Entrepreneur
Prestigious EU Women Innovators Prize awarded to Oxolife CEO Agnès Arbat

The prestigious EU Women Innovators Prize has been awarded to Oxolife CEO Agnès Arbat at the European Innovation Council (EIC) Summit on the 3rd of April 2025 in Brussels, Belgium.
The EU Women Innovators Prize is open to women founders and co-founders from across the EU and countries associated to Horizon Europe, who have founded a successful company and brought innovation to the market. As part of the prize, Agnès has been awarded €100,000.
Agnès Arbat, CEO of Oxolife, said: “I am deeply honoured to receive this award among such an inspiring group of women innovators who are pushing boundaries and making a real impact.
“At Oxolife we are advancing our lead candidate to improve fertility, an area that is very close to my heart, so this recognition is especially rewarding. I am incredibly grateful to my dedicated team at Oxolife, as well as our advisors, investors, and supporters. This achievement is a testament to the strength and commitment of our entire biotech family.”
Sara Secall, general partner at Inveready, said: “This is a well-deserved recognition for Agnès and the entire team at Oxolife. Women’s health remains a significantly underserved area in medicine, and it’s vital that we continue advancing solutions in this space.
“Agnès’ dedication to developing better fertility treatments is making a real difference, and this award is a testament to her vision, leadership, and unwavering commitment to improving care for women”
With over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Agnès has been responsible for the clinical development and management of Oxolife since its founding in 2013. Previously, she led the Women’s Health and Cardiovascular medical team at Bayer and worked in Medical Affairs in Women’s Health at Organon.
Agnès has played a key role in over 20 clinical studies in women’s health and has contributed to the launch of more than 10 new products or indications, including Xarelto, Nexplanon, and Ventavis. Agnès holds a medical degree from the Autonomous University of Barcelona with a specialty in Clinical Pharmacology and completed a General Management Programme at IESE Business School. She is a guest professor & mentor for the Master’s in Pharmaceutical Industry and Biotechnology at UPF and UIC.
Oxolife’s lead candidate, OXO-001, is a first-in-class non-hormonal drug that acts directly on the endometrium to enhance and improve the embryo implantation process, a breakthrough innovation in reproductive medicine. A single-to-take oral tablet, OXO-001 has demonstrated its effectiveness in increasing embryo implantation, pregnancy, and live birth rates among infertile women who are undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).
OXO-001 has successfully completed Phase 2 studies for its initial indication in embryo implantation and is ready to enter Phase 2 trials for a second indication, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), where it has shown promise in restoring ovulation and improving fertility.
Entrepreneur
Just 24 hours left to nominate your company of the year

You have until Friday to nominate your femtech company of the year.
The award is one of 10 featuring at Femtech World’s third annual awards event, which attracts entries from across the UK, EU and Europe.
The Company of the Year Award is for companies that have demonstrated exceptional leadership in tackling women’s health needs through groundbreaking products, services or platforms that are shaping the future of global femtech.
If your company is driving innovation, impact and growth in this space, this award was made for you.
About the sponsor: Femovate
The category is backed by Femovate, the global femtech incubator using design to fuel innovation across every stage of a woman’s health journey, from proactive prevention through to personalised treatment.
Femovate has invested over US$2 million in design capital, working side-by-side with founding teams to bring market-ready solutions to life.
The startups it supports have collectively raised US$120 million, launched 30 products, and secured seven FDA clearances.
Why enter?
The Femtech World Awards are free to enter.
Winners and shortlisted companies receive extensive coverage across all Femtech World platforms.
Winners will also receive a trophy and the opportunity to be featured in an interview for the publication.
Find out more about the Femtech World Award and enter here by 4pm BST on Friday 17.
Entrepreneur
The disciplined advantage: Wellness for modern leadership

By Chaitra Vedullapalli, founder and president, Women in Cloud
Today’s leaders are carrying more than responsibilities.
They are carrying caregiving roles, financial pressures, legal complexities, and the quiet emotional weight of sustaining performance in unpredictable times.
And yet, most leadership forums still focus on productivity, growth, and scale, rarely addressing the human systems that enable sustained leadership.
At Women in Cloud, we believe the next generation of leadership will not be defined by endurance alone, but by discipline, preparation, and self-respect.
That is why we are proud to announce the #WICxWellness Summit 2026: The Disciplined Advantage.
This is a wellness summit focused on leadership preparedness.
Why This Summit Matters Now
Across our global community, a clear pattern has emerged.
- More professionals and executives are quietly navigating:
- Life-threatening health crises, personally or within their families
- Financial stress caused by medical, caregiving, or business shocks
- Legal and healthcare decisions with long-term consequences
- Career interruptions due to caregiving responsibilities
- Chronic exhaustion, grief, and emotional isolation
These experiences are widespread, yet rarely discussed in executive settings.
#WICxWellness 2026 brings these realities into the open with compassion, clarity, and practical guidance, so leaders can prepare, adapt, and continue forward without breaking.
This is wellness as a leadership discipline.
What We Will Explore
This year’s summit is designed to provide grounded, immediately applicable insights for founders, executives, and senior leaders.
Executive Function Under Chronic Stress
Keynote with Jennifer Brown

