Polari Labs’ invention could revolutionise anal sex, and squeamish investors are missing out on profits, writes Sebastian Shehadi
Anal sex. Two words you’ll rarely find in a business newspaper or, for that matter, day-to-day conversations. Yet this is the topic that London entrepreneurs Dr Henry Blest and Anna Vybornova are bringing up again and again in rooms full of investors, as they work on bringing a new product to market next year.
The product? In short, a “butt-ball” – something their sextech startup Polari Labs says has the potential to revolutionise anal sex and, in the process, offer promising returns to investors.
Polari’s product offers an alternative to anal douching – a time-consuming and risky practice that is often a huge source of relational pressure for gay men, and many others too. The company’s product, which recently secured $539,000 in pre-seed funding, claims to help prevent “faecal accidents”, thus making anal sex more pleasurable and stress-free, especially for those in the LGBTQI+ community.
“Imagine if you or your partner had to undertake an invasive medical procedure (as anal douching is classified), essentially a DIY-enema, every time you wanted to have sex. This mental health burden has a very real effect on many romantic relationships.” Say the co-founders of Polari Labs, CEO, Anna Vybornova, a queer bioengineer who spent five years in medtech and pharma and CTO Dr Blest, an LGBTQIA+ scientist with a PhD from Oxford.
But it’s proven a more challenging sell for the prudish world of finance, where discrimination can weigh on fundraising.
They said they were “shocked” to discover how much discrimination still exists across UK finance. “I never experienced much homophobia throughout my career until I entered this space with Polari,” says Blest.
Indeed, a 2023 report carried out by Proud Ventures found that 75 per cent of LGBTQIA+ founders thought their ability to raise capital had been affected by their queer identity.
“The LGBTQIA+ community face an uphill fight for funding, as the majority of investors are male and heterosexual, meaning conscious or unconscious bias and discrimination,” the founder of one of the UK’s most successful startups, who asked to remain anonymous, told me.
Add sex to the mix and the problem is even more pronounced.
“Our mission and product polarises people. They either love it or are repulsed. Others just fear reputational damage to their fund (and their own fundraising) if they invest in us, as many funds have ‘vice clauses’,” Vybornova said.
Vice clauses, imposed on funds by their limited partners, teachers’ unions or corporate pension funds, for example, can often include restrictions on investments in projects deemed ‘not-safe-for-work’ – so you can see why Polari has come up against challenges. According to Sifted, only seven sextechs managed to raise in the first half of 2024, adding to only 20 that raised across the two years prior. In 2021, Onlyfans even briefly banned sexually explicit content from its site in an attempt to circumvent vice clauses, due to their difficulties raising funds despite being valued as a $1bn company.
But, as the old adage goes: sex sells. Priggish investors risk cheating themselves of major opportunities. Indeed, the sextech industry is estimated to be worth £120bn by 2030 – making it larger than crypto.
Polari, specifically, are also keen to correct the idea that theirs is a niche market. The association of anal sex exclusively with homosexual men, for example, is a misconception they’re keen to debunk. One preeminent study reports that more than a third of heterosexual men and women practised anal sex in the last year, while Polari Group estimates that approximately 167.7m people in the UK, US and Europe engage in anal sex yearly – representing a significant and, thanks to taboos, underserved market for their product.
Despite huge medical advancements elsewhere “there’s little to no innovation in this area, something that reflects the taboo surrounding anal sex,” says Blest.
In response, Polari set up the world’s first Anal Sex Laboratory to study and improve anal health and pleasure. Back in the early trial phase, Polari were in their wellies on an Isle of Wight farm, collecting pigs faeces and testing their product on rectal models in the lab, courtesy of a wide variety of dildos. Today, they are collaborating with world leading medical doctors and scientists around the world to establish a better understanding of how anal sex works and can be made more comfortable.
But we need to talk about it. The lack of public education around anal sex is part of a culture of shame. “We realised very quickly that, when you start talking about anal sex with people, many recoil in fear, even if they practise it,” said Vybonova. But she’s pledging to change that: “Shame thrives on silence. I now insist on talking about anal at every opportunity. ”
Sebastian Shehadi is a freelance writer