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.
Entrepreneur
Last chance to save on Women’s Health Week and Women’s Sport Summit: Early Bird pricing ends 11 September
Early bird pricing for W Group’s two flagship October summits – Women’s Health Week Europe 2026 and Women’s Sport Summit Europe 2026 – closes on 11 September.
Both events take place at Emirates Stadium, London, bringing together founders, investors, corporates, and industry leaders shaping the future of women’s health and sport.
Women’s Health Week Europe 2026
7-8 October | Emirates Stadium, London
This year’s edition will be Women’s Health Week Europe biggest one yet: with 700+ attendees, 80+ speakers, and 20+ sponsors, it will also feature two stages – a Global Stage covering market trends and policy, and a Scale Stage focused on company-level growth and commercialisation. WHW takes place across two days of content, business matchmaking, and dealmaking.
Agenda highlights include:
- Where Capital Flows: Funding Trends in Women’s Health – with Merete Clausen (EIF), Ekaterina Gianelli (Calm/Storm), Henriette Hessen (Verdane), Jemma Day (British Business Bank), Ravit Warsha Dor (Telus Global Ventures), Tim Davis (LSEG)
- Six Feet Under-funded: Surviving the Valley of Death in Women’s Health – with Patric Stenberg (Gesynta Pharma), Valentina Milanova (Daye), Amber Vodegel (28x)
- The Women’s Health Label – Gift or Curse? · Live Debate – with Juan Camilo Arjona Ferreira (organon), Marissa Fayer (DeepLook Medical), Christian Lautner (Heal Capital), Annie Theriault (CBIV), Ida Tin (Clue)
- Passport to Scale: Taking Your Women’s Health Business Global – with Vanessa Carpenter (Femtech Across Borders), Annie Theriault (CBIV), Victorine Lançon (Daya Ventures), Dr Mridula Pore (Peppy)
Early bird pricing (ends 11 September):
| Ticket type | Early bird | Standard |
| Startups, Scaleups, Investors, Non-Profits, Government | £599 + VAT | £699 + VAT |
| Corporates, Payors & Providers | £1,799 + VAT | £1,999 + VAT |
| Service Providers & Consultants | £3,299 + VAT | £3,499 + VAT |
Register for Women’s Health Week Europe | See the full agenda for WHW
Women’s Sport Summit Europe 2026
6 October | Emirates Stadium, London
The first-ever Women’s Sport Summit expands W Group’s expertise in connecting key decision-makers to the sports industry.
WSS brings together rights holders, brands, investors, athletes, and media to accelerate commercial growth across the sector.
Agenda highlights include:
- From capital to crowd: the women’s sport cycle at scale – with Omar Shaikh (Arsenal FC), Nicole McWilliams (Google), Kerstin Lutz (Mercury13), Jo Currie (BBC Sport)
- Women’s sport through the investor lens: what gets funded – and why – Hugo Sever (APEX Capital)
- Rethinking ROI: what are we measuring that doesn’t actually matter? – Fi Watherston (Metro Bank), Silvia Keiser (Billie Jean King Cup), Gabriel Akin-Odujobi (Crux Football), Tammy Parlour (WST)
- Beyond the 90 minutes: matchday as a commercial product, not just a fixture – Maggie Murphy (Aston Villa Women FC), Sam Feasey (Diageo/Guinness), Molly Miller (OneFootball), Megan Feringa (The Athletic/The New York Times)
Early bird pricing (ends 11 September):
| Ticket type | Early bird | Standard |
| General Pass | £299 + VAT | £399 + VAT |
| Service Providers & Consultants | £1,799 + VAT | £1,999 + VAT |
Register for Women’s Sport Summit Europe | See the full agenda for WSS
Attending both events?
For group tickets or to attend both summits this October, contact Callum, W Group’s Client Success Lead, at [email protected].
KOVE Medical has raised €1.7 million to support first-in-human studies of an implantable device designed to reduce preterm birth risk after foetal surgery.
