💌 Issue 94: New female-led medtech fund | Sprout Family raises CAD$1.7m for accessible fertility | FemTech startups joins NHS accelerator
+ lots more in your weekly round-up of women's health innovation and FemTech news
Hello and welcome to issue #94 of FutureFemHealth (w/c March 24 2025).
🌟 Coming up today we’ve got:
💰 New female-led medtech fund closes first £27m
❤️ Sprout Family raises CAD$1.7m pre-seed round to make fertility benefits more accessible
🚀 Three FemTech startups selected for three-year NHS innovation Accelerator
✅ Wisp partners with Origin on pelvic health in-person and virtual care
💰 Why THENA Capital’s new £27m fund is great news for women’s health investment
A London-based venture capital firm, THENA Capital, has announced the launch of its new medtech fund with a £27m ($35m USD) initial close - pledging to invest in early-stage UK medical technology firms. (Full story here).
The firm intends to raise a total of £50m, with the initial commitment coming predominantly from the British Business Bank with other backers include Firebird Collective, This Day Foundation, Baroness Martha Lane Fox, and private equity and pharmaceutical industry figures.
Here’s why this fund is notable for women’s health:
THENA Capital is led by an all-female team. Founded by industry veterans Dr Pamela Walker Geddes, Esther Reynal de St Michel Richardot, and Tatum Getty, THENA Capital will bring a different perspective to an industry where we know that just 15% of senior investors in Europe are women. This lack of female-decision makers in VC has contributed to underinvestment in women’s health, despite clear market demand.
25% of THENA’s fund is ear-marked for women’s health. This is exciting to see in a sector that we know is underfunded. The early stage medtech focus is particularly important too to help innovations get started and navigate the long development timelines and regularity complexity that startups face before they can even take a product to market. Many promising ideas in areas like fertility, menopause care, and gynaecological health struggle to attract funding due to structural investment gaps. THENA Capital is already backing companies like Bea Fertility, which is developing at-home fertility treatments, and Daye, known for its diagnostic tampon technology. Now, by allocating a quarter of its fund - up to £12.5m - to early stage women’s health, THENA is directly addressing a long-standing funding gap.
THENA offers support as well as funding. Unlike venture capital firms that focus purely on investment, THENA has indicated that it will actively support commercialisation too, helping startups navigate regulatory hurdles, scale operations, and expand into key markets like the US. Medtech startups need this support as they face significant financial and regulatory barriers, with high costs for clinical trials, compliance testing, and regulatory approvals before they can even reach patients.
I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s always great to see a new fund including women’s health as part of its investment focus. And by combining that investment with hands-on support, much-needed diversity and a clear strategic focus, THENA could set a welcome benchmark for funding and scaling early-stage women’s health innovations. As co-founder Tatum Getty wrote:
“We are the first specialized early-stage VC fund in the UK, founded by an all-female team with relevant operating experience. If you can't see it, you can't be it. If you can't dream it, you can't do it.
“I hope we inspire others to follow suit and join us in breaking the barriers and redefining the image of a venture capitalist.”
💰 Funding, deals and investment news
📌 CANADA: Sprout Family raises CAD$1.7m pre-seed round to make fertility benefits more accessible. Founded in 2023 by CEO Jackie Hanson and COO Suzanne Mason, Sprout’s platform helps employers include comprehensive fertility, surrogacy, and adoption benefits in their health plans. Although paying a surrogate or paying a company to arrange surrogacy services is illegal in Canada under the Assisted Human Reproduction Act, intended parents have to cover many costs related to surrogacy, such as for medications, travel, and non-covered medical services. This investment was led by StandUp Ventures. (Continue reading: Betakit)
🌟 Industry news from this week
📌 UK: Three FemTech innovations selected for three-year NHS Innovation Accelerator. Congratulations to Daye’s diagnostic tampon, Janam’s pregnancy and postpartum app for South Asian families, and Samphire NeuroScience’s period pain treatment wearable Nettle. They will join 25 other innovators in heath and social care in this prestigious programme to tackle key NHS challenges (and hopefully win contracts with the NHS too!). Participants will be supported to scale their solutions and navigate the complexities of the NHS. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)
📌 UK: Aldi becomes first UK supermarket to provide free in-store period products. After research from the retailer revealed the extent of period poverty across Britain, Aldi will now stock free pads and tampons in both its customer and employee toilets. A partnership with Bloody Good Period will donate a further 1 million period products to those in need. (Continue reading: Retail Gazette)
📌 US: Illume Fertility announces partnership with Sunfish to help make the journey to parenthood more affordable. The cost of fertility treatment continues to be a barrier for many people - sparking growth in services that offer new, more affordable ways to pay. Sunfish’s IVF Success Program provides a customized financial plan with a partial refund if a patient does not achieve pregnancy during their membership. (Continue reading: Illume)
📌 US: Wisp partners with Origin on pelvic health in-person and virtual care. A 2024 Origin study found 83% of women aged 18-59 report symptoms linked to pelvic floor dysfunction. And after recognizing the significant overlap in their patient demographics, women’s telehealth company Wisp and pelvic health therapy startup Origin have partnered to address pelvic health and vaginal health holistically. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)
📌 UK: Manchester City Women announces snuggs as official period underwear partner. 84% of girls quit sport after their first period. Now with interest in women’s elite sports exploding, this first-of-its-kind collaboration sees the platform of a premier football team being used to tackle the stigma of menstruation in sport. (Continue reading: Women’s Health)
📌 GERMANY: Unveiling the German FemTech landscape map. A new overview of the ecosystem in Germany highlights 100 active startups with nearly 50% based in Berlin. (Continue reading: FemTech Germany via LinkedIn)
🩸 Research and women’s health news
📌 AUSTRALIA: AI diagnoses endometrial cancer with near perfect accuracy. Researchers have developed an AI model which can detect endometrial cancer with a 99.26% accuracy. The model examines microscopic tissue images and enhances them to identify key areas, with a significant improvement over current methods that have an accuracy of no more than 81%. Published in the Journal of Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine, the research also shows the model can be used for breast cancer effectively and other cancers too. (Continue reading: Medical Xpress)
📄 Govt & policy news
📌 AUSTRALIA: Government invests $5.3m to reduce premature births. In 2022 nearly 25,000 pregnancies were preterm. This investment will extend a Government program which has already helped reduce the number of early term babies by 11% and includes promoting continuity of care, medication plans such as vaginal progesterone and aspirin, and education for women and health staff. (Continue reading: health.gov.au)
📆 Watch | Listen | Join
📌 FemTech Book Club. TONIGHT! Featuring All In Her Head by Dr Elizabeth Comen. Starts 4pm PT | 7pm ET. Join for free
✅ Jobs
📌 UK: Patient Care Program Manager - Menopause, Manual
📌 UK: Patient Care Specialist - Menopause, Manual
📌 US: Content Creator (Organic Social), Natural Cycles
📌 US: Senior Compliance Attorney, U.S. Litigation, Center for Reproductive Rights
That’s all for this week! See you next time. If you’ve missed any previous newsletter issues catch them all at futurefemhealth.com and do make sure to follow us on LinkedIn.
