General
September 19, 2018
8 minutes read

Erectile Dysfunction startup Roman nabs $88 million in funding to help people quit smoking

Zachariah Reitano (right), with Ro co-founders Rob Schutz (left) and Saman Rahmanian (center) Ro Erectile pharmacy startup Roman in a…

Zachariah Reitano (right), with Ro co-founders Rob Schutz (left) and Saman Rahmanian (center)

Erectile pharmacy startup Roman in a bid to expand its ecosystem is now going beyond its offering of Viagra and Cialis which has garnered 10s of millions in sales is now unveiling a new product, Zero, a $129 smoking kit while dropping the ‘man’ from its name to now be simply known as Ro.

The kit comes with a month’s worth of prescription cessation medication bupropion and nicotine gum in addition to an app for tracking of progress and learning of how to stay motivated through issues like nausea, cravings and hunger.

Ro’s Zero kit

The company has now raised $88 million in a new round led by FirstMark Capital with the likes of Initialized Capital, SignalFire, General Catalyst, Sinai Ventures, Slow Ventures, Torch Capital, Tusk Ventures and BoxGroup also participating in this round.

“Not many people know that ED (Erectile Dysfunction) is an early symptom of diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure,” said Zachariah Reitano, Ro’s CEO and co-founder. “But if one of those things doesn’t exist, it’s usually a sign of poor lifestyle habits from stress to lack of sleep to drinking. And one of the big ones is smoking.”

As per Reitano, “a large percentage” of Ro’s customers were cigarette customers which led to the company focusing on this space. Reitano declined to disclose this percentage while stating it’s in the double digits.

Ro’s new “Quit Kit” if offered to customers after a completion of an online visit about their medical history and smoking habits, A U.S. licensed physician recommends the personalized quit program.

Ro which currently counts 70 employees will now be joining the likes of other health focused startups to have raised large funding in recent times including Juul which has garnered $1.2 billion in investment to “eliminate cigarettes” and “help smokers switch to a better alternative” with its e-cigarettes.

Launched in 2017, Ro has now raised a total of $91 million for its services while growing at a very fast pace with a high customer base just one year after its launch.