The University of Zurich spin-off is developing a device designed to close defects left by surgical instruments following fetoscopy, a minimally invasive procedure performed inside the womb.
Fetoscopies can treat life-threatening conditions before birth but require surgical instruments to pass through the uterine wall and amniotic sac.
This can weaken the protective membrane, causing fluid leakage or rupture and often leading to preterm birth.
KOVE Medical said in a statement on LinkedIn: “This is a crucial step forward for our company, and we are incredibly grateful for the strong support and trust from our syndicate of visionary angel investors.”
KOVE Medical says its device closes the defect at the end of the procedure, stabilising the membrane and preventing complications. The aim is to make in-utero interventions safe enough to become a standard method of care.
The company plans to use the seed funding to reach first-in-human studies, a key milestone for a medical device seeking regulatory approval.
The CHF1.6m round was backed by a syndicate of angel investors.
The Women’s Health Innovation Summit (WHIS), the event uniting the global women’s health ecosystem, has just announced 18 new speakers joining the agenda for its 2026 summit, taking place October 13–15 at Encore Boston Harbor.
The latest additions bring further depth across pharma, clinical research, health systems, venture, and policy, reinforcing WHIS’s role as the only platform where the full women’s health ecosystem convenes under one roof.
Newly confirmed speakers include:
- Kelle Moley, MD – VP, Women’s Health Early Phase Clinical Development, Cardiometabolic Research, Eli Lilly & Company
- Justine Levin-Allerhand – Executive Partner, Chief Corporate Development Officer & COO, Flagship Labs, Flagship Pioneering
- Sebnem Yildirimoglu, MD, PMP – Executive Director, Women’s Health Strategy, Premier Research
- Terri Stewart – Head of Global Healthcare & Government Affairs, EMD Serono
- Dr. Morag Grassie – Executive Director, Blavatnik Fund for Innovation, Yale
- Sandra Butler – Director, Design Impact, Mass General Brigham
- Zhenya Lindgardt – Chief Executive Officer, Sera Prognostics
- Sadie Morahan – Head of US Revenue, Withings Health Solutions
- Angela Drew, PhD – Vice President, Regulatory Strategy, Premier Research
- Dr. Stephanie Lahr – CMIO, Aqurio
- Michelle Andrews – Contributing Writer, KFF Health News
- Charlotte Williams – CEO, My Bump Hub
- Clint Dart, MS – Director, NIH Women’s Health Data Coordinating Center, Premier Research
- Cass Sanford – US Venture Advisor, FemTech Lab
- Megan Mukuria – Founder & CEO, ZanaAfrica
- Tiffany Inglis, MD, FACOG – Chief Medical Officer, Sera Prognostics
- Angelean Hendrix, PhD – Vice President, Pharmacometrics and MIDD, Premier Research
- Amanda Ducach – CEO & Co-founder, EmaEQ
“WHIS is where the women’s health industry comes together to take action,” said Poppy Howard-Wall, Event Director at WHIS.
“This latest wave of speakers reflects exactly the kind of cross-sector expertise our attendees expect – from global pharma and clinical research leadership to venture, health systems, and grassroots innovation.
“It’s this breadth that makes WHIS the room where things actually move forward.”
Bringing the Full Ecosystem Together
These additions join a growing 2026 agenda spanning four content tracks that reflect the full lifecycle of healthcare innovation, from early-stage research and development through to patient delivery, system transformation, and commercial scale.
Attendees can expect over 1,000 senior decision-makers, 120+ expert speakers, four dedicated stages, and more than 10 hours of curated 1:1 meetings.
Full speaker and agenda details are available at whisusa.com/speakers-2026.
About WHIS
The Women’s Health Innovation Summit is the only platform uniting the full women’s health ecosystem – providers, payers, employers, pharma leaders, investors, and innovators -to increase deal flow, expand reimbursement, improve access, and deliver better outcomes for women at every stage of life.
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