💌 Issue 80: Ultrahuman adds ovulation tracking | $15m for Roon's doctor-led Q&A | Posture-correcting bra patent

+ lots more in your weekly round-up of women's health innovation and FemTech news

Hi! Welcome to issue #80 of FutureFemHealth, here to bring you your weekly news about women’s health innovation and FemTech (w/c 2 December 2024).

A special welcome to everyone joining us from the FemHealth Insights newsletter this week, which is now part of FutureFemHealth! I know several of you received more than one intro email on Monday - I’ve reported that to Substack but please let me know if the issue continues.

🌟 Coming up today we’ve got:

• 💍 Ovulation tracking added to the Ultrahuman smart ring

• 💰 Roon raises $15m for its doctor-led Q&A platform

• ❤️ Posture-correcting bra by Etalon receives a US patent

• 🤰🏼 Nine leading UK universities selected for £50m Maternity Disparities Consortium

Got news to share from the world of FemTech and women’s health innovation? Let me know at anna@futurefemhealth.com

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📌 Now open for applications: Is your start-up focused on mental and behavioral health?

Check out the SEED SPOT Mental & Behavioral Health Focused Impact Accelerator! This Accelerator provides business training and coaching to selected founders tackling community mental and behavioral health inequities to make tremendous leaps of growth in just eight weeks. This program is for radical founders of early-stage startup solutions, and both for-profit and nonprofit enterprises are ideal for this Accelerator. Business solutions can range from apps that provide culturally relevant mental health services to facilitated group sessions.

Applications to the Accelerator are now open and the final deadline to apply is January 6, 2025.

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💍 “Most fertility tracking today is either inconvenient, expensive, or both.” Smart ring maker Ultrahuman launches subscription-free ovulation tracking

Image: Ultrahuman

Smart ring maker Ultrahuman has announced the launch of its new ‘Cycle and Ovulation PowerPlus’ feature - available free to Ultrahuman Ring AIR users.

Unlike traditional methods for fertility tracking that rely solely on basal body temperature (BBT), Ultrahuman's algorithms will incorporate multiple biomarkers that include skin temperature, resting heart rate and heart rate variability. This allows women to track their ovulation window using the Ultrahuman Ring AIR and its companion app.

Mohit Kumar, Founder and CEO of Ultrahuman said:

“Most fertility tracking today is either inconvenient, expensive, or both. Women often have to use two apps, pay for two subscriptions, and even purchase separate devices just to track their fertility,”

“We’re changing that. Ultrahuman’s fertility tracking is built natively into the same Ring AIR that already tracks your health, and we’re offering this service completely free. There’s no pink tax here - just evidence-backed insights to help women make informed decisions about their reproductive health.”

As well as the biomarkers, the Ultrahuman algorithm also incorporate stratifiers such as age, BMI, skin perfusion and diurnal stress after studying 41,475 anonymised cycles. This accounts for natural variability among regular cycle patterns.

Aditi Bhattacharya, Scientific Director at Ultrahuman, said:

“This is crucial because a single marker can vary, but the combined output of multiple markers reduces drift and boosts accuracy.

“By capturing a range of fertility signals, we provide a far more accurate and comprehensive picture than methods relying on just one factor.”

Outpacing competitors

Smart ring competition in women’s health has been hotting up in 2024. Oura ring is category leader and has announced a raft of new women’s health features during the year. Elsewhere, Movano Health’s Evie Ring’s highly-anticipated launch was dampened after poor customer feedback led to suspended sales.

Things may be changing still. India-based Ultrahuman, which secured $35 million in Series B funding earlier this year, has begun to witness large growth in market share, surging from 10% just a few months ago to - it says - 30% by November 2024.

It now aims to become the leading smart ring provider within 18 months.

(Continue reading full story: FutureFemHealth)

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💰 Funding, deals and investment news

📌 US: Roon raises $15m for doctor-led Q&A platform. Millions of people get their medical information from ‘Dr Google’ or social media. But these platforms are often overwhelming and rife with misinformation. In the case of women’s health, content can be censored too. Start-up Roon’s platform is trained only on doctor-created clinical information and answers. It already covers topics like IVF, PCOS and endometriosis and with this Series A round will expand across more of women’s health as well as broader topics such as dementia and cancer. Investment was co-led by FirstMark and Forerunner. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)

🌟 Industry news from this week

Image: Etalon

📌 US: Posture-correcting bra by Etalon receives a US patent. The posture correctors market is growing fast, set to reach an all-time high of USD 3.1 billion by 2033. Yet, there is a lack of comfortable posture-correcting apparel adapted to women’s anatomical needs for daily wear. Etalon is a female-owned and female-designed brand and now one of the few posture apparel brands to achieve patent recognition. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)

📌 US: FDA Clearance for the women’s health smart ring EvieMED. Movano launched Evie ring and billed it as ‘the first smart ring designed specifically for women.’ Now, it’s turning attention from consumers to the more lucrative B2B market, having secured crucial FDA clearance for the pulse oximeter in its medical-grade version of the Evie, the ‘EvieMED’ ring. Movano says its health monitoring solution is needed in various applications such as clinical trials, post-clinical trial management and remote patient monitoring. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)

🩸 Research and women’s health news

📌 GLOBAL: How is cycle length and sex drive linked? New research from female health app Flo has found links between having a shorter menstrual cycle and a higher sex drive. But there might be trade-offs. It found fatigue and insomnia as well as food cravings were more common in women who logged more sexual activity. The research has been published in the journal Scientific Reports and draws on data from over 16,000 Flo members. (Continue reading: Flo Health)

📄 Govt & policy news

📌 UK: Nine leading UK universities selected for £50m Maternity Disparities Consortium. Evidence shows that black women in the UK are almost three times more likely to die during pregnancy or up to six weeks after pregnancy compared to white women. Asian women are twice as likely to die during pregnancy or shortly after, compared to white women. This new consortium - backed by £50m over five years from the UK Government - will identify and lead research topics that lead to measurable improvements in care and outcomes before, during and after pregnancy. Each University will draw on expertise from charities, life sciences and patient groups too. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)

📌 US: Trump doesn’t need congress to make abortion effectively unavailable. Have you heard of the Comstock Act? It’s an 1873 anti-vice law that bars the mailing of “articles used to produce abortion.” Re-enacting that law would be just way President Trump could further restrict abortion rights. This article covers a full list. (Continue reading: KFF Health News)

✅ Jobs

📌 UK: Founder (this is a paid role, to lead a new validated concept in postpartum mental health), Mission Studio, Nesta

📌 UK: Senior Medical Advisor, Flo Health

📌 UK: Senior Manager, International Communications, Oura

📌 US: Director of Product, Commercial Growth, Oura

👩🏽‍💻 What’s your 2025 prediction? Share your perspective!

What’s in store for innovation in women’s health and FemTech in 2025?

I’m compiling a feature for FutureFemHealth and I’d love to quote you in it! What emerging technologies and innovations do you expect to see in 2025? What unmet needs might gain traction? How will the FemTech landscape evolve? And what investment trends or regulatory changes do you foresee?

Simply let me know your prediction(s) and I’ll include a selection of views in the feature - if you’re included I’ll also link to your website/service/product too.

Deadline is Tuesday 10 December. Add your prediction here

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Thanks for reading and 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.

PS. Before you go: Would you like to support FutureFemHealth through sponsorship and get your brand in front of nearly 8,000 professionals, founders and investors in women’s health? I’m taking bookings from January onwards. For more info and a copy of our media pack drop me a line: anna@futurefemhealth.com