Lover Bags $5M Seed Round

The founders of new sexual wellness app, Lover, today announced the app's official launch and a $5M seed round led by Lerer Hippeau. Additional investors include Sean Rad, co-founder of Tinder; Manta Ray Ventures; Global Founders Capital; Fabrice Grinda; and Jose Marin.

The San Francisco-based start-up aims to take the taboo out of sexual wellness and stand out from rivals by providing practical, science-based tools and strategies to improve our sex lives – all customized to each user's sexual type.

"We want to do for sexual health what apps like Calm and Headspace have done for mental health – empower users, start a new conversation and move the subject into the mainstream," says Jas Bagnieswki, Lover's co-founder and CEO.

Lover's founding team of three comprises Dr. Britney Blair, its Chief Science Officer, a Stanford psychologist, board-certified in sexual medicine, and founder of Northern California's largest independent sexual health clinic; CEO Jas Bagniewski and CMO Nick Pendle, British entrepreneurs whose last start-up, Eve Sleep PLC, had one of the UK's fastest ever IPOs.

Lover is for anyone who wants a better sex life, plus the one in two women and one in three men with a sexual complaint. It provides expert guidance in the form of video and audio content, plus exercises, games and a unique new sexual profiling tool. The latter was developed by Dr. Blair with a team of sexual medicine experts and identifies users as one of 12 common sexual types.

"People are hungry for better guidance on their sex lives, using knowledge based on the latest scientific research," says Dr. Blair.

"As other areas of wellbeing, like mental health, shake off their stigma and enter the mainstream, we believe that sexual wellness is a natural extension of the conversation," says Ben Lerer, Lerer Hippeau's Managing Partner.

Lover has a basic version free to download. A premium subscription costs $59.99/year, $9.99/month. It's available on iOS, with Android to follow.

ABOUT LOVER
Lover is a personalized, science-based app for addressing your sexual concerns, increasing your pleasure and improving your skills in bed. It provides audio and video content, plus practical exercises, games and sexual profiles, all designed to improve your sex life.