Welcome to issue #171 FutureFemHealth, (w/c 9 November 2026) - your weekly briefing on the global womenâs health market.
A highlight for me this week has been going behind the scenes with Finlandâs Eir Accelerator to meet the 15 startups selected for its first cohort. More on that, and plenty else, below!
đ In this weekâs briefing:
đ° Nanopath raises $25m Series B to bring rapid vaginal health diagnostics closer to market.
đ 335 applications and 15 places: Meet the first startups selected for Finlandâs Eir Accelerator.
đ Where are Europeâs Series A rounds? Our latest Pro analysis follows 36 womenâs health startups beyond their first funding.
đ„ $50m for autoimmune research: Wellcome Leap and Pivotal target the links between hormonal transitions and autoimmune disease.
Share your news and reach our 10,000+ subscribers: anna@futurefemhealth.com
đ° Capital flows
đ US: Nanopath raises $25m to advance rapid vaginal infection testing. A 15-minute molecular test for vaginitis could bring answers into the same appointment, rather than requiring patients to wait for laboratory results. Nanopath has announced a $25m Series B financing package, including $2m in non-dilutive grants, to advance its test towards FDA review and prepare for commercialisation. The round was co-led by Norwest and SV Health Investorsâ MedTech Convergence Fund. (Continue reading: Nanopath)
đ NIGERIA: Helium Health secures $2.5m Google.org grant to tackle maternal deaths. Nigeria accounts for nearly three in every ten maternal deaths worldwide, and healthtech company Helium Health wants to help change that. A new $2.5m philanthropic grant from Google.org will support the rollout of its AI-powered HeliumMum platform across four Nigerian states, helping identify pregnancy risks earlier and connect women with appropriate care. Having already reached more than 3.5 million women through its maternal health initiatives, Helium Health aims to reach another 1.9 million over three years and contribute to a 30% reduction in maternal mortality. (Continue reading: Helium Health)
đ GERMANY: 80 Beats Medical raises âŹ2.4m for maternal cardiovascular monitoring. Changes in cardiovascular function during pregnancy can offer important clues about a womanâs risk of complications, but arenât routinely measured in detail. 80 Beats Medical is developing a simple, non-invasive cuff-based test that gives clinicians more information about how the heart and circulation are adapting to pregnancy. The company has secured âŹ2.4m in private investment and public funding to advance its technology, with the aim of identifying potential complications earlier. (Continue reading: 80 Beats Medical)
đ US: Sapphiros and binx health merge to create diagnostics company Onvaro. binx already provides rapid chlamydia and gonorrhoea testing, while Sapphiros brings development and manufacturing capabilities, including a pipeline of womenâs health diagnostics. Now, with more than 1,000 binx testing instruments already installed across the US, Sapphiros gains an established commercial network for bringing its new diagnostics into healthcare settings. The new company is backed by investment from KKR, Hildred and EQT Life Sciences. (Continue reading: Onvaro)
đ UK: Fertifa agrees to acquire hormonal healthcare specialist Tuune. Fertifa already offers contraception and menopause care through its employee health benefits platform, but acquiring Tuune could help it deliver more personalised treatment. Tuuneâs clinical software assesses more than 70 symptoms alongside medical history to help clinicians identify suitable hormonal treatments. Following its 2025 acquisition of reproductive health insurer Juniper, Fertifa is now adding clinical decision-support technology to its business. Itâs another step towards delivering more of the care itself, rather than simply providing access to services. Continue reading: Sky News)
đ US: Oura to acquire AI healthcare company Counsel Health for $625m. Too much data, not enough actionability has become a familiar conversation around wearables. Now Oura is moving further into healthcare by acquiring Counsel Health, which combines medical AI with access to physicians. Reproductive health is among the areas identified for expansion. âWeâre building a way to go from âsomethingâs differentâ to real answers and real care from a licensed physician, often within minutes, right in the Oura App,â the company says. (Continue reading: Oura)
This week on FutureFemHealth Pro: Where are Europeâs womenâs health Series A rounds?
We hear plenty about womenâs health startups raising their first investment. But what happens next?
We tracked 36 European womenâs health companies that raised pre-seed or seed funding between 2022 and 2024. By September 2026, just one had reached Series A.
But thatâs only half the story.
In this weekâs Pro analysis, we look at what happened to the other 35 companies, how Europe compares with the US, and why funding rounds alone donât always tell us whether a startup is progressing.
