Playground, an intimate wellness label founded by singer Christina Aguilera, announced on Wednesday that it had closed a $2 million funding round, led by Palm Tree Crew Holdings with participation from Amboy Street Ventures and Fourward Ventures. This marks the brand’s first institutional raise since its founding in 2023. The company saw 700 percent revenue growth year-over-year.
The brand, best known for its lubricants and intimacy oils, is hoping the capital injection will aid in product innovation as well as support the business’ launch into Target, which it enters this month. Catherine Magee, the brand’s co-founder and chief executive, said launching in Target will enable the label’s goal of making sexual wellness more accessible to women.
”We want better sexual wellness products to be available to everyone, and that cannot happen at a luxury or niche [retailer] level,” said Magee. “A majority of brands in this category at Target are legacy brands.”
The brand, which also counts Nordstrom, Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie and Revolve as retail partners, will be launching in 25 percent of Target’s physical fleet of stores as well as online.
Playground is among a number of sexual wellness brands that launched post-pandemic with the goal of re-energising a category that has primarily been focused on male pleasure. Competitors Dame, Maude and Lelo have all snagged wholesale contracts with beauty retailers Sephora and Ulta Beauty as these companies build out their wellness offerings. Additionally, specialty sexual wellness stores designed to stock new-to-market labels have cropped up in recent years.
”Women have historically been underserved in this market,” said Magee. “With the innovation hitting this segment, we want people to know that products that suit their needs are available and they shouldn’t be ashamed to put them in their cart.”
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Christina Aguilera is the co-founder and chief brand advisor of Playground, a line that specialises in sexual wellness – a space that’s emerging as the next frontier for celebrity branding.
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