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Sex happens 120 million times every single day. Yet many feel uncomfortable shopping sexual wellness.
Big brands seem to focus on performance, capitalising on consumer insecurity and perpetuating the stigma that still surrounds sex.
Roam makes premium, 100% natural sexual wellness products that you can be proud to buy and use. Thoughtfully and uniquely developed to enhance sexual experience.
Now raising on Seedrs, we thought it was the perfect time to get to know the founders and deep dive into their mission on to reinvent Sex Care.
We’d love to know about your careers before Roam and where you first found that entrepreneurial spark.
I started Roam with Alex. We’re consumer brand experts – both growing up at L’Oreal & Harry’s. In truth we’ve always shared a passion for product. Alex was highly motivated to end the shame and stigma he experienced when first starting to explore his sexuality. I’m equally passionate about empowering people of all genders to talk about sex in an open and positive way.
Tell us about the business – what it is, what it aims to achieve, who you work with, how you reach customers and so on?
Roam helps more people have better sex more often. Attitudes towards sex and sexual health care today are unrecognisable from those even two – let alone ten years ago. The product offerings in the market have failed to keep up with both culture and consumer need –which is why we are bringing Roam into the space at pace.The premium sexual wellness products we’ve created enhance people’s sexual experiences, and ends the shame in buying sex care. We’re building a global sexual wellness platform that will change the way we think about sex and disrupt a highly monopolised market (Durex 84% £MS).
How has the business evolved since its launch? When was this?
We launched Roam in October last year with our two innovative and skincare-inspired, 100% natural lubes; ‘For the Front’ and ‘For the Back’ – changing the game away from basic lube. Our ultra thin, 40% less plastic Condoms followed in December and we launched our vibes in Q2 this year. We’re a digitally native, DTC brand and offer a discreet delivery service. What we quickly realised is that usage occasions are varied. This informed our ‘omni-channel’ approach allowing us to cater to a multitude of different shopping occasions; from planned purchases online to impulse purchases in-store.
What can you tell us about the market and how Roam is positioning themselves for success?
The sexual wellness market is dynamic and expected to reach £105 billion by 2030! Global drivers of growth include rising awareness of sexual wellness products and changing attitudes towards sexual health. We’ve witnessed this first hand as we see more and more people using lube as they become aware of the benefits it can bring to their sexual wellbeing. We also see attitudes changing and at Roam, we support a positive conversation around sexual wellness to break down the stigma that still exist.
Many markets are monopolised with the dominant player taking up to 84% market share. We believe consumers deserve a credible alternative that delivers much more than just function! We all deserve products that help us explore in comfort and confidence. We’ve brought to market a brand that listens to the unique and diverse needs of people today and cares about exploration over destination.
How do you hope to educate your customers and decrease the challenging stigma surrounding sexual wellness?
Roam exists to facilitate a positive conversation around sex and poses the question to consumers: why not demand more?
We see in every other category, customers are becoming increasingly discerning, so why is sex care lagging behind? This wake-up moment is very powerful, reinforcing the need for choice in this monopolised category. We hope the work we do provides our customers with comfort and confidence and ultimately makes the world a more sex positive place. This is our purpose and so we live by it at every consumer touch point; from our beautifully designed packaging through to our educational content on our blog, emails and socials. Influencers and ambassadors play an important role in amplifying our mission to new audiences.
What does your competitive landscape look like and how does Roam differentiate itself?
Inclusivity is central to our thesis. For too long, huge proportions of the population have been ignored with no credible alternative. In today’s world that’s just not good enough. The market remains sparse. We’re doing everything we can to ensure that we’re modelling inclusivity and avoiding the pitfalls of “tokenism”. At Roam we’ve made the conscious choice to ensure we’re walking the talk at every single stage of development; from the colour pallet, the name, the braille we’ve committed to include on the side of our packs, to the tone of voice. There’s always more to do but we’re passionate about making strides in these areas and modelling what better looks like.
We also differentiate ourselves in our product development. We are the first beauty-inspired sexual wellness brand that is 100% natural with ingredients that deliver real benefits. We’re led by science and loved by nature!
Could you tell us about some of your biggest achievements to date?
Building our community and delivering against our mission to make the world a more sex positive place has undoubtedly been our biggest achievement to date. We now have a community of 25,000 ‘Roamers’ growing at over +30% MoM. Community doesn’t stop with our customers. Building a sense of community within the team at Roam is top of our agenda. We’re currently a team of six and we’re looking to welcome a Social Media manager, Creative Manager and Retail Manager to the family in the coming months.
How are you building a scalable and profitable business model?
Developing a highly engaged community is critical to our defensibility and is where we have a real right to win. In time, this will allow us to reduce our reliance on traditional paid channels and contribute to efficiencies.
Distribution and awareness is also key and so we are pursuing an omni-channel strategy. We started DTC with both a subscription and a manual purchase offering. We have recently launched our own shop on Amazon and are in late stage discussions with a major UK retailer to launch in stores early next year. Once we have proven our model here in the UK, we will look to expand into the US and if successful, Europe starting with Germany.
From a product perspective, innovation is our secret sauce. Alex is a skincare developer and his expertise has led us to great success on our range of lubes. We intend to seriously disrupt this category with never-before-seen innovation that meets entirely new need state.
What do you plan to do with the money you raise?
All of the investment will be used to make the world a more sex positive place!
Capital will be invested in working capital (20%) and growth (80%) including:
– Customer acquisition & retention initiatives
– Expansion into new channels including Amazon and national retail
– Brand marketing including product innovation
– Development of team to support expansion plans
What do you love to do in your free time?
Ben: Interestingly, Roam is all about ‘exploration’, and when I’m not at work I’m out in the world exploring new cultures and cuisines through my love of travel and cooking.
Alex: I’ve recently been reflecting on where I derive energy from too. Similar to Ben I’m most energised when discovering new things, meeting new people and seeing new things. So to better answer the question, I spend most of my free time pushing my boundaries and trying to find new things to see, do and (eat) – any suggestions, sent my way.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt so far building Roam?
Having incredible people around you is not just valuable, it’s absolutely essential to our success.
Roam has raised over £1.7M so far and are overfunding. Roam is a great opportunity to invest in a company on a mission to reinvent sexual wellness for all. Check out the campaign page here.
