Blog Post
E57. Farah Kabir, Hanx - Funding for condoms
#consumer #sexualhealth #angelinvestment #familyoffice
Farah Kabir is the co-founder of HANX, a leading sexual wellness challenger brands in the UK. As a former Goldman Sachs investment banker, Farah’s entrepreneurial journey started with being seen purchasing condoms by her boss and feeling embarrassed, to co-founding the company with her childhood friend, Sarah who is a gynecology doctor.
They both felt strongly that the current offering isn’t fit for purpose and wanted to create sexual wellness products to address the problem. They went about starting the passion project with thorough market research and surveyed 2,000 women on sexual health and buying habits.
Funding the business as two female entrepreneurs and Farah being from a Bangladeshi Muslim background, came with an array of challenges, naysayers and inappropriate comments from “old school” male investors. While the consumer brand is tech-enabled, it’s not tech/ SaaS which is typically “sexy” for many VCs so this type of investment didn’t work out early on. On reflection, Farah believes everything happens for a reason and is happy to have angels, micro funds and family offices as investors as it has allowed them to learn the true definition of ‘capital preservation'.
In this episode you’ll discover:
- Why you’ll always be raising investment
- Tips for reaching out ‘cold’ to potential investors
- How to get a thick skin
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