Round up: £1m for women’s health research and care

Femtech World explores the latest business developments in women’s health.

Portfolia launches women’s health fund

Investing fund Portfolia has launched the Women’s Health Fund IV for women’s health innovation.

The company has stated that Fund IV’s debut investment is in Gameto, a clinical-stage biotechnology company reprogramming female cells to transform fertility and hormonal care.

Portfolia’s investment is part of Gameto’s recently announced US$44m Series C financing, bringing its total raised capital to US$127m, one of the largest investments in the US biopharma sector focused on reproductive health to date.

Gameto’s lead programme, Fertilo, uses engineered ovarian support cells to mature eggs outside the body, reducing the standard two-week IVF hormone protocol to two to three days.

The company has begun enrolling patients in its Phase 3 trial in the US, building on its clinical use in Australia and Latin America, with five babies born and over 20 pregnancies recorded so far.

New partnership to advance health equity and women’s wellness services

Vivant Health has announced a new strategic partnership with Pandia Health, a women-led, women-founded telemedicine provider committed to improving access to comprehensive women’s healthcare.

The partnership aims to break down barriers to women’s healthcare, promote health equity, and deliver trusted, evidence-based services that support women’s health needs.

The collaboration is also designed to expand access to expert, affordable women’s health services for Vivant Health members.

As part of this partnership, Vivant Health members will gain streamlined access to Pandia Health’s expert physician-only online care and medication delivery services. This includes convenient telehealth consultations, easy prescription refills, and discreet home delivery of FDA-approved medication, all supported by a mission to empower women through accessible, data driven healthcare.

Mira Introduces Ultra4 at-home hormone monitor

Hormonal health company Mira has launched Ultra4 – an at-home hormone monitor to deliver lab-quality insights into four key hormones including FSH, LH, E3G, and PdG.

The test uses one wand and takes 16-minutes, enabling people to see their full cycle story with the same precision available in clinics.

The new kit measures FSH, LH, E3G, and PdG together — offering a complete hormonal profile across the cycle. This helps users identify imbalances, track shifts over time, and better understand fertility, perimenopause, and overall cycle health.

With Mira’s AI-powered app, users can also test any day of their cycle, or multiple times daily, for personalised insights.

New features include: 4D Ovulation Profiling, Egg Prep Scan, Hormonal Fingerprint, Cycle Balance Analysis, and Egg Count Intelligence.

Visana Health appoints chief commercial officer to drive new growth

Virtual women’s health clinic Visana Health has appointed Tom Maraday, a senior executive with over 35 years of experience in developing health and wellbeing solutions for large employers and payers, as chief commercial officer.

Tom will be responsible for leading national and regional health plan sales, driving activation with employers, and growing member enrollments, while leveraging his deep expertise in sales, marketing, and account management to create scalable infrastructure and build high-performing teams that advance Visana Health’s mission.

“Tom is a proven leader with a track record of leading high-performing, fast-growing teams and accelerating organisational growth across some of the most transformative sectors in healthcare,” said Joe Connolly, co-founder and CEO of Visana Health.

“His experience working with payers and employers to develop new health and wellbeing models is essential as we continue to deepen our relationships with current payers and scale our model to more payers and self-funded employers across the US, ensuring every woman is heard and helped.”

Tom’s roles have included scaling fast-growing businesses and innovative care models, including virtual healthcare, preventive/proactive care and value-based care for organisations, such as Omada Health, EHE Health, Bright Horizons and Plus One (now Optum).

New partnership commits US£1m for women’s health research and care

The Shoppers Foundation for Women’s Health is advancing health equity for women with a US$1m investment in health research and care, over the next two years, through Women’s Health Collective Canada (WHCC), the largest non-government funder of women’s health research in Canada.

The investment will support research on, and improved care for menopause.

This latest investment builds on three years of sustained partnership, with total contributions to WHCC of over US$3m.

“This is more than generosity, it’s leadership,” said Amy Flood, executive director at WHCC.

“Shoppers has believed in our work from the beginning, and they’ve helped shape a movement. With this renewed commitment, we’re taking meaningful steps toward a new standard of care for menopause in Canada, something long overdue.

“Together, we’re reaching more women, funding more research, and making the case for system-wide change.”

“We are proud to continue our partnership with WHCC to help close the women’s health gap in Canada,” said Paulette Minard, director of community investment, Shoppers Foundation for Women’s Health.

“This investment reflects our ongoing commitment to supporting women in our communities at every life stage, through better research, better care, and better outcomes.”

This investment will support the development of an enhanced, evidence-based standard of care for menopause in Canada.

Through the WHCC national network, funding will help accelerate local and regional initiatives.

Progyny study reveals gap between perceptions and realities in women’s health benefits coverage

Family building solutions company Progyny has announced the results of its new national Women in the Workplace research conducted in partnership with Dynata, the world’s largest first-party data company for insights, activation and measurement.

The study reveals a persistent gap between what employees want from their women’s health benefits, and what employers believe they are providing.

Specifically, results show that 81 per cent of HR leaders say they’re committed to advancing women’s health and well-being in the workplace, but only 52 per cent of working women believe their benefits make healthcare affordable.

“The trend of women seeking out and even changing jobs for better benefits has been a persistent one the past few years. This study proves that women know what they want, and they are raising their voices.

“Simultaneously, HR leaders are aware of this trend and are eager to expand their women’s health benefits to get ahead in talent recruitment and retention,” said Katie Higgins, CCO at Progyny.

“Where the mark in women’s health benefits may be missed is with the absence of a unified benefit that provides success to both sides – covers the continuum of care for women, increases engagement, results in clinical impact, and provides cost-control.”

According to the study, while most employers express a strong interest in supporting women’s health, they are unknowingly falling short in delivering access to specialised care, clear benefits navigation, and the personalisation employees expect, particularly across critical life stages like fertility, pregnancy, and menopause.

It’s not enough to simply offer a women’s health benefit or access to a digital tool – the benefit needs to be designed and implemented with intention.

This new research shows leading concerns among female employees; for example, 83 per cent of women say benefits that support coaching and treatment for menopause are important, only 12 per cent say their employer does a good job in providing them.

Further, nearly one in four women (24 per cent) who wanted to use a benefit gave up because it was too complex to understand or access, and 83 per cent of women and 88 per cent of employers agree that centralised support from one place would make women’s health benefits more effective.