Focus Areas:
- Understand how chronic stress alters judgment, focus, and emotional regulation
- Identify early warning signs of cognitive overload in leadership roles
- Adaptability as a Cognitive Anchor: Navigating rapid change without compromising decision-making.
- Resilience Through Connection: Building human-centric teams to mitigate the stress of uncertainty.
- Navigating Change with Emotional Intelligence: Regulating stress responses to maintain clarity and empathy.
- Systemic Agility in High-Pressure Environments: Creating foundations of psychological safety that protect organizational function
Labs That Matter (And What to Do With Them)
Fireside Chat with Chelsey Galipeau and Chaitra Vedullapalli

Focus Areas:
- Which health tests are worth the time and investment
- Interpreting results without panic
- Preventive strategies for executive longevity
- Avoiding unnecessary medical spending
Caretaking Without Collapse
Panel With Karen Fassio, Anca Platon Trifan, Scilla Andreen, Clara Schroeder, Sheena Yap Chan

Focus Areas:
- Managing family and professional demands without burnout
- Setting humane boundaries
- Building sustainable support systems
- Ending silent sacrifice in leadership
Food as a Stability System (Not a Diet)
Fireside Chat with Nancy Watt and Meagan T. Copelin

Focus Areas:
- Nutrition for sustained energy and clarity
- Blood sugar and decision-making
- Realistic eating during travel and stress
- Food as operational resilience
Autoimmunity, Hormones & Cardiac Risk in Real Life
Fireside Chat with Dr. Linda Bing

Focus Areas:
- Managing invisible health risks
- Hormonal transitions and stamina
- Flare prevention at work
- Energy mapping for leadership performance
A Different Kind of Leadership Conversation
At Women in Cloud, we have learned something fundamental:
Performance is visible. Discipline is invisible.
Yet discipline determines whether leaders can serve, build, and lead over decades, not just quarters.
The Disciplined Advantage is about building that resilience intentionally.
Through science, lived experience, and practical frameworks, this summit equips leaders to:
- Anticipate strain instead of reacting to a crisis Design sustainable work rhythms
- Protect cognitive and emotional capital
- Lead from grounded strength
This is leadership infrastructure for the next decade.
Join Us
If you are a founder, executive, technologist, or senior professional navigating complexity and determined to lead well without sacrificing your health, clarity, or longevity, this summit is for you.
The #WICxWellness Summit 2026 is where performance meets preservation. Where ambition meets sustainability. Where leadership becomes truly durable.
We look forward to welcoming you. The Disciplined Advantage begins here.
Secure your spot: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wicxwellness-summit-2026-tickets-1981616382945?aff=oddtdtcreator
Entrepreneur
Who will be crowned Startup of the Year?

Femtech World is continuing the search for a company to be crowned Startup of the Year.
The award is one of 10 to feature at the third annual Femtech World Awards.
The Startup of the Year Award celebrates an early-stage company making a bold impact in women’s health through innovation, vision and execution.
The winning startup will have demonstrated strong potential to transform care, accessibility, or awareness in women’s health with a scalable solution.
Consideration will be given to innovation, market traction, inclusivity, impact and the ability to address unmet needs.
The award is sponsored by Future Fertility.
The company is transforming fertility care with AI-powered solutions that close critical information gaps along the IVF journey.
Its clinically validated, non-invasive tools analyse oocyte images to predict each egg’s reproductive potential, supporting decision-making across key pathways: VIOLET™ for egg freezing, MAGENTA™ for IVF-ICSI, and ROSE™ for donor programmes and egg banks.
These reports deliver personalised insights into egg quality and ploidy potential, empowering patients and clinicians to make more informed decisions regarding next steps.
Today, Future Fertility’s technology is used in more than 300 clinics across 35+ countries.
Developed with the world’s largest oocyte image dataset linked to reproductive outcomes, Future Fertility’s AI models generate quality scores that not only guide treatment planning and manage expectations, but also serve as objective, actionable KPIs for labs—driving improved outcomes and transparency in fertility care worldwide.
The awards are free to enter, with winners receiving a trophy and an interview with Femtech World.
Find out more about the awards and enter for free here.
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