đ Industry moves and strategic shifts
đ GLOBAL / FINLAND: Meet the 15 startups selected for Eir Acceleratorâs inaugural cohort. With 335 applications from 58 countries competing for just 15 places, Finlandâs new womenâs health accelerator has attracted remarkable international interest. The selected startups span everything from menstrual blood diagnostics and endometriosis treatments to AI-powered cancer screening and fertility innovation. Want to find out who made it in? In our new partner feature, we meet the cohort and speak to Eirâs international mentors about what made these companies stand out, why the programme attracted so much attention and what it hopes to achieve. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)
đ UK: Vira Health secures Bupa Global partnership to expand across Europe. Eligible Bupa Global customers across Europe, excluding the UK and Ireland, will now be able to access Viraâs fertility, pregnancy and menopause services through the insurerâs Blua digital health platform. The agreement follows Viraâs partnership with Discovery Health in South Africa earlier this year, giving the UK startup another route to reach women through established health insurance providers. (Continue reading: Health & Protection)
đ Global: Ultrahuman partners with More than Equal to support female racing drivers. Just 9% of sports science studies in a major review focused exclusively on women, and now Ultrahuman is helping address that data gap in motorsport. The smart ring company is partnering with More than Equal, the programme working towards Formula 1âs first female world champion, to track sleep, recovery and physical performance in young female drivers. The technology uses each driverâs individual baseline rather than relying on population averages largely informed by male athletes. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)
đ ITALY: FemTech ecosystem grows 32%, with 121 organisations now mapped. Italyâs womenâs health innovation sector is expanding, although commercialisation remains a challenge. Tech4Femâs new FemTech Observatory report identifies 121 organisations, up from 92 last year, with âŹ93.8m in cumulative funding raised. Yet 56% report annual revenues below âŹ50,000, while 79% lack regulatory certifications and more than half face difficulties navigating regulatory requirements. (Continue reading: Tech4Fem)
đ©ž Research and womenâs health news
đ GLOBAL: Wellcome Leap and Pivotal launch $50m programme targeting autoimmune disease in women. If you read our recent deep dive into the autoimmune space, you might remember that four in five people with autoimmune diseases are women, yet treatments rarely account for how pregnancy, childbirth and menopause affect disease risk. This new three-year programme will investigate the relationship between hormones and the immune system, aiming to predict and prevent conditions including rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and lupus. Researchers hope to identify flares weeks before they occur and develop treatments timed to hormonal transitions. (Continue reading: Wellcome Leap)
đ GLOBAL: AWS commits $100m in AI and cloud technology to tackle global health inequalities. Womenâs and childrenâs health is one of three priorities for the five-year initiative, which will support organisations working to improve access to care and close gaps in health research. Among those already supported is womenâs health nonprofit Eveâs Ark, which has used AWS technology to preserve more than a petabyte (aka an enormous amount!) of research data that might otherwise have been lost. The $100m commitment is in technology and cloud credits, rather than cash funding. (Continue reading: AWS news)
đ UK: NHS launches major trial of blood tests for earlier cancer detection. Ovarian and endometrial cancers are among the conditions being investigated in a new trial involving more than 20,000 patients across England. Backed by up to ÂŁ8.49m in government funding, the study will test whether new blood-based technologies, including AI and protein analysis, can help GPs identify cancers earlier and improve referral decisions. More than 200 GP practices will participate. (Continue reading: University of Birmingham)
đ Policy watch
đ Spain introduces paid menopause-related sick leave from December 2026. Following its introduction of menstrual leave in 2023, Spain is extending workplace protections to women experiencing debilitating menopause-related conditions. This isnât additional paid leave available to everyone experiencing menopause - itâs a specific sick-leave entitlement for medically-assessed conditions that prevent someone from working, with social security payments starting from the second day. And, as this LinkedIn post by Isabel Holguera Vera points out, having the law is one thing but women actually using it is another. (Continue reading: Euronews)
Have you caught up with FutureFemHealth Pro?
Since launching in April, weâve published 26 Pro articles exploring the business, investment and market trends shaping womenâs health.
From continuous hormone monitoring and approaches to equity and inclusion, to category deep dives and funding analysis, thereâs plenty to explore in the Pro archive.
And if youâre not yet a subscriber, joining Pro also helps keep this weekly briefing free for everyone, supporting independent reporting on the global womenâs health industry.
đ Save the date
FRANCE: Womenâs Health Europe Forum. Paris. November 27. đ Register here
Thatâs all for this week. If you found this briefing useful, please forward it to someone working in womenâs health!
Anna
This newsletter is for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical or financial advice.