Entrepreneur
Where the smart capital is going: Maternal health innovation
By Theresa Neil, CEO of Femovate
For years we’ve known that maternal mortality remains too high, even in wealthier countries. The data is clear but meaningful change has been slow. Now, there are signs that things may finally be shifting.
New Momentum in Funding
Funding for maternal health is beginning to grow, and it’s coming from a broad mix of sources. Health systems, mission-driven funds, and hospital-backed venture arms are stepping in alongside traditional VCs.
Impact-Driven Investors at the Forefront
Much of the early momentum in maternal health innovation is coming from social impact funds and mission-aligned investors who have stepped in to support solutions where traditional capital has often fallen short.
These investors are not only backing new startups, they are helping reshape how maternal health challenges are identified, explored and solved.
Catalyst by Wellstar, a health system–backed innovation fund, just invested in Armor Medical, a company developing a wearable to monitor for early signs of postpartum haemorrhage.
The technology offers continuous insight during labor and postpartum, enabling faster intervention to help prevent the leading cause of maternal death.
“Catalyst is committed to backing transformative technologies that redefine standards of care,” said Jaimie Clark, Head of Innovation at Catalyst by Wellstar and Director of Innovation and Venture Strategy for Wellstar Health System.
“By investing in solutions that enable real-time detection and intervention, we’re not just funding innovation, we are helping save lives, protecting families, and building a safer future for mothers.”
Laerdal’s Million Lives Fund, based in Norway and the UK, has been investing globally in maternal and neonatal innovation since 2020.
They’ve supported early-stage companies like Novocuff and Ciconia Medical, and partnered with organisations such as MATTER, Walgreens, and University of Chicago Medicine to help startups address the biggest problems in maternal care.
Medicines360’s Innovation Hub continues to focus on advancing maternal health tools with both clinical rigor and patient centric design.
Their portfolio includes PeriPeach, a device designed to reduce severe perineal tearing, which won the 2025 Harvard President’s Innovation Challenge.
SwissHealth Ventures and Zürcher Kantonalbank, along with European Union Horizon 2020 funding, have backed Pregnolia, a Swiss startup developing a diagnostic tool to assess cervical stiffness and support preterm birth prevention.
These investors are filling a critical gap in funding and accelerating the pace of real, evidence-based innovation that supports better maternal outcomes.
Profit-Driven Investment is Gaining Ground
We’re also seeing a shift in who is funding maternal health.
While many early investments came from mission-driven or philanthropic sources, more profit-driven investors are now entering the space.
These ROI-focused backers expect strong returns and see maternal health as an underinvested opportunity. U.S. Venture Partners (USVP) led a $17 million Series A round for Delfina Care, an AI-enabled platform focused on pregnancy care.
TMV (March of Dimes Innovation Fund) and Foreground Capital co-led a $12 million Series A for Millie, a U.S. tech-enabled maternity clinic.
These are meaningful shifts.
They suggest that maternal health is no longer seen as a niche or philanthropic cause, but as a viable and scalable opportunity within the broader healthtech and digital care landscape.
Learning from the Fertility Investment Model
The fertility space shows what’s possible when capital and attention align. Over $10 billion has been invested in conception and IVF over the past decade.
That wave of funding brought new tools to market, expanded access, and improved outcomes. As investment in fertility has grown, attention is beginning to shift toward maternal health.
Turning Momentum Into Lasting Impact
To keep this momentum going, we’ll need continued support for clinical research, scalable product design, and thoughtful integration with care teams and health systems.
Early-stage capital remains essential, along with the infrastructure to help new tools reach the people who need them most.
Support from initiatives like Femovate, Springboard Enterprises, and Tech4Eva, along with investment groups such as Daya Ventures, is helping founders navigate early development, build credibility, and find the partnerships that move their solutions forward.
These networks are turning innovation into real-world impact.
Change is on the horizon.
With coordinated support from funders, founders, accelerators, and care providers, now is the time to reimagine maternal health and deliver better care for mothers and families around the world.
Rapidly scaling startups often make rushed hiring choices that disadvantage women, a recent study has found.
The findings draw on more than 31,000 new ventures founded in Sweden between 2004 and 2018.
Researchers at the Stockholm School of Economics report that in male-led startups, scaling reduces the odds of hiring a woman by about 18 per cent, and the odds of appointing a woman to a managerial post by 22 per cent.
