Entrepreneur
Can a holistic approach change the way we treat endometriosis? This start-up thinks so
It affects 190 million women around the world, yet endometriosis remains hugely misunderstood
Abdominal pain, heavy bleeding, fatigue and depression are all too well known to those living with endometriosis.
The condition, which the World Health Organization estimates affects one in 10 women and girls globally, can have enormous implications, affecting anything from women’s mental health and quality of life to their education, productivity and relationships.
The impact of it is compounded by a lack of treatment options and knowledge among medical professionals which can lead to repeated surgeries and sometimes infertility.
A study by Aston University found that GPs often lack knowledge about endometriosis, with some saying they’d had scant training in medical school about the condition.
“Endometriosis manifests in the body in a similar way to cancer. There are oncologists who specialise in cancer, but there’s no such thing as an endometriosis doctor,” says Brittany Hawkins, co-founder and CEO of virtual chronic care platform ELANZA Wellness.
“The training a lot of medical professionals have haven’t equipped them properly to allow them to diagnose and treat patients with endometriosis early enough. It’s a failure of the system rather than doctors not caring that much.”
The standard first-line treatment for women with endometriosis is hormonal, specifically progestin-based therapy.
However, research shows the management of endometriosis requires a more holistic approach focused on reducing overall inflammation, increasing detoxification, and attenuating troublesome symptoms.
“It’s not just the public research supporting this holistic approach when it comes to endometriosis,” says Hawkins.
“Top academic centres of excellence in the world use a multimodal approach. However, accessing these centres is very expensive and it’s something most women couldn’t afford.”
Wanting to shake up the treatment and management of endometriosis, Hawkins and her co-founder, Catherine Hendy, launched the first virtual endometriosis centre to help women and assigned female at birth individuals learn about different treatments, meet with specialist care providers and better understand the condition.
The platform, called EverythingEndo, aims to provide patients with a personalised symptom management plan that combines scientific research, individual data and specialist support.
“For too long the majority of people have had their symptoms dismissed or normalised and over 70 per cent of sufferers are now left with unmanaged pain,” explains Hendy.
“Currently, there’s no space to knit together the full and balanced options for people to be able to hear not only clinically, but also in terms of wider lifestyle, and relationships, things they can do to limit and minimise the impact of endometriosis on their lives.
“Our aim is to simplify everything and give patients the tools they need at every stage of their journey.”
But the duo’s mission goes beyond improving endometriosis care. Hawkins says a big part of their work at ELANZA is centred around restoring trust in healthcare and addressing financial barriers to treatment.
“We know many women are gaslit, ending up not wanting to set foot into a medical office and, in some cases, getting their prescriptions from random sources, which can be very dangerous. We want them to have trust in the care they are given.
“In the future, we are also planning to look at different comorbidities. A lot of women [with endometriosis] end up seeing a psychologist if they have depression symptoms, then they would see a gynaecologist and possibly a gastroenterologist but actually, the condition itself is not being addressed as a whole-person issue. This is something we would like to go into.”
While some investors understand the issue, Hendy says many of them still see it as “niche”.
“It’s definitely a challenge to educate people about endometriosis and how under-diagnosed and under-researched it is,” she adds.
“What we often see in the VC space is that if endometriosis is not something that affects the investors themselves or their wives or daughters, they don’t understand it. It’s along the lines of ‘If this hasn’t affected me personally, I don’t think it’s a problem.’
“It’s definitely a harder road than we expected. Fortunately, the right investors do fit with us eventually. It just takes time.”
EverythingEndo is accessible from any device and works either standalone or in complementary tandem with in-office surgical and medical treatments.
By Women’s Health Week
With four weeks to go until Women’s Health Week USA, the excitement is ramping up!
The final early bird pricing closes this Friday, the full speaker lineup is confirmed, and a record number of pitch applications signals the depth of innovation now moving through the sector as we enter the Era of Scale.
