Sexual Wellness Group Launches As Vertically Integrated Home Of Hello Cake And Trigg Laboratories

There’s a new vertically integrated holding company on the sexual wellness scene: Sexual Wellness Group, which houses the brands Hello Cake, Wet Lubricants and Turn On Lubricants along with manufacturer Trigg Laboratories.

The company’s formation follows Hello Cake’s acquisition of sexual wellness product private-label manufacturer Trigg Laboratories in October 2024, which occurred simultaneously with an $18 million series B round and brought with it the other consumer brands in SWG’s portfolio.

The new structure will aid SWG’s efforts to take on big competitors like Reckitt Benckiser, BioFilm, Church & Dwight and Lifestyles, and make it one of a few non-public sexual wellness holding companies. Lovehoney, the Advent International-owned parent company of Lovehoney, We-Vibe and Womanizer, Beacon Wellness Brands, the Yellow Wood Partners-owned parent company of PlusOne, Deia, Clio and Plum Beauty, and Catalus Capital-backed CC Wellness, parent company of JO, #LubeLife and Shibari, are others.

“The sexual wellness category continues to be ripe for disruption, as consumers are increasingly turning to SWG’s better-for-you products,” says Brian Thorne, partner at Silas Capital, an early backer of Hello Cake, which launched in 2020, and a participant in its series B round. “The fact that the SWG team knows how to scale its brands without jeopardizing product integrity gives me optimism about the future of sexual health in mainstream America.” 

SWG unifies the four organizations under its umbrella logistically and culturally. Hello Cake has shuttered a Los Angeles headquarters and warehouse and consolidated operations at Trigg’s 70,000-square-foot facility in Las Vegas. According to SWG, it’s investing heavily in the facility’s infrastructure and technology. Most of Hello Cake’s lubricants are currently made in the Las Vegas facility, with plans to move the entirety of lubricant production there. The brand’s devices and supplements are produced around the globe. Hello Cake is available at major retailers like Walmart, Target, Walgreens and CVS. 

“Trigg has existed for 35 years. They have a background in manufacturing. Cake has existed for five years, and we specialize in speed to market and innovation in toys,” says Mitch Orkis, co-founder and chief retail officer of SWG. “They have different cultures, but there’s some key overlapping areas, commitment to making people in America feel good, commitment to quality and excellence, commitment to safety and compliance standards. [Bringing] everyone together under SWG really was transformative.”

The teams of the organizations under SWG have also been consolidated. Hello Cake co-founder Hunter Morris is now CEO of SWG and longtime Trigg employees Simone Buntin and Marla Bolden have been named chief production officer, chief compliance officer of SWG, respectively, and Hello Cake employee Jason Molina was named chief digital officer of SWG. 

“Consumers today are expecting sexual wellness products to be as thoughtfully designed, transparent and accessible as anything else in personal care,” says Morris in a statement. “By bringing together fresh, modern brands, an iconic legacy name, world-class manufacturing under one roof, SWG is positioned to raise the bar for quality, safety and innovation across this category.” 

SWG’s three consumer brands share assortments with accessibly priced lubricants, but each brand’s core consumers are different, informing the distinct strategies. Hello Cake designs products for couples trying to reconnect in the bedroom, making partners like Target key to the brand’s success. The Turn On audience is a value and convenience shopper, and the brand has an Amazon-only approach to distribution. Together, the brands registered double-digit sales growth across digital and brick-and-mortar distribution last year. The hope is that the integration of sales, marketing and media at SWG will accelerate growth.

Orkis describes Wet’s core customer as “an advanced consumer that knows what they want,” and that consumer is willing to pay a higher price point. Popular at sex shops, he reports its silicone lube is the second-best-selling lube in the United States. An overhaul is in the works to help further the brand’s reach. 

“It’s going to be a hugely valuable asset,” says Orkis, who characterizes Wet as a “sleeping giant.” “It could be as valuable or more valuable than Cake.”

Orkis emphasizes that the SWG brands are “within arm’s reach” of their core customers or extremely convenient to buy. All of the brands are sold on Amazon. “The lift in Amazon sales is insane,” says Orkis. “I know people have very mixed feelings about Amazon, but it is the most obvious thing when it comes to sexual health and wellness that you can’t really ignore. If you don’t want to have to raise money, that’s a really easy way to tell your story and get your products into the hands of people that want to buy them.”

Affordable pricing is part of the “within arm’s reach” strategy, too. Morris realized a few years into Hello Cake that vertical integration was critical to keeping prices down. Initially, Orkis disagreed and flagged that neither he nor Morris understood the manufacturing business. Orkis told Morris that they “need to have a cool, sexy brand and market it. And he’s like, ‘No, we have to have a better price point,'” says Orkis. On manufacturing, Orkis continues, “He was like, ‘We’ll figure it out.’ He was, a year later, 100% right.” 

Launching more brands isn’t in SWG’s present plans, and Orkis says brands would only result from a clear, definitive consumer need. He explains, “If there is the ability to take our skill set, bring it into retail or digital, or market it in a way that is new and unique, if there is a better-for-you angle to it, if we have the resources to do it, I’d never say never, but we’re not actively pursuing it.”

From 2022 to 2024, the sexual wellness category experienced consolidation after a period of heightened investor interest. In addition to Hello Cake’s acquisition of Trigg, CC Wellness acquired lubricant brand Shibari and menopause care brand Joylux acquired postpartum specialist Mommy Matters. In late 2023, sustainable period care brand The Flex Company acquired sexual education platform Allbodies Health. Last year, Dame acquired pleasure device maker Emojibator.

So far, SWG hasn’t received funding on top of its 2024 series B round involving Silas Capital and Strand Equity. “We would only raise more funds if there’s a specific need,” says Orkis. “We’re self-sustaining at this point.”