💌 Issue 157: Oura + Maven fertility study | $200M Yarrow deal | Pregnancy hypertension up 73%

+ lots more in the weekly briefing on the global women's health market

Welcome to issue #157 of FutureFemHealth (w/c August 3 2026) - your weekly briefing on the global women’s health market.

More evidence this week that the boundaries of women’s health are expanding: from stroke and autoimmune disease to insurance and workforce retention - while two of the biggest names in wearables make new moves into reproductive health.

🌟 In this week’s briefing:

• 👶🏼 Oura and Maven Clinic explore wearables for trying to conceive

• ⌚ WHOOP makes ‘one of its biggest investments in women’s health’

• 📌 Can menopause femtech help retain healthcare workers?

• 📈 High blood pressure in pregnancy rises 73% in eight years

Share your news: anna@futurefemhealth.com

---

💰 Capital flows

📌 US: Aurenar raises $5.7 million seed for neuromodulation platform targeting haemorrhagic stroke. Aurenar’s platform uses non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation to reduce inflammatory complications following subarachnoid haemorrhage and received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation in June. And while it isn’t an obvious women’s health play, its lead investor certainly is. American Heart Association Ventures’ Go Red for Women Venture Fund highlighted women’s higher rates of post-stroke complications, alongside the technology’s potential application in other inflammatory conditions that disproportionately affect women, as reasons for backing the company. Solas BioVentures co-led the round. (Continue reading: Fierce Healthcare)

📌 US: Yarrow Bioscience goes public through VYNE reverse merger, backed by $200 million financing. Around 80% of people with Graves’ disease are women, making it an especially female-skewed autoimmune condition. Yarrow is developing YB-101, a potentially first-in-class antibody targeting the underlying mechanism driving both Graves’ disease and its common complication, thyroid eye disease, and has now begun dosing in a Phase 2a/2b trial following FDA Fast Track Designation. By merging with already-listed VYNE, Yarrow gains a Nasdaq listing, while the accompanying private financing is expected to fund operations into 2028. (Continue reading: Yarrow Bioscience)

Tired of manually tracking women’s health funding and M&A? FutureFemHealth Pro tracks and analyses where capital is flowing using our proprietary taxonomy - helping you see beyond the headline numbers to understand which companies are pure-play women’s health, and where broader healthcare innovation is increasingly addressing women’s health needs.

👉 Explore FutureFemHealth Pro and access our Q1 & Q2 2026 insights

🌟 Industry moves and strategic shifts

📌 DENMARK/SWEDEN: EU-backed project to test whether menopause femtech can help retain healthcare workers. Three femtech startups - Hormoner på Arbejde, MeWe&You Health and Minimal App - have been selected for this €1.6 million cross-border initiative, which will test market-ready menopause technologies in real-world healthcare settings. With shift work, physically demanding roles and limited opportunities for breaks potentially making menopause symptoms worse, the project could provide valuable evidence on whether menopause tech can improve workforce participation and retention. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)

📌 GLOBAL: Oura and Maven Clinic launch study into wearable biomarkers and fertility. Oura continues its shift towards clinical women’s health, partnering with Maven Clinic on an IRB-approved study exploring whether continuous wearable data can improve understanding of the trying-to-conceive journey. It also reinforces Maven’s longer-term strategy of supporting people trying to conceive before moving to assisted reproductive treatment, with the company reporting that around 30% of members in its fertility programme conceived without needing to progress to fertility treatment. (Continue reading: Oura)

📌 GLOBAL: WHOOP makes Natural Cycles fertility tracking part of its membership. WHOOP is making what CEO Will Ahmed calls one of the company's “biggest investments in women’s health” to date, covering the first year of Natural Cycles for eligible members. The integration uses overnight skin temperature collected by WHOOP to power Natural Cycles' FDA-cleared hormone-free birth control and fertility tracking, which also supports pregnancy planning, postpartum and perimenopause. It’s another sign of WHOOP moving beyond fitness tracking and building women’s health more directly into its core offering. (Continue reading: MobiHealthNews)

📌 CANADA: GreenShield expands hormonal health programme with menopause platform Coral. One of the first Canadian health insurers to launch a dedicated hormonal health programme is expanding its offering, saying it’s seen growing employer demand for more coordinated support. GreenShield also said nearly 40% of women do not know where to seek hormonal healthcare, while only 13% of employers provide adequate support. Now, by integrating Quebec-based menopause platform Coral into its wider benefits ecosystem, members can now access specialist menopause care alongside pharmacy, mental health, telemedicine and care navigation services. (Continue reading: GreenShield)

📌 US: DarioHealth adds menopause care to its cardiometabolic platform. Another demand-led move here, as chronic-care platform DarioHealth responds to employers and health plans who are looking for multi-condition solutions rather than standalone services. Its new Dario Women programme will add perimenopause and menopause support alongside its existing diabetes, hypertension and weight management services, combining digital tools and behavioural coaching with provider-led care, including evaluation for HRT where appropriate. It will roll out to existing enterprise clients this autumn, with revenue expected from Q4. (Continue reading: DarioHealth)

📌 US: Sunfish moves upstream with new preconception programme. Family-building platform Sunfish has launched Sunfish Starts, combining baseline fertility testing with personalised and financial guidance for people planning a family. What’s interesting is that this takes Sunfish beyond its existing focus on navigating and financing IVF and egg freezing, moving earlier in the journey before someone necessarily knows whether they will need treatment. (Continue reading: Fitt Insider/ Sunfish)

📌 ICYMI: What happens before IVF? This week’s FutureFemHealth Pro expands on the timely Sunfish news above and looks at an emerging layer of fertility care focused on finding a shorter path to pregnancy - from earlier diagnostics and addressing underlying conditions to lower-intervention treatments and better treatment sequencing. With billions flowing through the IVF market, companies including Maven, Sunfish and Carrot are starting to focus on the pathway that determines who reaches IVF in the first place — and who might not need to. Read: Before IVF: the emerging market for a shorter path to pregnancy

🩸 Research and women’s health news

📌 CANADA: TD Bank commits C$1 million to menopause brain health research. Brain health is emerging as one of menopause’s next frontiers, with TD Bank funding an expanded Sinai Health study into whether menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) can reduce migraine and brain fog symptoms. Using advanced brain imaging and neuropsychological testing, researchers hope to generate evidence for more personalised menopause care while improving understanding of menopause’s long-term impact on cognitive health. (Continue reading: Sinai Health Foundation)

📌 US: Gestational hypertension rates rise 73% over eight years. High blood pressure during pregnancy now affects more than one in 10 mothers in the US (up from one in 17 since 2016), according to new CDC data. The puzzling shift is that rates have increased universally - across every state and every age and BMI group studied between 2016 and 2024. This suggests factors beyond older maternal age and obesity are contributing to the rise, with environmental exposures among the areas being explored. (Continue reading: Axios)

📄 Policy watch: risks and opportunities

📌 US: Postpartum coverage gains face new policy headwinds. More women have retained health insurance during the first year after childbirth, giving them better access to ongoing postpartum care (many previously lost coverage just 60 days after giving birth). However, new analysis now shows that while the uninsured rate fell from 11.7% in 2019 to 9% in 2023, progress then stalled in 2024. Researchers now warn recent federal policy changes could reverse gains and widen existing maternal health inequalities. (Continue reading: Urban Institute)

---

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