Entrepreneur
Belfast startup launches AI period tracking tool
A Belfast-based femtech company has launched what it claims is the world’s first AI-powered menstrual tracking system that provides clinical-grade insights into period volume, clotting and cycle trends.
Joii’s technology, unveiled in Dublin, combines a specially designed menstrual pad with a mobile app to measure blood volume and clot size in millilitres – offering users more objective data than subjective terms like “heavy” or “normal” flow.
Heavy menstrual bleeding affects one in three women, yet diagnosis is often delayed due to vague language used to describe symptoms. While other femtech apps track symptoms and cycles, they do not directly measure menstrual flow.
Founder and chief executive Justyna Strzeszynska created Joii after experiencing her own challenges navigating menstrual health.
“Doctors would ask me about my menstrual flow, but I had no benchmark, much less a reliable way to measure it,” she said.
Joii’s system uses pad-scanning volume analytics – a first in women’s health. Users wear disposable pads, then scan them using the free app. Images are analysed using computer vision technology to assess blood volume, clot size and composition. Results are available instantly in millilitres, with reports on average flow and cycle trends.
“For too long, women have been told to just ‘track their period’ without any real tools to measure what’s actually happening. With Joii, we’re changing that,” said Strzeszynska. “We’re helping people see their periods clearly, for the first time.”
The company’s AI model was trained largely on synthetic data due to the lack of available real-world images. It was then tested across a range of lighting conditions and usage scenarios to ensure reliable results.
How Joii works:
Wear Joii Pads – Specially designed for comfort and visual clarity.
Scan with the Joii App – Users scan used pads through the mobile app.
Get Insights – Immediate readings show menstrual volume (in millilitres), clot detection and flow trends.
Over time, the app builds personalised data that can support healthcare appointments and inform diagnoses. Joii is particularly aimed at people with heavy bleeding or those facing long diagnostic delays for conditions such as endometriosis, which can take up to 10 years to diagnose.
Joii is also the only product of its kind currently on the market. While some researchers have attempted to track flow manually using menstrual cups in small studies, there has been no consistent or scalable tool for widespread menstrual health monitoring – until now.
The technology is registered as a Class I medical device in the UK and protected by multiple patents.
Joii’s impact has been tested in two clinical and real-world studies, including one funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Users reported:
62 per cent improvement in communication with GPs
288 per cent increase in symptom screening efficacy
134 per cent rise in menstrual health literacy
A separate feasibility study found:
33 per cent improvement in abnormal symptom screening
52 per cent increase in period health literacy
36 per cent improvement in discussing symptoms with GPs
Among healthcare professionals:
88.6 per cent of GPs said Joii improved period-related conversations
87.6 per cent found it easier to identify abnormal or heavy bleeding
93 per cent said it supports diagnosis of heavy menstrual bleeding
88.6 per cent said they would use it in practice if NHS-approved
Dr Fatema Mustansir Dawoodbhoy, NHS doctor and clinical adviser to Joii, said: “This app will definitely offer me better insights into how the patient is feeling as I will be able to understand their symptoms variation throughout the month.”
Dr Kushal Chummun, consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology at the Rotunda and Connolly Hospital, added: “I think the app is really, really good.”
To date, Joii has raised €2.4m and is backed by EIT Digital through its equity portfolio. As part of the EIT Digital Open Innovation Factory, Joii worked with Finnish software studio Ikune to enhance user experience, integrating gamification features to improve retention and data quality.
Joii is also collaborating with research institutions to explore menstrual blood as a non-invasive diagnostic tool. Predictive AI models are being developed to support earlier detection of conditions such as endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and anaemia.
Strzeszynska said the research “helps build a crucial bridge between data and the healthcare system, offering credibility to patient healthcare monitoring apps. It generates clinically relevant insights that can support more meaningful, evidence-based conversations with healthcare providers.”
The Joii app is free to download on iOS and Android. Joii Evaluation Pads retail at €6.95 and are available online at www.joiicare.com and in selected pharmacies and health stores.
The Women’s Health Innovation Summit (WHIS) has announced that submissions are open for the 2026 Innovation Showcase, giving early and growth-stage start-ups the chance to present their solutions to the most influential audience in women’s health.
