💌 Issue 137: New industry alliance | Eight Sleep raises $50m | Whoop blood test | May Health raises $11.7m for PCOS

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

Welcome to issue #137 FutureFemHealth, (w/c March 9 2026) — the global weekly briefing on women’s health innovation, trusted by 9,300+ investors, innovators and leaders.

As you read this I’m travelling back to Denmark after a superb few days at Women’s Health Horizons in London, where I moderated a panel on women’s health censorship alongside Dr Aziza Sesay, Hertility’s Deirdre O’Neill and Communia’s Olivia DeRamus.

🌟 In this week’s briefing:

• 🔥 Industry alliance launches to challenge social media censorship

• 💤 Eight Sleep raises $50m at $1.5bn valuation

• 💰 May Health raises $11.7M to advance a device-based treatment for PCOS-related infertility

• ⌚️ Whoop launches a new blood test focused on women’s health

Share your news: anna@futurefemhealth.com

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🔥 Women’s health leaders launch industry alliance to challenge social media censorship

Many of you will know that as well as FutureFemHealth I am also the co-founder of the advocacy organisation CensHERship.

On Monday, we announced that we have convened a new cross-industry coalition to challenge the systemic censorship of medically accurate health information on social media platforms.

The Women’s Health Visibility Alliance (WHVA) brings together femtech companies, global brands, clinicians, charities, academics and investors who argue that digital moderation systems are routinely misclassifying educational women’s health content as “adult” material.

We’re proud to have founding members on board including Essity, Clue, Hertility, Daye and Mooncup, alongside medical experts, researchers and advocacy groups working across the sector.

As my co-founder on CensHERship, Clio Wood explained in a launch article in The Independent:

“The Alliance exists because this censorship has become a systemic barrier which is penalising the very companies, charities and experts working to improve women’s health. We need to see structural change and a fair, consistent framework for women’s health content online.”

According to our CensHERship research — 95% of women’s health organisations and creators surveyed reported experiencing censorship, with four in ten saying it had happened more than ten times within a 12-month period.

Deirdre O’Neill of Hertility said the issue raises questions about how platforms evaluate scientific credibility.

“Hertility have carried out more than 29 research trials and operate within some of the strictest regulatory frameworks in healthcare,” she said.

“If a company like Hertility, built on peer reviewed science and clinical evidence, can be censored while misinformation spreads freely, then the system designed to protect people is clearly failing them.”

Founding members of WHVA also include leaders from across the women’s health ecosystem. Participants include medical expert Dr Aziza Sesay, academics Dr Hannah Ditchfield and Dr Caroline Are, Charlotte Walshe of the Period Equity Alliance, and investor Cristina Ljungberg from The Case for Her.

Dr Aziza Sesay, a medical doctor and broadcaster, said the issue risks reinforcing long-standing stigma around women’s bodies.

“Online censorship perpetuates the narrative that women’s and gynaecological health is inappropriate and should remain taboo,” she said.

“This amplifies the embarrassment that already surrounds these topics. I often say that women are dying of embarrassment because they’re not coming forward about their problems due to shame, and when they present late, outcomes are poorer. Shame and stigma are costing lives.”

The alliance now plans to engage with social media platforms and policymakers in the UK and EU, calling for greater transparency around moderation systems and clearer recognition of medical context within platform policies.

As always, you can support this work by signing our open letter here (which also adds you to the CensHERship mailing list), submitting your censorship examples and evidence in our ongoing survey or contacting us (anna@censhership.com) if you may be interested in funding this important work that can benefit the entire ecosystem.

