Women’s Health Brand &Me Brings Menstrual Health Conversation Into Mainstream
In a country where purchasing sanitary napkins is still an embarrassment and the word menstruation is surrounded by taboos, &Me, is taking on the problem head-on and establishing itself as a leading Women’s Health and Wellness Brand, the first of its kind in India.
Health starts with nutrition. And women’s health has unique nutritional needs because of her unique life stages — periods, pregnancy & menopause. But with women playing so many roles leaving them with no time, overall food quality reducing and lack of awareness, nutritional deficiencies have been on a rise. 54% of women in India are Iron deficient vs. only 23% of men. 50% women are Calcium deficient vs. only 25% of men. Nutritional deficiencies lead to hormonal balances and the rise of lifestyle disorders like severe PMS cramps, PCOS, pregnancy hair loss and anxiety, menopause changes etc.
&Me, is innovatively combining the powers of ancient Indian Ayurveda with modern Nutritional science, to solve for unique functional needs of women. &Me’s current portfolio includes 5 Women’s health drinks, including India’s 1st range of PMS drinks, which helps women during pre menstrual symptoms of bloating, cramps & mood swings. The first ever PCOS/PCOD drink aimed at hormonal balance, and a beauty range focusing on healthy hair and skin from within. Each drink is packed with 5 Ayurvedic Super herbs, 12 Vitamins and minerals, and 2–4 fruits / vegetables. Apart from solving functional needs, each 200ml bottle supplies 30% of women’s daily micronutrient. They add no preservatives, no artificial colors or flavors, no refined sugar, vegan (by nature), and are gluten free.
Further, &Me is leading the effort in driving awareness on Women’s nutritional health through their strong partner network of dieticians, nutritionists and influencers. Their recent 3 month long social media campaign, ‘#Unstoppable’ inspired dialogue on menstrual health. In the first month the campaign featured over 20 celebrated women achievers across fields, including Archana Vohra (Director Small, And Medium Business, Facebook, India), Delhnaz Irani (TV & Film Actress), Rani Rampal (Captain of Indian Hockey Team) who shared their life stories and untold stories of dealing with menstrual health. Roping in stories of local heroes and launch of new bottles, the campaign garnered 2.1M impressions.
Sheta Mittal, Co-Founder, &Me, said, “With our campaign, we wanted to bring awareness as well as a platform where an unapologetic conversation around periods could start and we are happy to have done that successfully. Women do not associate pain with food and how food can help. It was taken for granted. We can help. During the campaign #Unstoppable we were surprised by how candidly women shared their menstrual health stories, just because someone was there to listen and provide a solution. We heard stories of women being in constant pain and discomfort, having to hide it from their family, friends and close colleagues. It doesn’t have to be that way”
On 27th Sep, &Me will celebrate its second year of founding anniversary and 1 year since product launch. In a brief span &Me has garnered a community of 1L consumers and ranks #5 Women’s health brand on Amazon. &Me is present in 600+ physical stores across 5 cities in India. Goal: 2000 stores by the end of 2019. &Me is also available at andme.in, Amazon and Big Basket.
“We want to be a holistic Women’s health brand, serving her from the age of 15ys to 60+ yr to meet the unique functional needs across menstrual health, fitness and beauty. Our vision is to create a ‘Women’s Health’ section where women came comfortable come for holistic tailored solutions and advice” said Sheta Mittal.
Furthering their presence in Menstrual health category, &Me is launching two new products — Period chocolates and UTI. First ever chocolates for periods..
About The Co-Founders
Ankur Goyal is the Founder and CEO of &Me. An IIT Delhi and Stanford Graduate School of Business alumnus with over 8 years of experience and a passion for innovation in the food and beverage industry, Ankur has worked with Nestle and Paper boat in the past.
Sheta Mittal is the Co-founder of &Me. An Aerospace Engineer from IIT Bombay and a graduate from Harvard Business School, Sheta has worked with NIKE, Boston Consulting Group and Future Group in the past.
About The Company
Headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka, &Me is a Women’s health brand with a mission to empower women with health by solving for her unique functional needs across Menstrual health, Fitness, Beauty and Wellness.
Seed funded by Matrix Partners in December 2017, &Me recently received the second round of funding, jointly from Matrix Partners and Sauce.vc for further growth.
