Investor's Note May 6, 2026

The News. Our portfolio company DR. VIVIEN KARL has closed a seven-figure seed round, led by Osnabrück-based family office zwei.7, with participation from existing investors – including us. The capital will fuel the brand's next major step: moving from a proven D2C business into Germany's leading drugstore chains. The full press release is available here.

Why we invested early. When we first backed DR. VIVIEN KARL, it was a bet on team and thesis. Dr. Vivien Karl, a pharmacist, and Julia Huhnholz, a marketeer, had identified a category that was chronically underserved, poorly understood and above all silenced by decades of taboo. What they set out to build was not just another D2C brand, but a pharmaceutically credible one, capable of turning female intimate health into a category as self-evident as toothpaste.

Why this round matters. Since then, the founders have delivered. With more than 70,000 customers, revenue growth of over 200 percent from 2024 to 2025, and a product range that has expanded from a single Intimcreme to a full assortment, they have proven that intimate care works as a consumer category. As Dr. Vivien Karl puts it:

"Intimate care will only truly become self-evident when it sits on the shelf between toothpaste and shower gel."

That is exactly what this round enables. Stationary retail remains largely untapped for female health products, and DR. VIVIEN KARL is uniquely positioned to occupy that gap.

What's next. We are proud to continue backing Vivien, Julia and their team as they move from category creation to category leadership. Women's health is one of the most exciting and most underserved markets we currently see – and few teams are better placed to shape it.

— Kim Duc Quyen Tran, Partner at DvH Ventures