Fearless founders have been working to define the white space opportunity at the intersection of sex, wellness, and beauty for over a decade, evolving from a niche trend to mainstream, gaining the interest of investors and retailers.

Many brands who pioneered the opportunity adopted the sanitized language of wellness, emphasizing the health benefits of sex, creating a space for community building through education, and wrapping it all in pitch-perfect, well-executed design and marketing. This formula has resulted in an offering that is commercially acceptable and accessible to women who may have been intimidated by or uncomfortable with the fetishized image of the sex shop where these products were historically available.

Beauty industry veteran Bill Colli is taking advantage of the path that has been paved in demystifying the category, but thinks it's time to bring sexy back to sex by redefining intimacy, enhancing lust and sexuality without provocation or a mission to educate. After all, we have proof of concept that sex sells. Think Tom Ford's fragrance ads, NAR's iconic orgasm franchise, or Isamaya's penis packaging, yet the path from niche to the mainstream for sexual wellness has gone to great efforts not to lean into the sexy.

Striking the balance between tasteful, provocative, and crude can be a fine line. Colli said of the branding, "With our focus on pleasure, we are elevating the category through our sleek packaging, the use of sexy, erotic, black and white imagery depicting intimate moments of all and any genders regardless of sexual orientation."

Colli is throwing his hat into the global sexual lubricants market, which is projected to grow from $1.59 billion in 2024 to $3.36 billion by 2032, at a CAGR of 8.69%. The focus of Lelubé, the brand he co-founded, is simple, better ingredients and better sex.

Tapping into the universality of sexual desire, Lelubé approaches the category through a lifestyle lens appealing to consumers, regardless of gender, sexual identity, or proclivity, through design, formulation, and performance. The brand's ethos is summed up in its tagline: "Better sex for anyone, any way, anywhere."

"We target a consumer, male, female, straight, gay, solo, toys, whatever their preferences may be, that wants a refined, luxurious intimate sexual experience; one that flows freely, without messy silicones, greasy oils, piña colada smells and embarrassing packaging," Colli continued.

However, packaging and marketing will only get you so far in this category. Building a repeat business and a loyal following demands performance. After two years in development, Colli launched Lelubé with a hero product Ultra Glide Water-Based Lubricant priced at $45.

The global sexual lubricant market is segmented into type: water-based, silicon-based, and oil-based, with water-based products dominating the market and projected to remain the fastest-growing segment through 2032.

Lelubé is leaning into this segment growth with a water-based formula that is vegan, pH-compatible, odorless, and tasteless, infused with skincare ingredients that are natural or nature identical. The product targets conscious consumers who care what they put in and on their bodies. The formulation also contains antimicrobial agents to kill odors that can ruin a sexy experience. Colli shared, "It doesn’t dry out and get sticky and lasts as long as you do.”

The shifts in consumer behavior and attitudes toward sex and sexual health, coupled with the increased opportunity in traditional retail, have motivated investment into what has evolved into the sexual wellness category. Early category pioneers Maude, Dame, and Hello Cake have all tapped venture funding to launch and scale.

Lelubé has chosen a self-funded path, leveraging the founding team's decades of experience and resources to launch. Bootstrapping the business allows time to focus on DTC, test and learn, and grow on their own terms.

Recognizing the challenges of customer acquisition on Meta, such as inconsistent enforcement, shadow-banning, and misclassification, Lelubé is also betting on casting a wide net with its creator and affiliate strategy, targeting influencers who span lifestyle wellness to OnlyFans and everything in between.

The brand is also taking its marketing to the streets tapping their collective networks. Coli said, "We have a robust deluxe sampling program, a visual showstopper really, so elevated and beautiful that it is being handed out at Miami dinner parties, New York cocktail receptions, Hampton’s luncheons, and highjacks the conversations in memorable ways: people open up, couples rekindle, saucy stories come out! So fun …"

Hello Cake has successfully carved out its place in the category at mass, raising a total of $36 million and acquiring Trigg Laboratories, a pioneer in the personal lubricants category, and its Wet brand last year. The move established the brand as a vertically integrated sexual health business poised to increase profitability, drive growth, accelerate IP ownership, and fuel product innovation. On the flip side of the distribution landscape, a leader has not emerged in the category servicing the prestige/luxury consumer.

While Lelubé has just launched, where the sales are coming from has been a surprise; it's not the "coasts." The top markets are Iowa, Utah, Texas, Florida, Ilinois, Arizona, and Georgia.

As a culture, we speak more openly about sexuality, and content has become unfiltered—or so we think. Colli shared, "I think most surprising to us is how taboo sex still is and can be; not only in conversations (people blush when I say anal sex or dry vagina) but also in where people shop for it (mostly online), and even Meta restricting our ability to communicate. I thought we were further along …"