The couple behind MyMuse say they want to take the “shame, guilt and fear” out of sex in India.
MyMuse sells products such as sex toys but in India, discussions around intimacy are still taboo.
The founders, Anushka and Sahil Gupta are tackling this with tongue-in-cheek marketing and creative euphemisms, which they say make the products seem less intimidating and encourage first-time buyers.
Anushka said: “There’s this shame, guilt and fear associated with buying something that should be used in your intimate areas, and that’s the first thing we wanted to turn around.”
MyMuse has quickly grown in popularity among young professionals.
Investors are also betting on India’s sex toy market. In 2020, TechSci Research found that the country’s nascent sex toys sector was valued at $91 million and is predicted to grow 16% annually.
During the Covid-19 lockdowns in 2021, the Guptas began shipping out discreetly packaged sex toys from a spare bedroom in their home.
They benefitted from Indian tech start-ups as they received seed funding from venture capitalist firms.
They have made more than a dozen hires and now ship to nearly 200 cities nationwide.
Using a targeted social media campaign, the Guptas say they are trying to reframe the conversation around sex away from “sleazy” portrayals in Bollywood films.
