Issue 55: Incora Health's smart earring | FemTech in France | $55m for Natural Cycles | $33m for Gameto fertility
Issue 55: Incora Health's smart earring | FemTech in France | $55m for Natural Cycles | $33m for Gameto fertility
+ lots more in your weekly round-up of women's health innovation and FemTech news
Hello! You’re reading issue #55 of FutureFemHealth, here to bring you your weekly news about women’s health innovation and FemTech (w/c 3 June 2024).
I took a week away last week for a restful family holiday to Mallorca, and what a week to miss: a UK General Election announcement, LOTS of funding news in women’s health and an exciting development in wearables too. So grab a coffee because I’ve got a bumper issue to kick-off June for you.
🌟 Coming up today we’ve got:
👂🏼 Incora Health’s smart earring to launch in 2024
🇫🇷 Femtech momentum in France
🔥 Natural Cycles raises $55m
✅ $33m for Gameto’s fertility innovation work
Got news to share from the world of FemTech and women’s health innovation? Let me know at anna@futurefemhealth.com
Next week I’m excited to attend Decoding the Future of Women - the futuristic, mind-bending Women's Health Tech Conference of the year! June 10-11, 2024 at 10 South Pl. There’s still time to get your ticket! REGISTER NOW FOR A 20% DISCOUNT - Please use this link to book!
👂🏼 Smart earring to launch in 2024 after new funding from XRC Ventures
Back in 2015 Theresa Gevaert had an idea - could our ears provide a way to accurately monitor our health?
Theresa was fed up of having to use a thermometer each day to track her ovulation through temperature, and wanted an accurate - yet still natural - alternative method.
She started exploring the hidden powers of our ears and their proximity to our body’s core.
As co-founder Dr Lindsey Calcutt now explains:
“Theresa had the idea around 2015 to invent a more convenient way to accurately track basal body temperature for fertility management.”
“Theresa and I formed Incora Health in 2022. Since 2022, we have been working on Incora full-time (the majority of this time in stealth) focused on product development, customer research and clinical trials.”
Now, almost a decade on from that original idea, the duo are nearly ready to bring the idea to market.
Incora Health has just announced a new round of funding from XRC Ventures which will enable them to complete clinical trials and launch the product later this year.
As XRC Ventures Founder and MD Pano Anthos explained to FutureFemHealth, the original patent sought back in 2015 was critical and now the smart earring could well uproot the more established smart watches and smart rings for women’s health:
"Rings or arm bands are not as accurate for in-depth cycle tracking, because they're on the outer appendages of the body.
“Incora Health discovered that you can gather more precise insights via the ear lobe, where there's a steadier bloodstream and heart beat proximity. This is more accurate for measuring basal body temperature.
“Founder & CEO Dr. Lindsey Calcutt patented this technology. It will create a major moat for Incora Health as the most accurate option on the market once it launches, and moreover, address women's health in a much more comprehensive way."
(Continue reading our full story: FutureFemHealth)
🇫🇷 Femtech sees momentum in France
A new report by the non-profit Femtech France has taken an in-depth look at the sector landscape in the country.
There’s now 140 femtech start-ups in France - up by almost 22% since 2023. And, I learnt that the word Femtech will be added into the 2025 Larousse dictionary too!
Start-ups are innovating across a number of areas with menstrual health forming the biggest share followed by global health and chronic conditions.
What I found most intriguing in the report - although not surprising - is the common trends in the French market. Women’s health in the workplace, insurance companies looking for more comprehensive health offerings, and a need to innovate in under-addressed areas such as hormonal health and mental health. No surprises either that funding is top of the key challenges too.
As Juliette Mauro, President of Femtech France says:
“The presence of series A and series B companies on the femtech market in France and Europe (excluding the UK) should motivate the financial institutions to create dedicated Femtech funds to support the development and growth of these structures.”
Congratulations to Delphine Moulu the Femtech France team on such a detailed and informative report.
