DAME

Idea

Introduction

DAME designs, manufactures, and sells organic and reusable period products. We were founded by Celia Pool and Alec Mills to tackle the billions of plastic period products thrown away globally each year and decades of big period brands selling discretion and shame.

So in 2018 we launched the world's first Reusable Tampon Applicator on Kickstarter and our own range of toxin-free organic cotton tampons. It sold in over 60 countries, picked up multiple global awards, and now in retailers nationwide. To date, we estimate it's saved over 20 million plastic disposables from going to landfill.

We’ve continued innovating, and have since expanded our range to include Reusable Pads with patent pending DAMEdry™ technology, and are soon to launch Period Pants with a waitlist of over 6,000 people. As a B Corp and the first Carbon Neutral Plus company to be recognised by Carbonfootprint, impact is at our core - attracting collaboration offers from the likes of Finisterre and others.

Our vision is to create a world where periods hold no body back, improving the lives of billions of people around the world.

Substantial accomplishments to date

• Over £2.1m revenue* and 100,000 units sold since trading began in 2019
We aim for this to grow substantially as we launch more NPD.

• Almost 100% YoY revenue growth via D2C and nationwide retail listings between Dec 21 and Dec 20
We’ve historically enjoyed incredible growth by benefitting from virality thanks to our unique and innovative products.

• Patented technology and IP in multiple territories
Our applicator is a world first-to-market innovation and our unique DAMEdry™ construction used in our reusable pads is patent pending in both the EU and UK.

• We estimate around 20 million+ plastic period products saved from landfills
With this figure growing daily.

• Multi award-winning products and company
Accolades include:
⁃ Fast Company, World Changing Ideas 2019
⁃ Escape the City, Top 100 2019
⁃ Dezeen Award 2019
⁃ Business Green, Leaders Award 2019
⁃ Sunday Times Style, Beauty Awards Finalist 2022
⁃ Indy Best Buy 2022
⁃ Veuve Clicquot, Bold Woman 2021

• Backed by Innovate UK and Sky Ocean Ventures
Which has now moved to Founders Factory, where we benefit from ongoing growth support.

• Over 10M views on TikTok
We regularly go ‘viral’ on TikTok and have growing social channels with over 100 influencers who have posted about us. Our mailing list is over 100k meaning a huge audience for new product launches.

• Thousands reached with TV and bus campaigns
We ran the first ad to feature a tampon string on 200 London buses. Our first TV ad reached thousands of households and resulted in incredible brand recall and uplift.

• Collaborations with Finisterre and marketing giveaways with Wild, UpCircle, Tony’s Chocolonely and Too Good To Go, Little Moons and more...

Like-minded businesses love collaborating with us both physically and online.

*Based on unaudited management accounts

Monetisation strategy

We achieved market validation on Kickstarter by overfunding to nearly 300%, before being picked up by major UK supermarkets. We're currently stocked in Sainsbury's, Boots, Waitrose, Planet Organic, and ASOS, feeding into our omnichannel strategy.

Two thirds of our revenue comes from online sales. Here we benefit from a 65% average product margin, valuable data insights, and monthly subscription revenue.

New higher value products have increased basket sizes and our customer lifetime value has risen from from £29 to £58 for our September 2019 cohort.

Our customers are asking us for more products that answer the global need for a better and more sustainable health and beauty care. This will take us beyond periods with the aim to become a £100m+ household brand.

We recently won ≈ £200k from the John Lewis Circular Grant to find a solution to increase menstrual cup adoption and continued use.

Use of proceeds

The last 6 months we have focussed on increasing our contribution margin*, reaching break-even on first purchase for 3 consecutive months.

*Based on an average product margin of 60%.

The next twelve months focus will be on scaling our sustainable growth, aiming to be profitable by YE 2023.

•40% Brand & Marketing

This year we've reduced CAC by 50%. Now we plan to scale these mechanics, building on content-lead organic traffic, strategic collaborations, meaningful and explosive campaigns, and driving trial of our products.

•30% Team

We have an experienced and passionate core team and we're now in the process of hiring a new Head of Ops.

•15% Product Launches

This year we’re testing our everyDAME™ range, offering period pants in a variety of sizes and styles at an accessible price point, to drive market penetration. We have a strong pipeline of launches throughout the year.

•15% E-commerce

We're upgrading our software (e.g. ReCharge & Shopify) and improving our tech to increase basket size and upsells, customer lifetime value; and further improve our strong 5% conversion rate on website visits.