MPowder closes seed round to support 13million UK women experiencing menopause today

• The menopause market is predicted to reach $5.28 billion by 2023
• MPowder’s premium, nutritional powders address women’s distinct biochemical needs through the three phases of menopause
• Founded by Rebekah Brown, former creative agency boss, following her own negative healthcare experience when entering the menopause  
• Investors include Pink Salt Ventures, Founders Factory, and other angels including Mumsnet Co-Founder 
• Funding closed during October’s global National Menopause Month 

[LONDON] MPowder, the ecommerce brand providing nutritional powders that tackle hormonal changes and provide women with insights, practices, and tools to empower them through the menopause, has announced its £500k seed round. The menopause market is set to be worth $5.23 billion by 2023, which has led MPowder to attract the backing of Pink Salt Ventures, Founders Factory, and other strategic angels including Mumsnet co-founder, Carrie Longton.  

With thirteen million women in the UK transitioning through the menopause today, MPowder’s own research shows that around 75% will visit their doctors with symptoms and of those, three quarters will leave the surgery with nothing*. MPowder plans to vastly improve this experience with its selection of plant-based powders that address the distinct biochemical needs, relieve symptoms, and nutritional deficiencies experienced through the three stages of the menopause. 

MPowder is the brainchild of founder and CEO Rebekah Brown, former creative agency executive, following her negative experience after visiting her GP when she started to encounter perimenopause symptoms (the first stage of menopause), aged 46. 

Rebekah Brown, Founder and CEO, said: 

“My doctor didn’t identify the early symptoms of perimenopause. I didn’t fit the profile. I was ‘too young’ and still having a regular cycle. I was advised to take ‘time out’ to address exhaustion and upweight my vitamin intake. My experience isn’t unusual. Menopause simply isn’t well enough understood or researched. It is presented as an end-of-life category when it should be a midlife empowerment category. 

“The options available to us have not kept pace with the way we live and how we see ourselves. Medical intervention can work wonders. But not everyone can or choses to take them. This is a life stage that 51% of the population will go through. Women deserve greater choice – and innovative, smart, robust solutions that encompass the body and mind.

“This investment is another step towards our vision to provide the same depth of service and community to women going through the three stages of menopause as women going through the three stages of pregnancy. We are the first generation that will potentially live 50 years after the start of menopause so life is just beginning!”

MPowder sells its nutritional powders for the three stages of menopause directly to its customers via its website and is already receiving repeat orders. The brand’s first powder ‘Peri-Boost’ is available now with two additional recipes to follow in the New Year. MPowder is also stocked on leading online beauty destination Cult Beauty following its launch in September. MPowder has an active ‘Powder Room’ community of ‘Makers’ that trials product recipes, verifies efficacy and provides detailed feedback on their lifestyle programmes. 

Those participating in the round include Samira Ann Qasim, investor at Pink Salt Ventures, who said:

“The menopause market today should be targeting women as women in their prime, with a wealth of experience to offer society. Most offerings fall offensively short. When and if diagnosed, medical drugs are available for hormonal and mental health symptoms. However, as a natural life transition, women deserve options beyond the disease and cure model. 

“It’s refreshing to see someone taking a much needed premium, wellness-based approach to treating menopause symptoms along with providing women with the supportive community and insights they need as they enter this new life phase. Rebekah and the team at MPowder fit perfectly into our investment thesis of purpose-led female founders tackling untapped market opportunities with scalable business models.” 

MPowder will leverage the current investment to scale production, upweight trial protocols and build its team.

Carrie Longton, Co-founder of Mumsnet and MPowder angel investor said:

“MPowder has a genuine and serious mission to make all menopausal women’s lives better. In the next 12 months the team will be testing recipes for women who, like me, have had breast cancer and are therefore excluded from so many menopausal aids.”

MPowder is currently in the Founders Factory Home & Hygiene accelerator programme, backed by Reckitt Benkiser. 

ENDS. 

Notes to editors

For more information contact Amy Grimshaw [email protected] 

About MPowder 

• https://mpowder.store 
• https://www.instagram.com/mpowderstore/
• MPowder is a product range, a community and a research hub looking to revolutionise the menopause space. 
• Its plant based powders blend ingredients selected for the potential shown in trial settings, approved by a team of doctors, naturopaths and herbalists working with women through menopause and verified by their community. 
• Each product comes with a tracking service to monitor impact and access to a team of experts; delivering tailored nourishment for the body and mind.

Investors include: 

• Carrie Longton, Co-founder of Mumsnet
• Jay Rickaby, Founder & former CEO of PhD Nutrition
• Kate Newhouse: Health tech award winning entrepreneurial senior leader, former CEO Doctor Care Anywhere
• Barney Wolfolk-Smith: Venture partner at Ascension Ventures
• Sue Welland: An early ecopreneur who invented ‘CarbonNeutral’ in the 90s and has been building sustainable businesses ever since. 
• Sue Payne – Business Consultant & Mentor, former MD of one of the UK’s most successful communications agencies. Having had a successful career in the advertising industry whilst going through the menopause, I believe it’s important for women to share their experiences with others in the same space, both to normalise how they feel and to provide the support they need to continue to grow. My decision to invest in MPowder was driven by my confidence in the product, and by the manifest lack of discussion and support regarding the menopause in the workplace.
• Bill Sneyd: An engineer, INSEAD MBA and co-founder of a number of successful businesses primarily in the low carbon energy space. Bill sees parallels between the low profile of climate change in the late 1990’s / early 2000’s  and the current levels of discussion around the menopause. In his view MPowder has the potential to bring discussion on the issue into the mainstream and to help provide part of the solution to women suffering its worst effects.