Issue 31: 300% rise in FemTech funding | Mosie Baby first | Censorship online | $425m acquisition for Bonafide
+ lots more in your weekly round-up of women's health innovation and FemTech news
Hi! Welcome to issue #31 of FutureFemHealth, here to bring you your weekly news about women’s health innovation and FemTech (w/c 4 December 2023).
🌟 Coming up today we’ve got:
📈 300% rise in FemTech funding says SVB
🏆 Mosie Baby secures first for FDA Clearance
👩🏽💻 Censorship in FemTech - what’s your experience?
🔥 $425m acquisition for Bonafide Health
Got news to share from the world of FemTech and women’s health innovation? Let me know at anna@futurefemhealth.com
📈 300% rise in FemTech funding
Are you feeling this? According to a new report out yesterday (Tuesday) from Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), funding for women’s health startups has gone up by a whopping 314% over the last five years.
That’s compared to investments across all of healthcare which are up only 28% in the same period.
I was quite astonished to read that.
Especially since we know that just 2% of funding reaches female founders (and 78% of women’s health companies have a female founder, according to SVB).
The report also shows that investment is spreading from fertility & reproductive health out to emerging areas of menopause, pelvic health and mental health.
There’s also optimism that more data becoming available is starting to unlock opportunities to innovate in science-based solutions.
Yet it’s also hard not to skip over some other points in the report - such as how women’s health companies tend to be valued lower than healthcare companies overall. And why acquisition deal details (five this year alone) aren’t being revealed - SVB suggests it’s a sign the terms favoured the buyer. Or that despite some new data, women’s health still faces an uphill battle due to the lack of it.
Perhaps though, this is the inflection point we have been waiting for? For three years in a row, women’s health startups have now raised more than $1 billion. The White House has announced its new Women’s Health Initiative for research. And understanding of women’s health does increasingly seem to have expanded beyond just pregnancy.
What do you think? (reply and let me know!)
Download the report: Silicon Valley Bank
🏆 Mosie Baby becomes first company to secure FDA clearance for at-home intravaginal insemination
As demand for at-home insemination grows, it’s critical that products are safe to use and as effective as possible.
Mosie Baby, makers of the over-the-counter intravaginal insemination ‘Mosie Baby Kit’ have announced they are now the first and only company to have received FDA Class II clearance.
Maureen Brown, CEO and co-founder told FutureFemHealth that:
“Securing FDA clearance for the Mosie Baby Kit is a significant achievement, highlighting our dedication to safe at-home insemination.
“It sets new safety standards that others must follow in the market. As pioneers in the space, we have seen the demand for at-home insemination grow significantly since our launch in 2015. We welcome the need for strict oversight to keep people safe as they seek out low-intervention fertility tools at home to avoid high-cost, high-intervention options in-clinics.”
Read more about the Mosie Baby FDA clearance on FutureFemHealth here.
👩🏽💻 Center for Intimacy Justice (CIJ) launches survey about censorship of content
Two years ago, Center for Intimacy Justice (CIJ) released an investigation, featured in the New York Times, about Meta’s systematic, biased, rejections of sexual reproductive health ads.
Now, CIJ wants to hear your experiences of censorship on Meta, TikTok, Google and Amazon.
Please take this important survey here (deadline Thursday 14 December). Thank you!