Full story: FutureFemHealth

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💰 Capital flows

📌 US: Eight Sleep raises $50m at $1.5bn valuation as it pushes beyond sleep into AI-driven health monitoring. The connected mattress company — known for its temperature-regulating Pod system — says this funding will support new products, global expansion and clinical validation. Alongside its core sleep platform, Eight Sleep has begun investing in women’s sleep research, including menopause-focused studies and a Hot Flash Mode feature designed to cool the bed during nighttime hot flashes. The company is also developing an AI “sleep agent” and pursuing FDA clearance for sleep apnoea detection as it positions its technology as a wider health sensing platform. This round was led by Tether Investments. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)

📌 US/EU: May Health raises $11.7M to advance a device-based treatment for PCOS-related infertility. PCOS affects around 10–13% of women globally and remains a leading cause of infertility, leaving many patients with limited options before moving to assisted reproduction. May Health’s one-time, office-based procedure is designed to restore ovulation in women with PCOS-related infertility who do not respond to first-line therapies such as ovulation-induction drugs. This new funding will support completion of the company’s US REBALANCE pivotal trial and preparations for a European launch of its Anavi™ System, which received CE Mark certification under the EU’s Medical Device Regulation in October 2025. Investors included Sofinnova Partners, Trill Impact, Bpifrance and new backer Nexpring Health. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)

🌟 Industry moves and strategic shifts

Image: Whoop

📌 GLOBAL: Whoop launches a new blood test focused on women’s health. Fitness wearable company Whoop is expanding its Whoop Labs service with a new blood testing panel focused on women’s health, measuring 11 biomarkers linked to hormones, thyroid function, nutrient levels and reproductive health — including AMH, progesterone and prolactin. The test will integrate with new app features that model hormonal changes across menstrual cycles and predict symptoms, cycle length and period timing. Whoop says the insights will combine lab results with wearable data on sleep, strain and recovery to give users a more holistic view of their health. The move reflects growing demand for women’s health features in consumer wearables, with the company reporting a 150% year-on-year increase in women using its platform. (Continue reading: TechCrunch)

📌 US: Sword Health evolves ‘Bloom’ into an AI operating system for women’s health. Employers increasingly seek out full service benefits support rather than point solutions. Previously a pelvic care specific product, Bloom’s platform will now provide end-to-end support across a woman’s entire lifespan with a newly launched menopause program at its heart. The AI uses ‘clinical memory’ to build adaptive plans. Bloom already reaches 7.5 million people through more than 500 enterprise clients. According to a third-party claims analysis, Bloom delivers $2,276 in annual healthcare savings per member, translating to 2.9x gross ROI for the employer. (Continue reading: HIT Consultant)

📌 US: Wisp expands into longevity medicine with new “Healthy Aging” category. The women’s telehealth platform is moving beyond reproductive and sexual health into longevity treatments including NAD+, glutathione and low-dose naltrexone (LDN), with peptide therapies too. It’s a shift from a focus on specific conditions to more of a lifelong health partner positioning. And, this news also taps into a wider conversation about what longevity medicine actually means: while some clinicians focus on areas like ovarian ageing, cardiovascular, metabolic and bone health, others are embracing optimisation therapies such as peptides - which is a fast-growing but still divisive category. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)

📌 GLOBAL: Why we still don’t have continuous hormone monitors. This new long-read analysis (including insights from FemTech Assembly’s Ida Tin) argues that real-time hormone tracking could transform areas from fertility and menopause care to chronic disease and autoimmune conditions. But building continuous hormone monitors (CHMs) remains an “ARPA-hard” problem: hormone levels are far lower than glucose, highly variable across individuals, and difficult to measure accurately with existing biosensors. The piece also warns that some startups blur the line between true hormone sensing and proxy tracking based on signals like temperature or heart rate. Experts say meaningful CHMs may still be 5–10 years away, requiring new biosensor technologies, large reference datasets and public-private R&D to make the field viable. (Continue reading: Alex Shintaro on Substack)

📌 US: Rescripted launches a “Trustmark” for science-backed women’s health brands. As misinformation, supplement hype and under-regulated digital health tools proliferate, trust has become one of the sector’s biggest bottlenecks. Rescripted is now positioning its AI platform Clara as a merit-based discovery layer connecting women to vetted products and services. (Continue reading: Fitt Insider)