(Continue reading and download the report: FutureFemHealth)
💰 Funding, deals and investment news
📌 SWEDEN: Natural Cycles raises $55m in Series C funding. The world’s first birth control app is going from strength to strength - becoming profitable in 2022, rising to three million users worldwide, and seeing 70% year-on-year growth in annual recurring revenue within the first four months of 2024. Yet co-founder Raoul Scherwitzl wrote that: “we’re still only at 1% of our full potential.” This new funding, led by Lauxera Capital Partners, will help accelerate new product development and commercial efforts, and may also have eyes on an IPO. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)
📌 US: $33m for Gameto fertility. Women typically receive two weeks of hormonal injections as part of IVF. Gameto is working on a product ‘Fertilo’ that would reduce this to just three days followed by maturing eggs outside of the body. This Series B round will help with the clinical development Fertilo. In total Gameto has raised $73 million. (Continue reading: MedCity News)
📌 ESTONIA: CARÁ Health raises €620K for prenatal and postpartum support. More than 40 million women are believed to experience long-term health issues lasting months of even years after childbirth. CARÁ Health bridges the maternity support gap by providing evidence-based information, curated product suggestions, targeted podcasts and masterclasses and personalised support services. Already one in every two pregnant women in Estonia use its app and earlier this year the start-up began international expansion including a physical location in Germany. Tera Ventures led this seed round. (Continue reading: Tech.eu)
📌 US: Pelvic-health company Materna Medical raises $20 million. Materna imagines a world where women aren’t injured while delivering vaginally. It already has FDA-clearance for its first product the Milli Vaginal Dilator and is working on its second, Materna Prep. This Series B2 financing round was led by InnovaHealth partners and other key existing investors. (Continue reading: Yahoo Finance)
📌 INDIA: AI-powered menstrual app SocialBoat acquired by wearables brand Noise. Noise is India’s leading smartwatch brand and also has a smart ring ‘Luna’. It’s acquired SocialBoat to add capabilities in women’s wellness. (Continue reading: AdTech Today)
📌 SINGAPORE & US: Rhea reaps $10m more, led by Thiel Capital. Reproductive health service provider Rhea wants to modernise the fertility experience and now has 380 staff across 12 markets with plans to continue to expand fertility care across the globe. It’s also acquired Embryonic to give AI diagnostic tool capabilities. (Continue reading: Yahoo)
📌 US: Axena Health closes $9.4m million extra funding for pelvic health system Leva. Axena’s at-home, prescription-only pelvic health device is FDA-cleared with plenty of impressive clinical trial evidence too. This Series A funding follows $25m gained last February, and will be used for growth both in the US and to accelerate its work in low- and middle-income countries. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)
🌟 More news from this week
📌 Flo Health launches pleasure education initiative. The world’s most popular female health app has set its sights on supporting sexual wellbeing. After research found a range of areas of frustration, Flo Health has launched videos, self-discovery exercises and activities to spark sexual exploration, teaming up with a leading sex therapist Casey Tanner. Given the widespread censorship of these sorts of topics on social media, it’s a smart and much-needed move by Flo Health to take education onto their app. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)
📌 OURA smart ring launches first UK retail partnership. To date, the smart ring OURA has only been available online in the UK. Now, for the first time, UK shoppers can try on the ring in person in one of 34 John Lewis retail stores. (Continue reading: Oura ring)
📌 Melinda French Gates to donate $1 billion over the next two years to advance women’s power in the US. Grassroots organisations tackling women’s health worldwide will also be able to apply in Autumn (Fall) for a share in a $250m funding pot. Melinda will leave the Gates Foundation to begin this work. (Continue reading: New York Times)
📌 US: Seed Health launches first-of-its-kind vaginal microbiome probiotic and prebiotic. One bacterium, Lactobacillus crispatus, is crucial for stable and optimal vaginal microbiome. Unlike other vaginal probiotics on the market, Seed Health has produced a suppository (to ensure microbes directly reach the vagina) and has undergone clinical trials. The trials found that the VS-01 product restored optimal vaginal microbiome in 90% of participants within just one menstrual cycle, helping to keep infections at bay. (Source: Forbes)
📌 US: Talkspace and Ovia Health co-launch new women’s health collective. There’s growing market demand, especially in the US, for more comprehensive women’s health solutions. That’s the driver for specialist start-ups including Evernow, Conceive, Nurx and Cove to become founding members of the ‘Women’s Health Coalition for Digital Solutions.’ The group will collaborate to make it easier for women to access more holistic care through a single entry point - and make it easier and more affordable for employer benefits. This follows the launch of another similar collective ‘The Wonder Woman Collective’ last month. (Continue reading: MedCity News)
📌 Bridging the women’s health gap - a country analysis. If you’re a fan of McKinsey’s women’s health economic report from earlier this year, you’ll love this new interactive data visualisation of the research. Explore country by country the disease burden and why the opportunity to improve women’s health equates to 75 million extra disability-adjusted life years. (Continue reading: McKinsey)
📌 How women’s health conversations with investors have evolved. Women’s health is starting to be recognised as more than just maternal health - and the funding landscape for women’s health companies is getting better, executives said during a recent panel discussion. But there’s still more education to be done. (Continue reading: MedCity News)
🩸 Research and women’s health news
📌 Average age for first period drops to 11.9 years old. Women born between 1950-1959 typically began their period at 12.5 years old. That’s dropped to 11.9 years for those born 2000 - 2005. Early menstruation has been linked to childhood obesity and a range of other poor health outcomes such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. The new study by Harvard University found that trends were more stark in Black, Hispanic, Asian or mixed race women or those from lower socioeconomic status. (Continue reading: JAMA)
📌 UK: Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust closes. The UK’s leading cervical cancer charity is sadly no more following insurmountable financial challenges. In its two decades of operation the charity has influenced health policy, raised awareness and made a tangible difference in the lives of those affected by cervical cancer. (Continue reading: Jo’s Trust)
📌 UK: Breast cancer and gut bacteria link investigated. Researchers in Norwich have been awarded £250,000 to investigate whether healthier gut bacteria can lead to better outcomes for breast cancer patients. Charity Breast Cancer Now is funding the research. (Continue reading: BBC)
📌 UK: Women attend up to 10 appointments to get menopause diagnosis, study finds. A poll of 6,000 women has found that nearly one in 10 were forced to sit through between six and ten appointments before a diagnosis. Specialist Dr Louise Newson, who led the research, has warned this leads to women enduring ‘needless barriers’ accessing treatment. (Continue reading: Independent)
That’s all for this week! If you got this far - thank you!
See you next time, Anna