WoW Woman in FemTech and SexTech | Andrea Oliver, CEO and co-founder of Emjoy

Interview by Marija Butkovic @MarijaButkovic

Andrea Oliver is the CEO and co-founder of Emjoy, the Barcelona-founded audio-based intimate wellbeing startup. Prior to founding Emjoy, Andrea worked as an investor with Venture Capital firms including Dawn Capital, early investors in iZettle, and Nauta Capital.

Andrea, what is the idea behind Emjoy and how did you come up with it?

My inspiration for founding Emjoy was based on my personal experience and the experiences of many girlfriends of mine. All of us had normalised not climaxing when having sexual encounters and when I began researching this I came across the pleasure gap. Considering the multitude of studies that have found that sexual satisfaction directly correlates with positive physical and mental wellbeing, this felt like an issue that needed to be addressed. Having worked in the VC world and seen the tremendous success of startups in the mental health and wellness space, I was shocked not to be able to find an app focusing on sexual wellbeing and saw this as an amazing opportunity.

Emjoy has been developed as a direct solution to close the orgasm gap by enabling women to discover their bodies and (re)gain confidence in their sex lives. As a company, we are working to ensure that sexual wellbeing is viewed as a vital cornerstone of wider health and wellness through continued education on our part to help broaden the way that space is viewed. The impact we most want to achieve is to establish Emjoy as an everyday wellness tool in the same way that society now views mental health, fitness, and meditation apps - once also considered as emerging categories.

When did all start and do you have other members in your team?

Emjoy was founded in January 2019, and we launched worldwide in early 2020. I started out on my own at the very beginning but was delighted to welcome on board my co-founder and Emjoy’s CTO, Dan Tamas, as well as Mia Sabat, our in house sex therapist, in the first few months. The team is currently made up of 11 wonderful people and we are looking to expand further.

How long did it take you to be where you are now?

Before founding Emjoy, I carried out about six months of extensive research into space, talking to various stakeholders in the industry such as sex therapists, women with sexual dysfunctions, potential investors as well as other sextech and wellbeing companies. During this time, I was trying to figure out whether Emjoy had the potential to become a successful business and help women achieve their sexual well-being goals.

We launched the app beta in August 2019 and then, having adapted the app and its content in line with feedback from users, launched Emjoy worldwide in January 2020 and we quickly went on to obtain around 80,000 registered users in our first six months. We are also incredibly fortunate to be able to say that this unprecedented period, brought about by the pandemic, has further boosted interest in Emjoy. We now have 150,000 active users globally, with the U.S. and the U.K. Although we have been very successful, the journey hasn’t been easy and it has taken a lot of time and work from the team behind the scenes to get to where we are today.

What was the biggest obstacle?

As a company whose product centers around female sexual wellbeing, there is, unfortunately, always a certain level of uncertainty as to whether you will be able to make your product available via the usual channels; and concern as to whether advertising networks will allow you to run your content. In the past, we have had to navigate our way around the automated systems that may flag our content up as being explicit even when those behind the technology are aligned with our mission.

The fact is, Emjoy has an incredible potential to impact women’s lives. As such, if we have to overcome a few hurdles along the way in order to help eventually achieve our mission of reaching pleasure equality, then that is a small price to pay.

What are your biggest achievements to date?

Since launching, we’ve received so much positive feedback from users. Many tell us that using Emjoy has enabled them to acknowledge their own pleasure and feel better in their bodies, others have said that the app has helped reduce the feelings of shame and guilt they previously harbored pertaining to their sexuality. It is seeing the direct impact that our work can have on people’s lives that really drives us as a team to continue striving for pleasure equality.

What are the challenges of being an entrepreneur in the niche you are in? How about being a female founder/entrepreneur?

I wouldn’t actually say that the issue we are trying to address, and therefore the area in which we work, is niche. Over 40% of women experience some sort of ‘sexual dysfunction’ (which can include anything from difficulty achieving orgasm to pain or discomfort during sex). The problem lies in having open and frank discussions around this.

As a founder within the female sexual wellness space, a lot of my time is spent educating those around me. Sexual wellbeing is also considered to be a new category that has recently emerged within the wellness space and, which, 5 or 10 years ago didn’t exist as the strong movement as it is today, and so it can be challenging at times to convey its importance within the wellness space. That being said, when those I talk to, from consumers to investors, have understood that sexual well-being is part of everybody's mental and physical health the response has always been very positive and supportive. Something that has been pivotal for female founders in recent years is the increasing number of women finding themselves in decision-making roles within VC funds. Whilst I don't believe that men are averse to investing in companies built primarily around female needs, I do believe that this has helped improve investment in the space and meant that more of these companies have been able to ‘breakthrough’ into the mainstream. When an app is designed for a woman, it is always beneficial to have someone at the table saying “I would use this”.

