Baltimore startup Femly is expected to earn $13 million this year as the feminine hygiene product company continues to grow after garnering massive online attention through a TikTok video last year.
The company's growth, partially driven by social media, also includes high-profile partnerships with organizations like the Baltimore Ravens. The company also made a change to its core business model, in part due to state laws mandating increased access to feminine hygiene products across the country.
Much of the national interest in Femly's organic products came from social media exposure. A TikTok video demonstrating the company's contactless pad and tampon dispensers went viral last year gaining around 27 million views across several social media platforms, according to founder Arion Long.
The pad distributor is a modern, free and hygienic alternative to the standard coin-operated pad and tampon distributors in many restrooms. Long added that the online exposure led to outreach from around 1,800 companies interested in starting a partnership with the brand.
And in 2021, the company made almost $1 million in revenue, equivalent to Femly's previous four years combined.
"Now we're at a time where the demand is overwhelming," Long said. "We're still dealing with the demand that came from going viral."
Through its partnership with the Ravens, Femly's products will be available in M&T Bank stadium restrooms, and the company hopes to create new partnerships with other NFL teams. Femly is also working with Hotel Revival Baltimore and Marriott locations in Florida.
Additionally, new state laws that require companies to provide free feminine hygiene products have created a potential new revenue source for Femly.
As a result, the startup's revenue model has changed, with business-to-business sales driving the company instead of the former direct-to-consumer approach. Long envisions customers first getting exposed to the brand through a restroom in a stadium or college, and then purchasing the product online or at a retailer based on that first experience.
Long said her goal for the company is to go national, using strategies such as a network of college ambassadors to help promote products. She has already worked with the student government association at her alma mater, Morgan State University, which wanted to increase access to pads and similar products on campus, but could not find a suitable provider.
"We're looking to hire locally and create jobs here," Long said. "I think that we, along with players like Under Armour, could become the next unicorn that changes the narrative and supports a better Baltimore."
Femly's organic cotton pads are intended to be a healthier option for women compared to traditional products, and were inspired by Long’s own experience being diagnosed with a tumor at the age of 26. Many feminine hygiene products have chemicals that can cause conditions like cramping, cancer and other health issues.
Femly, founded in 2016, is now part of Overlooked Ventures and Debut Capital's portfolio and has raised just under a million dollars in venture capital to date.
The startup now has several notable celebrity investors, including musician Pharrell Williams and Shellye Archambeau, the former CEO of MetricStream and a board member at Verizon. Last year, the company received $10,000 from BeyGood, a fund backed by Beyonce to support black-owned businesses.
Despite the aid she's receiving now, Long spoke last week at a Baltimore Homecoming event about how difficult it was to get funding for her business when she was first getting started. Women founders get only 2% of the venture capital money given out every year in the U.S., Long said, with Black women getting less than .1% of the total.
“When I couldn’t get access to venture capital I won 47 pitch competitions for $1.1 million without giving away equity,” she said.
Long is now giving back to the Baltimore business community by providing Divaneering Lab, a Black woman-run company, with a $2,500 check during Baltimore Homecoming week. Divaneering Lab has developed a blow dryer that dries weaves and wigs in 15 minutes, instead of the standard two days.
"Prior to 2020 there were only 37 black women who raised over a million dollars in venture capital," Long noted.
Long now personally knows around 15 of those women and hopes to continue to expand the network so that minority founders can achieve success.
"I've been taking a little bit of time every other month to help minority-led and female-led companies craft their pitch and learn about venture capital and learn about the language because I think language is a barrier," Long said.
At first, Femly did not seek to raise large amounts of capital as Long initially wanted to have the flexibility to establish a revenue model and develop products without the parameters that can come with large funding rounds.
"We have the space to be a small company and make mistakes," Long said.
