Want to make feminine hygiene as accessible as toilet paper

Half of the world's population has a period. Yet the subject is taboo and access to menstrual protection is poor. Linn Rosenqvist and Hanna Lauste want to change that. Through their start-up Herbox, they make free sanitary protection available at schools and workplaces. They are now guests on the podcast Klara, färdiga, entreprenör.

In the episode, they talk about their startup journey, the drive to create an equal society, and what it means to launch a product with the goal of setting a new standard.

- Our vision is to create change on a larger scale and contribute to a more equal society, where access to sanitary protection is part of it. Until now, women's needs have not been taken seriously," says Herbox co-founder Hanna Lauste.

After studying in the US, the childhood friends from Orust started Herbox in 2021. The same year, they were admitted to the incubator at Innovatum Science Park. Since then, development has gone at breakneck speed.

International expansion underway

Herbox feminine hygiene dispensers are already in more than 1000 toilets in around 150 businesses. And international expansion is underway. 

- This appeals to all different industries. "Our dispensers can be found in everything from paddle halls and hairdressers to municipalities, upper secondary schools and large companies such as SKF," says co-founder Linn Rosenqvist.

The customer list includes Liseberg, Plejd and Ryds Glas as well as a dozen municipalities around the country - Uddevalla, Borås, Gotland, Härnösand and Vaxholm are some of them.

In the podcast, Linn and Hanna talk about how the business idea was born, how the time in the United States made them dare to take the step, about managing growth in the company both on the business and personal level.

Entrepreneurs from West Sweden interviewed

Behind the podcast Klara, färdiga, entreprenör is the incubator network West Swedish Incubators, of which Innovatum Science Park is a part. The aim is to boost innovation in West Sweden and get more people to dare to invest in their business ideas.

During the season, we meet entrepreneurs from Borås INK, Science Park Skövde, Innovatum Science Park and the five Gothenburg-based incubators GU Ventures, Chalmers Ventures, Brewhouse Inkubator, Sahlgrenska Science Park and Founders Loft.

The podcast is where podcasts are and is made possible by funding from Region Västra Götaland, the EU Regional Development Fund and the University of Gothenburg.