What are the projects you are currently working on?

We are incredibly passionate about collaborating further with leading academics, experts, and influencers within the sexual wellbeing and education space. A lot of sexual content that is available today, in blogs or on YouTube, for example, is not only untrustworthy but also unrepresentative. As such, at Emjoy, we are dedicated to providing a trusted and safe environment for our users by offering science-backed, pleasure-centric content that will help our users to get in the mood and fill the gap currently left by mainstream porn.

At present, we add 8 new pieces of audio content to our library per month and we plan to increase this to at least 12. We have also recently begun working with Sex Educator and Body-Positive Champion, Ruby Rare, and Trauma Specialist, Jimanekia Eborn, on sessions around non-monogamy and sexual trauma, respectively. Beyond this, there are a number of new features planned, but you’ll have to stay tuned to find out more about them in the coming months!

Is the #WomenInTech movement important to you and if yes, why?

Absolutely, and female empowerment, on the whole, has made huge progress in recent years. This can be seen through pivotal moments such as the #MeToo movement or the #FreeTheNipple campaign. With this, women are also becoming far more comfortable demanding products that meet their needs and are able to use the power of their wallets to drive real change.

In response to this demand, we are seeing more and more young women, like myself, who have been raised as equals to our male counterparts, grown up and realise that we need to take matters into our own hands when it comes to the issues affecting us. This has meant that more and more women are entering the world of tech and founding their own companies, in turn, working together to normalise this career path for the generations to follow.

What is the most important piece of advice you can give to all female founders and female entrepreneurs out there?

When I began Emjoy I had never even managed a team before, let alone held any leadership positions. I also had a lot to learn when it came to the day to day operations of a startup, as that was all new to me too. What I did have, though, was a strong idea for a company that aligned with my beliefs and that could be grown into something big which would make a difference to society, and that, in my mind, is the most important thing.

Being inexperienced doesn’t mean you are not suited to the role at hand or that you are not smart enough to do your job. If you have done your research and have a plan B in case everything goes wrong, make the leap and see what happens - don’t get distracted by overthinking things! Also, don’t be too proud or shy to ask for help. Having as much input as possible early on from people with varying expertise can be invaluable when starting out.

What will be the key trends in the health tech and fem tech industry in the next 5 years and where do you see it heading?

It is my belief that in the next five years femtech will not be viewed as a women-only issue. Taboos around sexual wellness innovation will be broken down, and investment in this space will be seen as equally important as that which we continue to see in the fitness and mental health arena. Hopefully, this too will result in an increased number of exits in the space, whether through M&A or IPO.

As the industry continues to grow, develop, and garner increasing financial backing, entrepreneurs who are excited about catering to the unmet needs of women’s health will feel more inspired to innovate and develop solutions that empower women to take control of their health and wellbeing at every stage of their life. Who knows, maybe in one day the term ‘femtech’ will become redundant and, instead, be absorbed into health tech at large. This move will also help in attracting and empowering even more women to start their own businesses not only within the femtech space.

Who are your 3 inspirational women in health tech and fem tech?

It is very hard to only choose individuals as I feel that all women in the health tech and femtech space are doing an incredibly important job. I’m also sure that there are a number of women that I am unaware of who are also doing some great things. However, there are 2 female founders that come to my mind that I admire a lot:

Whitney Wolfe Herd, CEO and Founder of Bumble. I admire her because she has been able to grow Bumble incredibly quickly within an industry (dating) traditionally run by men. On top of this, having recently become a mother, Whitney is still running Bumble as CEO and is about to take the company public. I also love Bumble because, as a user myself, I feel far safer than with other dating apps.

Valentina Milanova, CEO and Founder of Daye. Like me, Valentina has a background in VC and I find the number of obstacles that she has successfully been able to overcome in order to launch Daye very inspiring. She founded and scaled the company through its clinical validation, regulatory approvals, proprietary in-house manufacturing, and the launch of their tampons both D2C and in retail.

Find out more about Emjoy on their website, and make sure to follow them on Instagram for the latest updates!



This interview was conducted by Marija Butkovic, Digital Marketing and PR strategist, founder and CEO of Women of Wearables. She regularly writes and speaks on topics of wearable tech, fashion tech, IoT, entrepreneurship and diversity. Visit marijabutkovic.co.uk or follow Marija on Twitter @MarijaButkovic.