Women’s Health Week USA takes place May 13-14 at the New York Academy of Medicine in New York City, bringing together 600+ senior decision makers spanning investors, founders, multinationals, payers, providers and policymakers around one shared agenda: taking women’s health from growth to scale.
Early bird tickets are available until midnight on Friday, April 17.
Book by then to save up to $600 on your place
The Full Speaker Lineup is Confirmed
The full speaker lineup has finally been confirmed, with 80+ voices spanning investment, innovation, policy, medtech and pharma.
The programme reflects the event’s 2026 theme, The Era of Scale, moving beyond early validation into the harder work of institutionalising women’s health as a category.
Confirmed speakers include Kate Ryder (Maven Clinic), Mallika Mundkur (FDA), Melanie Newman (Planned Parenthood), Nichole Young-Lin (Google), Jill Angelo (OURA), David Stern (Kindbody) and Tammy Sun (Carrot Fertility), alongside representation from the NYSE, ARPA-H, the World Health Organization, Samsung Next, Novo Holdings and more.
170 Pitch Applications and Counting
The Women’s Health Week USA Innovation Showcase received a record 170 applications ahead of its April 10 close, the highest number in the event’s history.
The volume reflects the growing depth of innovation in the sector, but it was the quality of submissions that stood out, with companies across Medical Devices & Therapeutics and Consumer & Tech bringing genuinely differentiated solutions to conditions that have been underserved for decades.
The selected companies will get the chance to pitch on the mainstage at the New York Academy of Medicine in front of the full audience of 600+ investors, corporates, innovators and strategic partners.
Results will be announced next week.
Register your interest to find out who makes the WHW USA Innovator Class of 2026
NYSE Partnership: A Quick Recap
For those who missed our announcement on Femtech World last week, the New York Stock Exchange is the Official Exchange Partner of Women’s Health Week USA 2026.
On the morning of May 13, WHW will feature in the NYSE Market Update, reaching approximately 200 million viewers.
Women’s Health Week will also light up the North Star Billboard in Times Square for a full week around the event, with live and taped interviews distributed across NYSE Live and Taking Stock.
It remains one of the most significant institutional endorsements the women’s health sector has seen.
Early Bird Pricing Closes This Friday
Tickets increase by up to $600 after midnight on Friday, April 17. For anyone with May 13-14 in their calendar, this week is the window to move.
Flora Fertility has raised US$5m in seed funding to roll out fertility insurance across the US, with plans to expand into Canada.
The round was led by ManchesterStory, with participation from Slauson & Co., TruStage Ventures, BDC Capital, Marathon Fund, Adara Venture Capital and strategic angel investors. Existing investors include Highline Beta, Everywhere Ventures and Cartography Capital.
Laura McDonald, co-founder of Flora Fertility, said: “Fertility is one of the largest uninsured financial risks people face, yet the system today only offers support once you’re already in crisis and often only if your employer provides it.
“We’re creating a new category where fertility becomes something you can proactively plan for, not just pay for when it’s too late.”
Flora says it is introducing a new InsurTech category with individually owned, portable fertility insurance designed to address a gap in healthcare cover.
The company says it wants to shift fertility from a reactive expense to a proactive, data-driven financial planning tool, using AI, personalised underwriting and risk modelling.
The platform lets people buy coverage without relying on an employer, helping it continue through job changes and different stages of life.
Flora’s policies cover a full range of fertility treatments, including diagnostics, medications, intrauterine insemination and in vitro fertilisation, with entry-level pricing starting at about US$20 a month.
The company estimates that infertility affects one in six people globally, while treatment costs can range from US$30,000 to US$50,000, leaving the vast majority of patients without access to care.
Flora says its platform currently reaches more than 10 million prospective policyholders across North America.
The funding will be used to expand Flora’s underwriting capabilities, scale distribution and further develop its platform as it seeks to establish a new market within women’s health and insurance.
Nicole Gunderson, partner at ManchesterStory, said: “Flora is building something that has never existed before, affordable, portable fertility insurance that meets the next generation of women exactly where they are.
