Jaanuu, a medical apparel startup headquartered in El Segundo, California, has raised $15 million. JMK Consumer Growth Partners led the growth equity financing round, which Jaanuu said brings the total amount it has raised to more than $25 million. The Nordstrom family and David Kessenich, managing partner and co-founder of private equity firm Exceller Partners, also participated in the round.
The money will be used to boost the company’s product development, bring about expansion plans and invest in predictive analytics-based marketing.
Launched in 2013, the California startup offers medical scrubs, lab coats and other medical workwear for men and women. Its products come in a variety of style collections, colors and fabrics.
In responses to emailed questions, Jaanuu brand director Allison Christie said the company has a direct-to-consumer business model. It also has a growing group order client base.
“The majority of the brand’s customers are actually the end users, which mirrors the industry trend (the majority of professionals wearing scrubs purchase the apparel themselves),” she said. Christie added that the startup has more than 1,000 group order clients.
Jaanuu was co-founded by Neela Sethi Young, a physician, and her brother Shaan Sethi, a former private equity investor. Based on her own experiences, Sethi Young wanted to make scrubs that were more comfortable, functional and stylish for clinicians.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
In a statement, she commented:
When you work in medicine, none of your days are the same and not one is easy. Ironically, you need a ‘uniform’ that’s not uniform at all — no one style, fit or fabric is going to be what you need to do your best each day, every day. At Jaanuu we provide my medical colleagues with the power of choice that they need and deserve — from varying design aesthetics to multiple performance fabrics engineered with the most sophisticated of anti-odor and antimicrobial technologies.
While Jaanuu’s products are geared toward doctors, nurses and other clinicians, another startup in the healthcare space is offering medical apparel for patients. Care+Wear, which won the MedCity ENGAGE Pitch Perfect contest in 2017, has created clothing items for people with ports and peripherally inserted central catheters, or PICC lines. It also sells patient gowns, mobility gloves and NICU onesies. Earlier this year, Care+Wear teamed up with Oscar de la Renta on a hoodie for patients receiving treatment via a central line or port-a-cath.
Update: This story has been updated with additional information on Jaanuu’s total funding.
Photo: Jaanuu
