years, including breast pumps and pelvic floor health.

Elvie’s products include Elvie Trainer, an award-winning app-connected Kegel trainer that helps women strengthen their pelvic floor and Elvie Pump, the world’s first silent wearable breast pump. In October 2020, the company brought to market two new breastfeeding products, Elvie Catch and Elvie Curve.

Since the launch of Elvie Pump on the catwalk of London Fashion Week in September 2018, Elvie has experienced hyper-growth. The business grew 6x in 2019, almost doubled in 2020 despite widespread Covid disruption - and is on track to double again in 2021. The company launched 10 new markets across EU and Asia in the last 12 months and continues to see rapid sales growth in the US, the world’s biggest breast pump market.

Elvie Pump has assumed the number 1 position in its category in the US and UK. Elvie will continue to drive its leadership in the breast pump category whilst simultaneously expanding its product portfolio into other key life stages - to become a global platform for all women’s health needs.

The Series C funds will be used to invest in three key areas: innovation and the development of new best-in-class products and services for women, continued expansion into new and existing markets, and strengthening Elvie’s operations and infrastructure ready for the next phase of high-speed growth.

The femtech industry is expected to become a USD50 billion market by 2025 (Frost and Sullivan).

Tania Boler, CEO and Founder of Elvie, says: “Elvie has already revolutionized every category it has entered – but we know that we have barely scratched the surface of what is possible for women’s tech.

“This further investment, alongside the wealth of expertise our new Board members bring, place Elvie in pole position to capitalise on the USD50 billion femtech opportunity – and that’s only the beginning.

“We won’t stop until we have fulfilled our ambition to create the go-to destination for women’s health at all life stages; providing sophisticated, accurate and personalised solutions.”

To bolster the existing senior team in the fast-growing femtech market investors Daina Spedding, BGF, and Persefoni Noulika, BlackRock, will join the Elvie board. This follows the recent hire of Sarah Highfield, who joined as COO and CFO in September 2020 and was previously CFO of Costa Coffee.

Daina Spedding, investor at BGF, says: “BGF is delighted to lead this funding round into Elvie, which we regard as the best-in-class innovator in the femtech sector with strong underlying market dynamics and truly global reach. As an all-female BGF deal team, and leading investor in female-led scaleups, we admire Elvie’s vision, strong track record and R&D capability which have brought a tangible positive impact on women’s lives. We are very excited to back Tania and her exceptional team to supercharge new product innovation and continued growth worldwide.”

Persefoni Noulika, Director, BlackRock Private Equity Partners, says, “Elvie has established itself as a brand innovator within the women’s health and wellness space and has already commercialized two breakthrough, patented and FDA-approved devices. We are pleased to support Tania and Elvie’s management team and help continue the company’s strong growth momentum.”

Cherry Freeman, General Partner at Hiro Capital, says: “We are delighted to be investing in Elvie in partnership with Westerly Winds, alongside BlackRock and BGF. Tania is an extraordinary, passionate entrepreneur who has built one of the world’s leading femtech innovators. Hiro invests in brilliant, ethical creators building the next generation of games, fitness technology and digital wellness - Tania’s vision is a perfect fit with our values as a fund.”