NUseeds Awards $100,000 Investment to Northwestern-Founded Startup Rora

The Garage at Northwestern’s NUseeds Fund has invested $100,000 in Rora, a women’s health startup focused on alleviating vulvar dryness, founded by Northwestern alumni Neha Mehta (MBA) ‘25 and Catherine Malloy (MBA) ‘25. The investment will support a full manufacturing run and third-party efficacy testing as the team scales production and continues to validate the product.

Rora was founded in response to the founders’ recognition that vulvar dryness is far more prevalent than most women are led to believe. Rora’s flagship product, Rora Hydrating Mist, is a hormone-free, all-natural mist that hydrates and soothes vulvar skin on contact. It’s designed to deliver quick relief without mess, residue, or awkward application. Rora is building a new standard for menopause care, one that treats intimate health with the same thoughtfulness, design, and scientific rigor women expect from the rest of their daily routines.

The founders developed Rora through early experimentation and customer discovery while building the company at Northwestern. Both founders participated in multiple Garage and entrepreneurial programs, including Jumpstart, Residency, VentureCat, and Kellogg’s Zell Fellows. Rora won first place and $10,000 at Jumpstart 2024, an experience the founders credit as foundational to their development. While the Hydrating Mist is the company’s first product, the founders see it as the foundation of a broader platform redefining how women experience care across hormonal life stages.

“[Jumpstart] changed how we show up as founders.” Mehta explained. “We became more precise, more confident, and more willing to say no to ideas that weren’t backed by what we had learned directly from customers.” 

NUseeds was a natural fit as a funding partner due to its long-standing relationship with the team and its understanding of the complexity of building in women’s health. “They had seen our work over time, not just a moment in a pitch deck,” the founders explained. “To us, this NUseeds investment signals faith not just in what we are building, but in how we have built it.”

Beyond funding, Mehta and Malloy emphasized the importance of the broader Northwestern entrepreneurial community as they embarked on this journey. “What surprised us most was how much support extended beyond the formal programs,” they said. “Mike Raab and The Garage team regularly pulled us into opportunities we would not have known to seek out. That combination of structured support and an open, generous founder community made building Rora feel collaborative rather than isolating.”

You can learn more about Rora by visiting https://www.tryrora.com/ 

NUseeds is a Northwestern investment fund that is intended to accelerate the successful launch of innovations from NU students and finance the most promising early-stage student ventures. NUseeds invests a standard $100,000 in 1-3 companies per year. Investable companies include founders who have graduated from a degree-seeking Northwestern program in the past 2 years and participated in at least one program at The Garage / VentureCat while they were a Northwestern student.