A habit that became a trademark

The idea came to Sirrý Svöludóttir in a supermarket. Standing in the vitamin aisle in 2016, she watched women fill their baskets with supplements on offer — dozens of products, conflicting promises, and no clear guidance on what any individual woman actually needed

"Women shouldn't have to stand in front of 700 dollars' worth of different vitamins and guess what suits them," she says.

That moment was the beginning of Venja, which Sirrý co-founded with Rakel Guðmundsdóttir in 2022. The company develops and sells supplements tailored specifically to women's hormonal health, available through a subscription service at Venja.is. Each package is designed for one day at a time. Simple, consistent, no guesswork.

One size does not fit all

The core of Venja's proposition is that women's nutritional needs change significantly across their lives, from menstruation and fertility through pregnancy, breastfeeding, perimenopause, and beyond. Yet for years, most supplement brands offer the same product to all women regardless of life stage.

"Most brands have the same message to women: that one vitamin tablet should suit them a lifetime," says Sirrý. "That simply doesn't hold up when we consider how variable women's needs actually are."

The name

Venja is an Icelandic word meaning habit or routine, something done daily without complication. The founders chose it deliberately: they wanted a name that captured the product's purpose and worked equally well in other languages, as international expansion was part of the plan from the start.

Protecting the brand from day one

Sirrý is direct about intellectual property: trademark protection was a conscious decision made at the very beginning.

"Trademark registration is one of the most important things you do early on, and unfortunately one of the things founders most often put off," she says. "If your brand starts to mean something, others will notice. And by then it can be too late."

Her advice to other founders: register before printing packaging, before launching a website.

What's next

Venja is now preparing for its first international step: a market launch in Denmark, followed by Sweden and the broader Nordic region. New product lines are in development, designed to follow women through different life stages more closely.

The word- and figurative mark VENJA was registered on 18 April.

 

Trademark V0141409, registered 14 March

The word mark BERA was filed in February 2022 and registered on 14 March 2026 in Class 5 (dietary supplements) and Class 35 (retail and wholesale services for dietary supplements).

Highlighting the importance of trademark registration

Through the Registered Trademark of the Month initiative, ISIPO aims to raise awareness of the importance of trademark protection and to highlight Icelandic companies that build strong and distinctive brands. Staff at ISIPO select the Registered Trademark of the Month from among newly registered and recently renewed Icelandic trademarks representing Icelandic goods and/or services. The selected trademark must have clear distinguishing characteristics, strong distinctiveness, and an interesting story to tell.