Wellness Growth Ventures Newsletter #21

🚀 Big News: Our First New Investment at WGV
We’re beyond thrilled to announce our first investment out of the fund—one that perfectly embodies our vision for the future of wellness and healthcare.

After nearly a year of building a relationship with Jessica Bell van der Wal, we are so honored to back Frame Fertility, a company revolutionizing fertility care by tackling the huge gap in preconception and proactive fertility support. With demand for fertility services exceeding supply by 7x in the U.S., Frame seamless supports providers and patients navigate their fertility journey.

This is exactly the type of company we built Wellness Growth Ventures to support, and we’re excited for what’s ahead with Frame.

Wellness Wake-Up Call: The Hidden Gap No One’s Talking About 🌀
McKinsey’s 2025 Sporting Goods Report dropped some data that stopped me in my tracks—and I’ve been sitting with what it means for all of us building, investing in, and living inside the wellness economy.

Here’s the headline: Physical inactivity has reached record highs globally—but there’s a growing segment of consumers for whom movement has become central to identity.

This is more than a trend. It’s a structural shift. We’re watching the rise of what I call the Movement Gap—a widening divide between the physically inactive and those who see movement as non-negotiable, ritualized, and identity-defining.

And while that divide may seem daunting, it’s also one of the most exciting and under-explored frontiers in wellness. So, what does this mean for us as investors, founders, and leaders?

1. Movement needs to become radically more accessible: Innovation doesn’t just mean better leggings or lighter running shoes. It means asking: Why aren’t people moving?
→ The next generation of iconic wellness brands will reduce psychological friction, social stigma, cultural disconnects, and financial barriers to physical activity. Nike’s Modest Wear line, Adidas’s Stay in Play collection, and ASICS’s Desk Break campaign are early signals of where this is going: inclusive, everyday, emotionally intelligent.

2. Movement is no longer just fitness—it’s identity (🙋‍♀️ ME): For active consumers, exercise has evolved from a “should” into a “must.” It’s stress relief, emotional regulation, self-expression, and community.
→ Brands that build for identity-based movement—supporting people in how they feel as they move, not just how they look—will win. We’re seeing this with New Balance’s Run Your Way and the rise of low-impact, soul-nourishing modalities like Pilates, walking clubs, and mobility-focused classes. This isn’t a trend. It’s a shift in how people define wellness.

3. We need to meet the next generation now: Shimano is partnering with schools to teach kids how to bike—because they understand something we often overlook: physical literacy starts young.
→ There's white space in movement-focused kids' programming, youth apparel, gamified fitness, and educational partnerships. Let’s not wait for Gen Alpha to become burned-out adults before we teach them how to move.

As an investor, I’m looking for:

• Products that democratize access to movement—not just those that optimize it for the already active.

• Founders who understand the emotional nuance behind why people move—and why they don’t.

• Brands that treat movement as both a behavior and a belief system, woven into identity, culture, and everyday life.

This is where wellness is headed: more inclusive, more identity-driven, more emotionally attuned. And as always—where there’s behavioral shift, there’s investment opportunity.

Listening on Repeat: All Things Liquid Death with Marisa Bertha ☠️🥤
Marisa Bertha, Chief Strategy Officer at Liquid Death, sat down with The Femme Portfolio and—wow—she is visionary, bold, and unapologetically ahead of the curve. She saw the potential of Liquid Death before anyone else.

We dive into:
- How Liquid Death educates and entertains at the same time (have you seen the Kylie Kelce campaign?!)
- What it takes to make a brand stand out in a saturated market
- Why fun is a non-negotiable for driving both virality and loyalty
- The untapped opportunity in wellness—and why it’s just getting started

🎧 Tune in now on Spotify
📺 Or watch the full convo on YouTube

💰 Navigating the Evolving Landscape of SAFEs in Venture Financing
Let’s talk about SAFEs (Simple Agreement for Future Equity)—the startup world’s favorite shortcut for raising capital. A few years ago, SAFEs were pretty much the exclusive domain of small, early-stage rounds. Think: raising $500K? Sure, a SAFE is perfect for that. Fast forward to today, and guess what? SAFEs are making their way into bigger rounds, even those over $5M. Last year, more than half of the rounds between $2M-$2.9M were raised using SAFEs, and nearly 25% of rounds above $5M did the same.

But with great speed comes great complexity. Let’s dive into why SAFEs are now ruling the funding world—and what you should keep an eye on if you're using them (or planning to):

1. SAFEs Have Graduated from Seed-Only Tools to Institutional Capital Vehicles: What was once considered a tool for small seed rounds is now being leveraged for multi-million-dollar raises. The benefits of SAFEs are clear: they close faster and at a lower cost than traditional priced rounds, making them an attractive choice in a high-demand, fast-moving market. But this rise in usage, particularly in larger rounds, could be changing how we think about fundraising in the early stages.

2. Valuation Cap ≠ Valuation — And That Gap Creates Future Friction: One of the biggest distinctions with SAFEs is the valuation cap, which gives investors protection against dilution if the company raises subsequent funding at a higher valuation. However, it’s important to remember that a valuation cap is not the same as an actual valuation—creating potential challenges for the first priced round. If the cap is set too high, founders may find themselves facing difficult negotiations down the road, as investors might push for a lower valuation or down-round terms.

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