Aunt Flow

Post-pitch story

Claire Coder walked away from her 2017 pitch without a deal, but she didn't walk away from the mission. After the show, Aunt Flow pivoted from selling tampon subscriptions direct to consumers to a B2B model: getting free-vend period product dispensers into businesses, schools, and stadiums. The bet paid off. In April 2022 the company raised an $8.5 million Series A led by JLL Spark, and total venture funding has since climbed to roughly $17 million — after what Coder counts as 86 rejections along the way. By May 2024, Aunt Flow products were stocked in more than 42,000 bathrooms, including every Apple retail store in North America, Google offices, and hundreds of schools. In spring 2024 the company came full circle, returning to direct-to-consumer sales with its organic pads and tampons on Amazon and its own site. Coder is still CEO, still campaigning against period stigma, and in March 2025 her face was on national billboards celebrating the long road of "no" that got her here. Not bad for a company the investors passed on.