Sexual wellness industry fast becoming tech’s newest darling

Sextech start-ups like Sydney-based Normal are finding opportunity in a once-stigmatised space.

Sex educators: Lucy Wark (left) and Georgia Grace. Picture: Ryan Osland

You’ve heard of fintech, edtech, and maybe even proptech. Now there’s “sextech”.

Lucy Wark, 29, founded Normal, a Sydney-based start-up devoted to “sexual wellness”, earlier this year to meet a growing need for better sexual health resources.

This week, Wark, formerly an analyst at management consultancy McKinsey, launches The Modern Guide to Sex, a comprehensive sex education course for adults.

The 15-part course will be delivered by sex coach Georgia Grace, 28, via a series of video lessons and a downloadable ebook devoted to subjects including consent, confidence in the bedroom and “the anatomy of pleasure”.

Normal, which also designs and sells its own range of boutique sex toys, is backed by homegrown healthcare technology start-up Eucalyptus. It has hit $1m in sales in the past six months alone.

Ms Wark said she was hoping to build on the growing awareness of the need for better conver­sations around sex in Australia with the course.

Ms Wark and Ms Grace, who were familiar with each other’s work in the burgeoning industry, decided to join forces after realising they both had a strong mission to make sexual wellness more ­inclusive.

“In the video tutorials, there is useful information that gives you the fundamentals,” Ms Grace said. “This is always paired with an ­activity or inquiry you can do solo, or with a partner” — after all, she added, “we learn by doing”.

Lucy Wark (left) and Georgia Grace have created the Modern Guide To Sex, aimed at giving adults of all ages the sex education they didn’t get in school. Picture: Ryan Osland

The Get Confident lesson, for example, looks at common barriers to arousal and teaches methods to overcome them. Each video lesson is between 10-15 minutes with “homework” to follow. The guide is $29 but free for tertiary students, acknowledging that sex education at school is often lacking.

“Lots of people leave high school without adequate information on sexual heath, sex and relationships and pleasure-based sex,” Ms Grace said.

However the guide — like all Normal products — isn’t just for students. “We often get these messages from people in their 60s or 70s who’ve been introduced to Normal’s products, and they say ‘I wish I had this years ago’ so we’re confident there’s something in the guide for everyone – even if you’ve been having sex for decades,” Ms Wark said.

The venture has attracted strong interest from investors. Normal is the newest of four companies under the umbrella of Eucalyptus, alongside women’s fertility and telehealth service Kin, subscription-based skincare brand Software and Pilot, which focuses on men’s health.

“It’s really exciting to see institutional capital starting to get behind this space,” said Ms Wark. “Not all of our investors are queer people or women, but they have been so incredible in jumping on board and supporting a space like sexual wellness.”

The once-stigmatised sexual wellness industry is fast becoming tech’s newest darling. While it’s currently full of private companies that don’t publish sales figures, it’s been predicted the global sector would be worth about $51bn dollars by 2023, with a projected valuation of $172bn by 2026.

Eucalyptus chief strategy officer Benny Kleist said: “We’ve seen the ramifications of stigmatising sexual wellness and education recently, but the same stigma explains why the opportunity is there, and also why the market hasn’t been disrupted yet.”