“The InsurTech opportunity here is enormous, and the Flora team has the expertise, technology, and vision to define this category.”
Dr Christy Lane, co-founder of Flora Fertility, added: “Fertility has always been treated as unpredictable and uninsurable, but the data tells a different story.
“The earlier someone can access that coverage, the better their outcomes and the lower their costs, which is what makes this model so powerful.
“We’re turning fertility from a reactive medical expense into a proactive, data-driven financial decision.”
By Women’s Health Week
When the New York Stock Exchange signs on as the Official Exchange Partner of a women’s health event, it’s worth paying attention to.
Women’s Health Week USA, taking place May 13-14 at the New York Academy of Medicine in New York City, has confirmed the NYSE as its Official Exchange Partner for 2026.
It is one of the most significant institutional endorsements the women’s health sector has seen, and it says something meaningful about where global capital markets are directing their attention.
Find out more about WHW USA 2026 here.
What the Partnership Involves
This is not simply a logo on a lanyard.
The NYSE partnership comes with a set of activations that put women’s health in front of audiences well beyond the event itself.
On the morning of May 13, Women’s Health Week will be featured in the NYSE Market Update, reaching an audience of approximately 200 million viewers across outlets including Yahoo Finance and the Financial Times.
For a sector that has historically struggled for mainstream financial visibility, that kind of reach is significant.
Women’s Health Week will also light up the North Star Billboard in Times Square for a full week around the event, placing the brand at the centre of one of the most commercially visible locations in the world.
NYSE will produce live and taped interviews with WHW leadership and keynote speakers, distributed across NYSE Live, Taking Stock, and partner platforms reaching tens of millions of viewers monthly.
A dedicated NYSE content team will be on the ground at the New York Academy of Medicine capturing the conversations and connections taking place across both days.
The NYSE’s Healthcare & Life Sciences team will also take to the stage at Women’s Health Week USA, sharing their perspective on trends shaping the sector from a capital markets standpoint.
Why It Matters
The partnership is a signal as much as it is a sponsorship.
Women’s health has spent years making the case that it is a commercially serious category.
The NYSE’s involvement makes that case in a language the broader financial world understands.
Women’s Health Week USA 2026 is themed around The Era of Scale, a deliberate framing around the idea that the sector has moved beyond early validation into the harder work of institutionalisation.
Capital is moving. M&A activity is increasing. Generalist investors are entering a space that was once left to specialists. The NYSE partnership fits neatly into that narrative.
With 600+ senior decision makers confirmed across investors, founders, multinationals, payers and policymakers, the event is already one of the most commercially concentrated gatherings in the women’s health calendar.
The NYSE’s reach extends that concentration well beyond the walls of the New York Academy of Medicine.
Find out for yourself why this partnership is so perfect and join Women’s Health Week USA. Secure your ticket here.
The Pitch Sessions
For founders and early-stage companies, Women’s Health Week USA also hosts a mainstage Pitch Session across two categories: Medical Devices & Therapeutics and Consumer & Tech. Fifteen companies will be selected to pitch in front of the full audience.
Applications close April 10.
They are free to submit, and any company working on a condition that affects women exclusively, differently, or disproportionately is eligible.
Entrepreneur2 weeks agoThree sessions that show exactly where women’s health is heading in 2026
Menopause4 weeks agoCalifornia plans US$3.4m menopause care overhaul
Pregnancy3 weeks agoHow NIPT has evolved and what AI NIPT means in 2026
Menopause3 weeks agoWatchdog bans five ads for women’s heath claims
Entrepreneur4 weeks agoWHIS USA 2026 announces first ticket release for landmark Women’s Health Innovation Summit
News2 weeks agoTwo weeks left to make your mark in women’s cardiovascular health
Menopause4 weeks agoMenopause has no lasting impact on cognition, research finds
Opinion3 weeks agoQ1 momentum: Female founders are advancing, but the system still hasn’t caught up