📌 US: Mamava and SimpliFed partner to integrate virtual lactation support into Mamava’s app. Parents will be able to book telelactation appointments with certified consultants directly in the app, with insurance eligibility checks and appointments typically available within 24 hours. Mamava — known for its lactation pods and app mapping more than 10,000 breastfeeding spaces — says the move expands support from physical pumping locations to clinical care, addressing a key barrier as around 60% of mothers stop breastfeeding earlier than planned. (Continue reading: Newswire)

📌 US: HerDiabetes launches app linking menstrual cycles with glucose management. This new platform overlays continuous glucose monitor (CGM) data with cycle phases to identify hormone-linked glucose patterns. While an early launch, it reflects growing recognition that estrogen and progesterone fluctuations affect insulin sensitivity - yet most diabetes care remains sex-agnostic. (Continue reading: PR.com)

📌 THE NETHERLANDS: New startup ecosystem map FemTechNL has created the first national overview of more than 50 startups innovating across women’s health in The Netherlands. More than 80% are female-founded and 65% are still bootstrapped or in early funding stages indicating an ecosystem with room for growth and momentum. (Continue reading: FemTech NL on LinkedIn)

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📄 Policy watch: risks and opportunities

Photo by Ömürden Cengiz on Unsplash

📌 US: Major overhaul of maternity payment model as AMA retires ‘global bundle’. The American Medical Association will dismantle the long-standing bundled maternity billing system from 2027, replacing it with itemised coding for prenatal care, labour management, delivery and postpartum visits - a shift supported by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American College of Nurse-Midwives. The old system paid one fixed fee for the whole pregnancy and birth. The new model pays separately for each stage of care, which supporters say better reflects the reality of modern maternity care where multiple providers are often involved. One important implication: postpartum care - historically underdelivered and often invisible in payment systems - could become far more financially viable to provide. The shift may also make it easier for new types of services, including remote monitoring and specialist pregnancy consults, to be reimbursed. Though critics warn it could increase administrative burden and revive fee-for-service incentives. (Continue reading: Healthcare Dive)

📌 UK: MPs link menstrual health, NHS reform and social media censorship in new report. The UK Parliament Women and Equalities Committee has urged the government to prioritise menstrual health in the upcoming refresh of England’s Women’s Health Strategy, warning that long gynaecology waits, gaps in education and underfunded Women’s Health Hubs are leaving many women without timely care. Notably, the report also dedicates a section to the shadowbanning of women’s health content on social media — drawing a direct link between platform moderation practices and women’s ability to access reliable health information, with evidence including data from CensHERship. MPs say tackling misinformation and ensuring visibility of trusted health content must form part of wider reforms to improve women’s health outcomes. (Continue reading: UK Parliament report)

📌 EU: New Gender Equality Strategy links women’s health, safety and research investment. The European Commission’s newly-published Gender Equality Strategy highlights several health priorities including improving access to sexual and reproductive healthcare, addressing gender gaps in medical research and recognising gender-based violence as a major public health issue. The framework also calls for a gender lens across EU research and health funding programmes to tackle persistent inequalities in prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Advocates now continue to push for a dedicated EU Women’s Health Strategy, arguing that women’s health still sits across multiple policy areas rather than being addressed through a single coordinated plan. (Continue reading: European Commission)

📌 Europe: EU and Council of Europe launch initiative to address women’s health in sport. The new “Active and equal: women’s health in sport across generations” project will examine the physiological, psychological and social barriers affecting women’s participation in sport across different life stages. The programme will produce a Europe-wide analysis, develop a toolkit for coaches and health professionals, and run awareness campaigns to reduce stigma around issues such as menstruation and menopause in sport. It’s all aiming to help sports systems better account for women’s health needs and improve participation and safety for female athletes. (Continue reading: Council of Europe)

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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 and you can connect with me directly.

Anna

Before you go: FutureFemHealth reaches 100,000+ women’s health innovators each month - founders, operators, clinicians and investors. Want to partner with us? Explore opportunities or request our media pack contact: anna@futurefemhealth.com