Taking place October 13–15 at Encore Boston Harbor in Everett, Massachusetts, WHIS brings together more than 1,000 decision-makers from across the women’s health ecosystem — investors, payers, health systems, pharma leaders, and employers — all under one roof.
Selected companies will pitch live on stage to an audience with the funding, expertise, and connections to accelerate their growth.
Past participants have walked away with investor introductions, commercial partnerships, and clinical collaborations that moved from conversation to contract.
WHIS is where the women’s health ecosystem comes together to get deals done,” said Sarah Rowlands, marketing director.
“The Innovation Showcase puts promising start ups directly in front of the people who can take them to the next level.”
The showcase sits at the heart of a three-day programme spanning digital health, therapeutics, diagnostics, and consumer health.
Previous attendees have included representatives from Mayo Clinic, CVS Health, Eli Lilly, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Alumni Ventures, Muse Capital, and Maverick Ventures, among hundreds of others.
Applications are open now. Start-ups can submit at
www.whisusa.com/attend/start-ups
About WHIS
Now in its eighth year, the Women’s Health Innovation Summit is the largest global gathering of senior leaders shaping the future of women’s health.
Organised by Kisaco Research, WHIS unites providers, health plans, employers, regulators, pharma, investors, and innovators to increase deal flow, expand reimbursement, improve access, and deliver better health outcomes for women at every stage of life.
WHIS 2026 takes place October 13–15 at Encore Boston Harbor, Everett, MA.
Learn more at www.whisusa.com
Five women-led startups will compete for a share of a £30,000 prize fund in Imperial’s WE Innovate final on Monday 15 June 2026.
The finalists are building businesses to tackle challenges in areas including vaccine technology, epilepsy care and the destruction of “forever chemicals”.
The WE Innovate programme, run by Imperial Enterprise Lab, is a targeted pre-accelerator open to teams led by students, recent alumni and early career researchers who identify as women.
The programme supports 25 women-led teams through six months of masterclasses, business coaching, one-to-one expert support and peer mentoring.
The top five teams will compete to win a share of the £30,000 prize fund at the WE Innovate Grand Final Showcase at Imperial on Monday 15 June 2026 from 18:00 to 21:00.
Tickets are free and available on a first-come, first-served basis.
This year’s final also marks the second year of WE Innovate National, a growing UK-wide programme that has expanded the WE Innovate model built at Imperial to other parts of the country.
Alongside Imperial, Queen’s University Belfast, Swansea University and Loughborough University are each hosting their own grand final showcases on their campuses.
The four showcases are collectively contributing to a shared national ecosystem focused on supporting women-led innovation.
WE Innovate National is set to expand to seven universities next year, supporting 175 women-led startup teams across the UK.
AlphaVectors Biotech is developing a lipid nanoparticle platform to enhance the stability of RNA vaccines at room temperatures.
Lipid nanoparticles are tiny fat-based particles used to deliver genetic medicines into the body. RNA vaccines use genetic instructions to help the immune system recognise a disease target.
Current RNA-based therapeutics rely on lipid nanoparticles that need storage at between -20°C and -80°C and high dosing. This increases distribution costs and leads to significant wastage, limiting scalability, deployment and accessibility in lower-resource markets.
AlphaVectors Biotech says its technology can lower the need for temperature-controlled supply chains, reduce costs and improve the scalability of RNA vaccines for wider deployment.
The startup is led by Dr Apanpreet Kaur, an Imperial alumnus with a PhD in chemical engineering.
Epile-X, by NeuraVance Labs, is working on a platform that could provide continuous, real-world brain monitoring for people with epilepsy.
More than 630,000 people in the UK live with epilepsy, according to the charity Epilepsy Action.
Epilepsy is a neurological condition that can cause recurring seizures. EEG, or electroencephalography, is a test that records electrical activity in the brain.
Current diagnosis relies on EEG recordings in clinical settings and patient-reported diaries, which may miss seizures that happen during daily life.
The startup says its technology combines a wearable EEG with AI-driven analysis to capture daily brain activity and support improved diagnosis and more personalised treatment decisions.
Epile-X is led by Ester D’Alterio, an innovation, entrepreneurship and management MSc graduate from Imperial.
FluoroCycle is developing technology for low-energy chemical destruction of PFAS, breaking down “forever chemicals” at 10 times lower temperatures than current incineration methods.
