
An entrepreneur duo in Berlin has recently launched a new company, Einhorn (German for unicorn), to manufacture and market the world’s first fair and sustainable condoms, and has been using the popular European crowd-funding site Startnext to make it happen.
The condom industry is a multi-billion dollar market worldwide, but very little attention is paid to the process of producing the product. That is what Einhorn seeks to change, and the company wants to do so by making their products as ‘fairstainable’ as possible by improving working conditions and the environmental impact made while producing their condoms.
Working together with German scientists and rubber farms in Malaysia, Einhorn is setting out to have an 80 to 90 percent sustainable condom within five years. At their current stage they are only 10 percent sustainable.
Einhorn isn’t only thinking about the environment however. In order to appeal to the consumer in a fairly crowded market, they are also working to take the awkwardness out of buying condoms.
Instead of being packaged in traditional condom boxes, Einhorn condoms will be placed in chip bags designed by top designers to eliminate the sometimes embarrassing condoms on the grocery store conveyor belt scenario.
Within two days of launching their campaign on Startnext, Einhorn reached their minimum goal of €50,000, providing enough for the new company to get started. Additional funding would be needed through to expand sales throughout Europe and the United States, which would require up to €300,000.