Who?
luna is the brainchild of ex Deloitte consultants and MBA Oxford business school graduates Jo Goodall and Jas Schembri.
Why?
The idea originated on one of their MBA projects, where students came up with a business concept to pitch to investors: while there has been an increase in FemTech progress in recent years, no one is targeting adolescents – arguably the most formative years of our lives and the consumers of the future – so an advisory app which acts as an older sister could fill that gap. The panel wanted to know who was taking the business forward post-MBA, and so the duo took the leap – raising £600,000 pre-seed funding from the likes of Maria Ro and Kirsten Connell of Octopus Ventures, and Miruna Girtu of Syndicate Room.
What?
luna demystifies issues that may be seen as embarrassing and can make teens feel alienated. The app is primarily aimed at young people aged 11-17 experiencing things like menstruation and hormonal acne, as well as their parents, guardians and teachers.
How?
Built by medical professionals, adolescence experts and teens across the UK, it covers topics such as skincare, body positivity, gender, sexuality, mental health and much more with videos, articles and shared experiences. Since day one, the luna team has gathered feedback from its network of teens – self-named ‘the luminaries’ – to curate topics they are curious about and included them at all stages of the process, from content creation to design. luna’s users provide regular feedback on the platform and have even completed weekly missions throughout the co-design of the app. Taking the role of agony aunt digital, luna also offers a submission section, allowing users to pose their queries anonymously for luna’s group of professionals and medical experts to answer.
Where?
luna is based in London and available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. Users will also have access to offline community events throughout the year.