Jude raises €2.4 million to break stigma around bladder issues

The female-founded company, Jude has raised €2.4 million to break the stigma around bladder issue products such as pads, liners and supplements.

The funding is the highest pre-seed round raised in the UK by solo female founder, Peony Li. Around one in every three women or 14 million people in the UK struggle with bladder control issues although, despite this, potential investors did not want to invest. The company has now secured the backing of 12 female investors and Reckitt’s Innovation fund Access VC.

The announcement was made on International Women’s Day which focused on #BreakingtheBias for 2022. This funding represents a change in the way female-founded companies or start-ups tackling female health are viewed.

Peony Li, Founder, Jude said: “Over 14 million of us experience problems with our bladders, so why do we continue to suffer in silence? I want to break the stigma around bladder care and create a community and brand that makes people feel heard, seen and supported. I know I’ll have succeeded when we all start having conversations about incontinence in the same way we talk about periods and menopause.”

Jude products

One of the benefits of using Jude is that the products are biodegradable. Period care waste is a huge problem, people with periods use more than 11,000 disposable menstrual products in their lifetime which is based on the average of 38 years of menstruation using 22 items of sanitary products per cycle, 13 cycles per year. There are also issues around the adhesive, which uses harmful chemicals and petrochemical additives, applied to pads to help them stay in place. Jude uses plant-based, degradable materials and focuses on reducing its footprint.

Since their launch in January 2022, the company has shipped its products to 2,600 customers. It also provides clinically tested supplements that have been co-created with a community of 300 women. Its pre-seed funding will help to further develop its innovative solutions and also run large scale clinical supplement trials. It will also allow for expansion by hiring more staff and investment into education content aimed at breaking the stigma around bladder health.

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