Historically, there has been a dearth of information on women’s health. Perelel, a women’s health company, aims to change that by acquiring LOOM, an educational platform for reproductive health, sexual wellness and parenting.
Los Angeles-based Perelel sells targeted vitamin and supplement packs to support women throughout their reproductive health journey, including fertility, menstrual health, pregnancy and postpartum. LOOM, also founded in Los Angeles, began with in-person workshops on reproductive and sexual health. In 2020, it transitioned to a digital platform with a subscription model and offers courses, articles and community support.
The terms of last week’s deal were not disclosed. Erica Chidi, co-founder and CEO of LOOM, is joining Perelel as a strategic advisor.
“I am immensely proud of the impact LOOM has had over the past seven years. We have helped bring forth a world in which women have the information and support they need to advocate for themselves when it comes to their reproductive and sexual health,” Chidi said in a statement. “Today, I am proud to join Perelel as a strategic advisor and combine our power to amplify our shared mission of supporting women of all stages throughout their hormonal lifespan.”
Perelel chose to acquire LOOM because of the companies’ common goal of improving women’s health education, said Victoria Thain Gioia, Perelel co-CEO and co-founder.
“We really work on creating the right content and education to support women even further than our products and help improve body literacy, as well as general support so that women feel less alone and supported throughout these pretty pivotal life moments,” Thain Gioia said in an interview. “Erica has come in and out of our orbit over the last five years. … What she was building with LOOM was a similar space to improve body literacy and support women. As she was trying to figure out what the next steps were to LOOM, it felt like such a beautiful opportunity to bring what she built and developed on the content and education side into the fold of Perelel and create something even bigger to support women.”
Perelel is currently working on incorporating LOOM into its business model, Thain Gioia added. Perelel already offers educational content on its platform for each stage of reproductive health, from pre-pregnancy to menopause. It also has a social community for women. The company will be layering LOOM’s content on top of Perelel’s existing content.
“[Erica Chidi] is truly a women’s health educator. I think there’s so much that [LOOM] can drop into immediately, and then so much more that we can do together that we haven’t had the person to focus and lead the charge there that we’re really excited about,” Thain Gioia said.
In the past, women’s health has been under-funded and under-researched. It wasn’t until 1993 that women were required to be included in research studies. However, the need for more women’s health research and education is getting more attention, with the White House announcing major investments. Perelel also recently pledged $10 million for women’s health research.
Ultimately, acquiring LOOM gives Perelel the “ability to further develop community and a support system for women, as well as really improve body literacy,” Thain Gioia said.
Other companies that provide sexual and reproductive health support include Rosy and Wisp.
Photo: mikdam, Getty Images
