💌 Issue 125: Hormonal health innovation | HerMD acquired | Hidden risks of gestational diabetes | Emovi's 3D knee-motion scan | Halal and Kosher HRT

The global weekly briefing on women's health innovation and FemTech

Welcome to FutureFemHealth, (w/c Dec 1 2025) — the global weekly briefing on women’s health innovation, trusted by 8,800 investors, innovators and leaders to decode the funding flows, breakthrough ideas and policy shifts transforming the sector.

🌟 In this week’s briefing:

• ❤️ The innovation landscape of hormonal health

• 🔥 HerMD acquired by Joi + Blokes

• 🤰🏼 Hidden risks of gestational diabetes

• 🏃🏾‍♀️ How Emovi’s 3D knee-motion scan gives hope to women’s knee health

But first…Are you planning your visibility strategy for 2026? If you’re looking to reach the global women’s health innovation community, FutureFemHealth is the high-trust, no-algorithm channel thousands rely on each week - described by readers as “the email I look forward to the most.” Partnership opportunities (one-off, campaign and annual) are now open, helping you deliver your message directly to the founders, operators, clinicians and investors shaping women’s health. Get in touch for a copy of our media pack.

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🔮 What’s your 2026 prediction? Share your perspective!

Photo by BoliviaInteligente on Unsplash

It’s that time of year again - and I want to hear from you!

FutureFemHealth is preparing our annual 2026 predictions feature - spotlighting the biggest trends set to shape women’s health and FemTech in the year ahead. This piece is consistently one of our most-read pieces of the whole year and features voices from across the entire industry.

I’m gathering perspectives on: emerging tech and innovation; investment and funding trends; policy, regulation and reimbursement shifts; growth areas across FemTech; basically anything on the horizon which looks set to change and progress the industry!

So, if you have a prediction - big, bold, controversial or contrarian - I’d love to include it.

👉 Add your prediction here. (Deadline: Mon 22 December)

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💡 Hormonal health is core health

Women’s hormonal health has been staggeringly underestimated.

Until recently, most conversations about hormones have been treated almost interchangeably with reproductive health and fertility. Case in point: only 12% of all scientific journals on gynecology and obstetrics are dedicated to women’s health issues unrelated to their reproductive role. A mere 4% deal with the health of women before and after their reproductive years.

But we now know hormones influence far more than fertility. They play a profound role in cardiovascular, neurological, cognitive, immune and even our oral health across the entire lifespan.

That’s why hormonal health tech has become one of the fastest-growing areas of innovation. From wearables, to urine-, saliva-, blood- and even breath-based testing, there’s a new wave of innovative solutions emerging.

And because hormones fluctuate hourly, daily, and across life stages, many of the health effects we care about can only be understood through patterns - not just single-point tests. That’s why continuous hormone tracking solutions - from early-stage startups like Level Zero Health - are so highly anticipated.

Beyond fertility, hormonal health tracking is set to become a cornerstone for our overall lifelong health. We’ve teamed up with

Anastasiya Markvarde

to share a picture of this fast-growing innovation landscape and the research that sits behind its importance.

Read our full piece:

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💰 Capital flows: where are investors placing bets?

📌 U.S: Joi + Blokes acquires HerMD. It’s been turbulent year for HerMD - an unexpected shutdown of all its bricks-and-mortar clinics announced back in March was followed by a relaunch as a virtual-only care model in April. Now it joins Joi + Blokes to form what the company says will be one of the nation’s largest virtual care platforms for women across the U.S with a focus on menopause, hormonal health and sexual health. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)

📌 U.S: Metri Bio raises $5m pre-seed to develop endometriosis therapeutics. “Endometriosis affects one in ten women, yet treatments still rely on hormone suppression and repeat surgeries that rarely deliver lasting relief and often cause intolerable side effects.” said CEO Ashley Abel as she announced this funding and emerged from stealth. Metri Bio has developed a 3D endometrial modeling technology capable of modeling diseases of the endometrium, including endometriosis. The plan is to use this to identify molecular drivers of disease and guide creation of therapeutic candidates. (Continue reading: Metri Bio)

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🌟 Industry moves and strategic shifts

