Muse Capital deploys portfolio of women’s health startups into elite sport with Optima launch
Sport has ignored the unique needs of female athletes
A group of women’s health startups spanning fertility, hormone tracking and breast imaging are being brought directly into elite sport through a new programme launched by venture firm Muse Capital.
The initiative, called the Optima Program, will see a cohort of companies deployed to support female athletes and sports executives, marking a shift in how women’s health innovation is applied within professional sport.
A bundled approach to athlete health
The programme is being positioned as a response to what its founders describe as a historic mismatch between sports science and female physiology.
“For too long, the sports industry has applied a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to performance that ignores the biological uniqueness of women,” said Assia Grazioli-Venier, co-founder of Muse Capital.
Rather than focusing on a single product or intervention, Optima aggregates a range of services into what the firm describes as a “360-degree” model of care.
The initial cohort includes Midi Health (menopause and longevity), Cofertility (fertility care), Eli Health (hormone tracking), BeSound (breast screening), and Mavida Health (maternal and mental health), alongside wellness and consumer health brands including Beekeeper’s Naturals, Sequel, Hugh & Grace, SISTERLY and Mahmee.
Together, they cover a wide spectrum of needs that are often treated separately - from menstrual and hormonal health to fertility planning, postpartum care and cancer screening.
By integrating multiple companies into a single platform, Optima is effectively acting as a distribution channel - connecting early-stage and growth startups with elite athletes as end users. Many of the participating companies are in Muse Capital’s own portfolio.
Several of the participating founders framed this as an opportunity to move beyond consumer or clinical settings.
Marina Pavlovic Rivas, chief executive of Eli Health, said the programme would allow the company to deliver real-time cortisol insights directly to athletes, pointing to the impact of stress and recovery on performance and injury risk.
"For decades, the unique needs of female athletes have been an afterthought or ignored completely, she said.
“Cortisol imbalances - driven by intense training loads, inadequate recovery, and chronic stress - have measurable consequences for athletic performance, injury risk, and hormone health. Joining the Optima Program is an incredible opportunity for Eli to deliver real-time cortisol insights directly to the elite female athletes who need them, furthering their acceleration in sport.”
At Cofertility, co-founder Lauren Makler highlighted the tension many athletes face between performance and long-term reproductive decisions, describing Optima as a way to support “the whole woman”.
"At Cofertility, we know the importance of supporting women through deeply personal health decisions,” Lauren said.
“Through our model, where we expand access to fertility care by making egg freezing free when women donate half the eggs retrieved, we've worked with women and athletes across the country. Many have shared that pursuing excellence in their craft often meant feeling pressure to prioritize their goals at the expense of personal well-being or future plans.”
A disconnect in women’s sports
The launch of Optima comes at a key moment in women's sports. While women's professional sports revenue is growing 4.5 times faster than men's, female athletes have continued to be underserved by sports science.
Following recent multi-million dollar global investments in women's health research, Muse Capital and Optima say that they are the first to bridge the gap between innovation and application, by placing cutting-edge technology in the hands of women right now.
The programme is being piloted with the Red Bull Italy SailGP Team as part of SailGP’s Impact League, with access extended to athletes and executives across the competition.
Muse Capital said discussions are underway to expand the model to additional leagues and teams, although no further partnerships have been confirmed. Technology infrastructure for the programme is being provided by Flywheel Ventures Group.
A venture-backed model for deployment
The launch also highlights the role venture firms can play beyond funding, acting as intermediaries that shape how and where their portfolio companies are deployed. In this instance, Optima’s model is essentially functioning as a curated marketplace for women’s sports- closely aligned with Muse Capital’s own portfolio and its sports advisory and investment arm Muse Sport.