Some opportunities don’t just look attractive on paper, they feel inevitable. Our investment in Earthful is one of those moments.
For decades, menopause has been treated as a footnote in women’s health. A life stage that impacts energy, sleep, mood, productivity and relationships has been long left to quiet endurance and one size fits all solutions. Beneath that silence sits one of India’s largest unmet health needs, affecting millions of women, yet invisible in mainstream healthcare.
Veda and Sudha Gogineni saw this gap through their mother’s experience with midlife changes and echoed in countless conversations with women around them. What followed was months of work: the founders spoke to hundreds of women across cities and communities. The stories were strikingly similar: “We don’t know what’s normal” “We manage on our own” “Nothing really works” “I wish someone understood” The more they listened, the more it became painfully clear: women are navigating one of the most demanding life transitions without guidance or support and they deserve better.
Earthful emerged from this clarity: a women-led, science-first brand bringing clarity and care into midlife health. And the more time we spent with the founders, the more obvious it became that this is the team to build India’s category-defining platform for women 40+
A category waiting to be built and the timing couldn’t be better
India has over 130 Mn women over 40, a number expected to grow to ~ 350 Mn + by 2030. Still, menopause remains one of the most under-addressed health areas.
The signals are unmistakable:
- Search interest in menopause has exploded in two years
- Women-led conversations are breaking long-held taboos
- Digital communities are now central to information-seeking
- The category is unbranded, recurring and essential
- Global markets have shown a clear, proven monetisation path
This is exactly the kind of cultural and consumer inflection where iconic health brands are created.
The gap: Deep, emotional and impossible to ignore
Despite the size of this cohort, the solutions available to women today remain surprisingly inadequate. Most end up relying on generic vitamins, pharma options with low adoption or home remedies, all while trying to navigate fragmented information and the stigma that continues to surround midlife health.
The consumer survey conducted on Smytten’s PulseAI reinforced this intuition:
- 90% of women 40+ felt a gap in targeted solutions
- Most got only partial relief from existing products
- Women discover solutions through peers and digital, not just specialists
- Many keep switching brands in the hope of finding the right solution
Our conversations with gynaecologists validated the same pattern: Women switch repeatedly between brands and treatments, searching for something that genuinely works. This makes it even more important for the category to have trusted, science-backed self-care solutions that meet women where they naturally seek support.
What Earthful is building: Clarity meets science meets empathy
Earthful’s approach impressed us from the outset. Their products are built through clean-label, plant-based formulations grounded in science and engineered for ingredient synergy rather than clutter. Each formulation is shaped with guidance from a medical advisory board and the brand maintains complete transparency through sourcing, testing and claims.
Their hero product, MV40+, is now moving toward clinical validation, supported by a pipeline of single-symptom SKUs that enable sharper, targeted relief. Importantly, as Earthful continues to expand its menopause-focused portfolio, it is set to go even deeper into this life stage crafting solutions with greater precision and building what will ultimately become a comprehensive midlife health platform. This is not just a supplement company; it’s a platform in the making.
Early traction: Undeniable signals of PMF
Even at this early stage, the traction behind Earthful is unmistakable. The brand is seeing strong repeat usage and consistently high ratings across its portfolio, with women reporting meaningful improvements in their symptoms across areas like sleep, mood, energy and overall wellbeing. Many consumers are switching from pharma-led or generic supplements to Earthful and importantly, choosing to stay driven by a noticeable difference in how the products make them feel. Word-of-mouth is spreading rapidly with women sharing their experiences and recommending Earthful within their circles. This depth of trust and early retention is rare in a young category and a powerful signal of emerging PMF.
Why we invested
Women’s health has been a core thesis area for us at Fireside and our learnings from brands like Inito and Gynoveda have shown that with the right product and right GTM, large and trusted businesses can be built in this category that was historically overlooked. Across these successes, the common threads are clear: science-backed products, deep consumer empathy and a digital-first discovery engine. Earthful sits squarely at this intersection.
It also aligns strongly with our broader consumer health thesis, especially in Nutraceuticals, where self-care is becoming the default behaviour and women increasingly seek credible, efficacy-led solutions without relying solely on clinical pathways.
The strongest driver of our conviction, above everything else, was Earthful’s founders - Veda and Sudha. What stood out to us through the process was not just what they are building, but how they are building it. Their partnership is unusually complementary, Veda brings sharp consumer intuition, empathy and deep understanding of women’s emotional journeys, while Sudha brings operational discipline, scientific clarity and a relentless focus on execution. Together, they make decisions with a level of thoughtfulness and rigor we rarely see at this stage.
Across every conversation, their authenticity and depth of insight were unmistakable. They are not approaching menopause as a trend or a whitespace, but as a deeply underserved need they felt compelled to solve. That combination of purpose and precision, empathy paired with execution is exactly what it takes to build a trusted health platform in a category where credibility is everything.
And we couldn’t be more excited to partner with them as they reshape how millions of women experience one of the most important phases of their lives.
This is just the beginning, and we’re excited what Earthful will build in future.
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