Photo by Ömürden Cengiz on Unsplash

📌 UK: The pregnancy risk hiding in plain sight. Gestational diabetes affects one in seven pregnancies worldwide, yet the NHS’s standard test still misses huge numbers of real cases - often because blood samples degrade before hitting the lab or because women can’t make the single, early-morning test slot. The result can be deadly with undiagnosed GDM driving higher rates of stillbirth, preeclampsia, birth traumas and long-term diabetes risks for both mother and baby. New at-home diagnostics, such as at-home tests like Digostics, hold promise for a better way forward - now we need the national urgency from the system. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)

📌 CANADA: How Emovi’s 3D knee-motion scan gives hope to women’s knee health. When England star footballer Beth Mead tore her ACL months before the World Cup, she became yet another high-profile reminder of a problem that affects far more than elite athletes. Women across every decade — from teenage runners to menopausal women in everyday life — face higher rates of knee injuries, yet diagnosis still depends on clinicians watching movement with the naked eye. Emovi’s KneeKG simple 3D motion scan is changing that. It shows how the knee behaves in real life, not just on an MRI. The result is earlier detection, clearer rehab plans and, crucially, patients who actually understand what’s happening inside their own bodies. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)

📌 UK: Ten FemTech innovators join new Innovate UK accelerator. Moving from working prototype into real-world adoption and even into NHS pathways is a common challenge for FemTech founders. This accelerator aims to bridge that gap with expert guidance and clinical networks. Selected companies for the new cohort include a miscarriage care kit, a digital companion for chronic pelvic pain and a controlled-heat bra for breast tenderness. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)

📌 CANADA: Juno’s new shot at relief for period pain. Period pain steals time from millions and most current options barely dent it. Juno Technologies is developing a clinician-validated neuromodulation device and app designed to give women faster, more effective relief - and a way to track what’s happening. FDA submission is on the horizon and co-founders Nanette Sene and Lynn Doughane want to ‘liberate’ women and give them back the days they’ve been told to just endure. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)

📌 UK: Exeltis launches Halal and Kosher HRT. Muslim and Jewish women can now access an oral progesterone option for HRT that aligns with their religious values. Exeltis’s Gepretix (progesterone) is now certified both Halal and Kosher. (Continue reading: Dr Farah Ahmed on LinkedIn)

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This week’s poll

Last week’s poll asked: Do you feel optimistic that maternal health is getting better globally? Nearly half of you (47%) said no, while 41% of you said yes.

🩸 Research and women’s health news

📌 EUROPE: Nearly 1 in 4 EU women believe men are treated better by health workers, new study says. Women are more likely than men to seek medical help when they feel unwell, yet many believe they receive poorer treatment, according to a new report. The stats came from a new annual report from European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE). The perception is even more pronounced among young people, and according to EIGE, this trend may indicate that younger women are increasingly aware of, or directly confronted with, gender bias in health care. (Continue reading: Euro News)

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📦 New in the FemTech Files - a ten-part series

‘The FemTech Files’ shares the critical data from different women’s health verticals and product types. They were published last year using Dr Brittany Barreto’s FemHealth Insights database and created by FemHealth Fellows. This week sees the release of the fourth part of the series:

• Contraception by Khanh Nguyen

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📆 Save the date

📌 Celebrate innovation in FemTech, London, 5pm, Dec 10 2025

Organised by the High Commission of Canada in the UK, this evening will celebrate the Canada-UK collaboration in Women’s Health and welcome to London the visit of nine pioneering Canadian FemTech companies and key stakeholders shaping the future of women’s health and technology. All welcome at Canada House in London for this networking event - just remember to RSVP below and bring a government-issued photo ID on the day.

🎟️ RSVP here to the event or email ldn.rsvp.ced@international.gc.ca

(Do say hi if you go - I’ll see you there!)

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That’s all for this week! If you’ve missed any previous newsletter issues catch them all at futurefemhealth.com and do make sure to follow us on LinkedIn.

Anna

PS. FutureFemHealth reaches 8,800 decision-makers and professionals in women’s health each week - from investors and founders to healthcare leaders and corporates. To explore partnership opportunities for 2026 or request our media pack contact: anna@futurefemhealth.com