💰 Funding, deals and investment news
📌 Bonafide Health LLC acquired for $425m. New York-based women’s health company Bonafide will join Pharmavite LLC, makers of Nature Made vitamins. Founded in 2017, Bonafide’s drug- and hormone-free products aim to reduce menopausal and premenstrual symptoms. Pharmavite CEO Jeff Boutelle said the acquisition “positions us as the nation’s leading women’s health nutraceutical company” and that future mergers and acquisitions in the space are “definitely in our mindset.” (Source: Bloomberg)
🌟 More news from this week
📌 Less painful birth control insertion on the way? Pharma giant Bayer is teaming up with CrossBay Medical Inc to try to reduce the discomfort of having hormonal contraceptives inserted. The partnership combines Bayer’s range of hormonal intrauterine systems (IUSs), with Crossbay’s innovative ‘CrossGlide’ technology which is a new way of inserting birth control that follows the shape of the cervix and improves the overall experience. (Source: Bayer)
📌 Why Avestria invested in this Black maternal health-focused start-up. VC-firm Avestria Ventures continues its fascinating series explaining why it funds each company in its portfolio. This articles looks at Mae - a “care marketplace” that allows expectant women to find expert advice from trusted sources. (Source: Avestria on Medium)
📌 Evernow partner with Hippocratic AI to further improve menopause support. Hippocratic AI is on a mission to develop the safest artificial Health General Intelligence to improve healthcare accessibility and health outcomes. Menopause start-up Evernow has been chosen as one of a handful of early partners to pilot use cases. “In the U.S. — where there is only one licensed menopause practitioner per 33,000 women — we believe technologies like Hippocratic AI have the potential to help every woman access world class care,” said Alicia Jackson, CEO and Founder of Evernow.” Given the challenge of finding good, available data in women’s health to train AI, coupled with the nuances of menopause experiences, I’ll be interested to follow this one! (Source: Hippocratic AI)
📌 Fertility patients in UK targeted by ‘concerning’ IVF adverts on social media. Clinics ‘guaranteeing’ success or offering ‘no baby, no fee’ promotions online are under criticism. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) are now reviewing. (Source: The Guardian
🩸 Research and women’s health news
📌 Just what is going on with lung cancer in women? Over 50% of women with lung cancer worldwide are non-smokers (compared to only 15-20% of men). And non-smoking women also have a higher incidence of lung cancer (19%) than non-smoking men do (9%). But, as yet, we don’t know why. And in the meantime, lung cancer screening guidelines aren’t reflecting these stats either. “In short, non-smoking women are doubly disadvantaged: they usually aren’t eligible for lung cancer screenings under the current guidelines because they don’t smoke, and their cancer may be missed or dismissed until a stage where it is near-fatal.” (Source: Forbes)
📌 New research contradicts reasons for excluding women from clinical trials. The familiar excuse that females are too variable across menstrual cycles to be included in medical research appears now to be challenged. New research has found that looking at temperature, females did not significantly differ from males.(Source: BioMed Central)
📌 A million women share what they want most for their health. Women in 14 countries took part in a global health survey with White Ribbon Alliance. Better health coverage, more financial support and more inclusive and respectful health services were top of the wishlist. (Source: World Economic Forum)
📄 Govt & policy news
📌 US: $80.5m boost for maternal health research. US maternal mortality continues to worsen. Now, four new projects to reduce maternal health inequities are being funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). A total of $80.5m in funds has been contributed by the independent non-profit organisation based in Washington DC. All four projects are heavily community-based. PCORI’s Dr Tracey Wang said: “[Community organisations] have a strong finger on the pulse in terms of what really can help improve maternal outcomes in their communities and things that are not always in the clinical domain, things like access to healthy foods, access to community resources and transportation costs.” (Source: MedCityNews)
📄 Jobs!
After a few conversations over the last few weeks, I’ve been inspired to include a jobs section in the newsletter. I’ve just added a handful for now - let me know if useful and I’ll add more!
Creative Lead, Jude. Run, don’t walk to this incredible, category-shaping opportunity to work with founder Peony Li and the team at bladder health care company Jude.
Lead Analyst / Analytics Manager, User Acquisition Team, Flo Health Inc. (UK) Join the health app with 300m+ downloads and 55m+ monthly users to help grow the brand even further. They have lots of open roles at the moment including: Product Analyst (UK), Legal Director (UK), Senior Medical Writer (UK)
B2B Partnerships Manager, Unfabled (UK) Join Hannah Samano and team at the amazing Unfabled in this brand new role you’ll be able to shape and grow!
Marketing Associate, Elektra Health (US - NY)
That’s all for this week!
See you next time,
Anna