Mohamed Genedy is co-author and postdoctoral fellow at the House of Innovation, Stockholm School of Economics.
Genedy said: “During those moments of rapid growth, even well-intentioned leaders can fall back on familiar stereotypes when assessing who they believe is best suited for the role.”
The patterns emerge even in Sweden, regarded as a highly gender-equal national context.
Founders with human resources-related education counteract these challenges.
In ventures led by founders with HR training, the odds of hiring a woman increase by more than 30 per cent, and the odds of appointing a woman to a managerial role increase by 14 per cent for the same level of growth.
Genedy said: “When founders have experience with structured hiring practices, the gender gaps shrink, and in some cases even reverse.
“This shows that getting the basics of HR right early on really pays off.
“When things start moving fast, founders with HR knowledge are less likely to rely on biased instincts and more likely to hire from a broader talent pool.”
Prior experience in companies with established HR practices also helps, though to a lesser degree.
It raises the likelihood of hiring women as ventures scale, but does not significantly affect managerial appointments.
The study additionally shows these patterns are not driven by founder gender alone.
Even solo female-led ventures display similar tendencies when growing rapidly, though to a somewhat lesser degree.
In female-dominated industries, rapid growth increases the hiring of women for regular roles but still reduces the likelihood that women are appointed to managerial positions.
“When scaling accelerates, cognitive bias kicks in for everyone. Female founders are not immune to these patterns,” said Genedy.
Midi Health has closed a US$100m Series D, lifting the menopause care provider to a valuation above US$1bn and achieving unicorn status.
The company, originally focused on virtual menopause care, says it will expand to what it calls lifelong care, adding cardiology, obesity management, autoimmune survivorship and longevity services.
Joanna Strober is co-founder and chief executive officer of Midi Health.
She said: “This is validation for the movement we’re leading.
“Women’s health has been treated like an afterthought for too long.”
Midi reports it now sees more than 25,000 patients per week and has insurance coverage reaching 45 million women nationwide.
To support scale, the firm is rolling out a proprietary artificial intelligence engine intended to slot into clinical workflows.
It analyses patient charts before virtual visits to help personalise care, automates triage and documentation, and reviews data on midlife women to refine protocols.
The company has also strengthened its leadership. Jason Wheeler, formerly in senior finance roles at Tesla and Google, has been appointed chief financial officer. He joins chief marketing officer Melissa Waters, previously at Meta and Lyft, and chief commercial officer Matt Cook.
Each year, about two million women in the US enter menopause.
Untreated symptoms are estimated to cost the economy US$25bn annually.
Women’s telehealth company Wisp has acquired TBD Health, a sexual health platform, in its first acquisition and expansion beyond direct-to-consumer care.
The deal adds TBD Health’s diagnostics infrastructure and hospital partnerships to Wisp’s platform, which the company says serves 1.8 million patients across the US.
Wisp, which describes itself as the largest women’s telehealth company in the US, said the acquisition marks a move into enterprise and hybrid care models that combine consumer-first digital care with hospital systems, enterprises and public health programmes.
TBD Health operates a sexual health and diagnostics platform across all 50 states, combining routine STI and HIV testing, virtual clinical support, and partnerships that help remove cost barriers for patients.
The company has established relationships with Mount Sinai Health System, San Francisco AIDS Foundation and Planned Parenthood Direct.
Monica Cepak, chief executive of Wisp, said: “This acquisition reflects where healthcare is going and where women have been left behind.
“TBD Health brings the infrastructure and partnerships that allow us to move into hybrid and enterprise care quickly, while staying true to Wisp’s patient-first approach.
“Together, we are making preventative care more accessible especially to women and integrating them into proven care models.”
The companies say gaps in access remain in sexual health and preventive care, particularly for women.
While women account for 19 per cent of new HIV diagnoses in the US, they remain underserved by existing prevention models, which have historically been designed and marketed for men.
Of the 2.4 million people eligible for PrEP, a medicine that reduces the risk of getting HIV, only around 25 per cent are currently enrolled.
Daphne Chen, co-founder of TBD Health, said: “By joining forces with Wisp, we can provide partners with a turnkey solution for PrEP along with sexual health diagnostics and care that integrates seamlessly into their existing workflows, ensuring no patient falls through the cracks.”
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