Ritesh D Ritelin, the founder of Manzuri, has figured out the best way to describe his job. “I sell orgasms for a living,” the Goa-based entrepreneur told finance influencer Sharan Hegde on an episode of the 1% Club recently.
Ritelin is the founder of Manzuri, a wellness startup that sells pleasure products to women. Through Manzuri, the young entrepreneur is “trying to break one of the biggest taboos in the country - sex.” However, the roundabout way in which he is forced to refer to his company is indicative of the long distance he has to cover when it comes to destigmatising conversations around sexual health and wellness.
“When we started in 2019-2020, there was no player in the market where women could go and find a trustworthy and reliable source to purchase sex toys from,” he told Hegde.
“So I have to call it a wellness startup and not a sex toy company because the Indian government does not acknowledge the existence of sex toys. Like, maybe a decade behind when it comes to pleasure tech,” Ritelin explained.
The Goa-based founder has managed to build a successful business with Manzuri, which means “consent” in Hindi.
{{/usCountry}}The Goa-based founder has managed to build a successful business with Manzuri, which means “consent” in Hindi.
{{/usCountry}}On the 1% Club YouTube video, he also opened up about money matters and revealed his liquid net worth is ₹1.5 crore. However, his non-liquid assets are valued between ₹8.5 to ₹9.5 crore.
Ritelin said that he owns a 70% stake in Manzuri, which is valued at ₹12 crore. His own net worth is between ₹10 to ₹12 crore.
Take a look at the video below:
In a separate Instagram video, the entrepreneur revealed that he spends ₹40 lakh a year approximately. He is also the founder and CEO of Porcellia, a D2C wellness company.
On his LinkedIn profile, Ritesh Ritelin says that through Manzuri, he wants to “democratize pleasure and destigamtize sex.”
“Do you know what the orgasm gap is, and how closely related it is to issues such as the gender pay gap, underrepresentation, and patriarchy in a society? These are the kind of problems that Manzuri will be trying to solve in the coming years,” he explained.