PFAS are synthetic chemicals found in air, water and soil. Some studies have linked exposure to them to health risks including thyroid disease, reproductive illness and cancer.
The startup aims to make PFAS destruction more affordable by providing its technology as an onsite engineered unit, allowing customers to save on energy and transport costs while cutting their carbon footprint.
FluoroCycle is led by Amanda Fogh, a research associate in Imperial’s department of chemistry.
Waypoint is building a video game controller for visually impaired players to hear and feel popular games, including Super Mario and Minecraft.
At least 2.2 billion people globally have some form of vision impairment, according to the World Health Organisation, while estimates show around 43 million people have complete blindness.
Waypoint says only 0.001 per cent of video games are fully playable for blind gamers.
The startup’s technology uses computer vision and AI to read the game screen and translate key information into sound, vibration and touch for a fully immersive experience.
The founders say it is the first game controller designed to make video games fully playable for blind players.
Waypoint is led by Bana Quronfuleh, an innovation design engineering MSc student at Imperial.
Snitch is developing an accountability-based app that allows friends to cut down their screen time together.
UK adults spend an average of 4.5 hours a day online on personal smartphones, tablets and computers, according to Ofcom’s Online Nation 2025 report.
Young adults spend more than six hours online on average. Some research suggests excessive screen use may have a negative impact on mental and physical health.
The app allows users to join accountability groups and set shared limits across their most used apps.
When one person scrolls, the group’s combined timer counts down. The founders say this helps build awareness, encourage reflection and create small behavioural shifts by making screen use a shared responsibility.
Snitch is led by Asha Bakhai, a design engineering MEng graduate from Imperial.
Indian pharmaceutical giant Sun Pharma has agreed to buy Organon for US$11.75bn in a deal aimed at expanding its women’s health and biosimilars business.
Organon, which was spun out of Merck in 2021, has built a portfolio of more than 70 women’s health and general medicines products, including biosimilars, sold in the US and about 140 other countries.
The acquisition would give Sun Pharma a broader presence in biosimilars, which are medicines designed to be highly similar to existing biological drugs, and strengthen its position in women’s health.
Dilip Shanghvi, executive chairman of Sun Pharma, said: “Organon’s portfolio, capabilities, and global reach are highly complementary to our own, and we believe that bringing the two organizations together can create a stronger and more diversified platform.”
The companies said the combined business would generate annual revenue of US$12.4bn, operate across 150 countries and rank among the top three companies globally in women’s health.
They also said it would become the seventh largest biosimilar player.
Sun Pharma said the deal would help grow its innovative medicines business and expand its biosimilars offering.
It added that the combined company would have 18 large markets each generating more than US$100m in revenue.
Organon’s largest markets include the US, Brazil, Canada, China and countries in the European Union. The company also has six manufacturing facilities across the EU and emerging markets.
The deal follows market speculation that began on 10 April, when Indian media reported that Sun Pharma had submitted an all-cash offer for Organon.
A later report said the offer had been revised to US$13bn. Sun Pharma shares rose about 7 per cent on India’s National Stock Exchange after the announcement.
Sun Pharma said it would acquire all of Organon’s issued and outstanding shares in cash, using a combination of available cash and committed bank financing. It also estimated synergies of about US$350m within two to four years of completion.
The company said the acquisition would strengthen its cash generation, with EBITDA and cash flow set to nearly double, supporting efforts to reduce the net debt to EBITDA ratio of 2.3 times resulting from the deal. EBITDA is a measure of operating performance before certain costs are deducted.
Organon reported revenue of US$6.2bn last year and adjusted EBITDA of US$1.9bn. It also reported debt of US$8.64bn, down from US$9.5bn when it separated from Merck, and a cash balance of US$574m.
In November, Organon announced plans to sell its JADA System, designed to control and treat abnormal postpartum uterine bleeding or haemorrhage, to Laborie Medical Technologies for up to US$465m. Net proceeds from the sale will contribute to Organon’s cash balance as of 31 March 2026.
Organon will merge with a subsidiary of Sun Pharma, with Organon surviving the merger. The boards of both companies have approved the transaction.
Carrie Cox, executive chair of Organon, said: “Following a comprehensive review of strategic alternatives, our Board determined that this all-cash transaction offers compelling and immediate value to Organon stockholders.”
The transaction is expected to close in early 2027, subject to regulatory approvals and Organon stockholder approval.
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