Every Monday we share a quick “best of” from the week that was with our Inner Circle members. What’s trending in the Femtech Insider community and beyond? We’ve got you covered! In this week's brief we talk about Pediatric Innovation, plus...
- Is Emmanuel Macron the Unlikely Femtech Hero We've All Been Waiting For?
- A Look Back at Healthcare in 2021 (with Blake Madden from The Healthy Muse)
- Startup Spotlight: Skincare, Hair Pulling, Conference Diversity 🌟
- And more!
Exploring Pediatric Innovation
In news not (yet?) covered on Femtech Insider, we recently took a moment to explore pediatric innovation inspired by Kiddo's $16M Series A, Little Otter's $22M raise and Owlet's Dream Duo launch, as well as our discovery of KidsX, an accelerator and ecosystem for pediatric innovation "anchored by a consortium of children’s hospitals motivated to partner with early stage digital health companies." (Sidenote: Can we/Do we have something similar for women's health??)
What we found in kids' health is a huge opportunity for true innovation and impact. And as so many other areas we talk about on our platform, pediatric innovation is clearly ripe for disruption.
"So what areas should we keep an eye on?" 👀
KidsX is currently prioritizing 5 areas:
- Pediatric Mental & Behavioral Health
- Care Coordination & Adherence
- AI/ML/RPA - Automating Workflows to Optimize Care Pathways
- Chronic Condition Management & Patient-Reported Outcomes
- Game Changer (Editorial Note: 👀🤯)
So in conclusion: None of this is not much different from innovation targeting other patient populations. So just like we apply a gender-lens to potential investments in healthcare companies, there is merit in applying a "pediatric lens" (Is that a word/thing?) to identify new opportunities and untapped spaces.
"Interesting. But I'm here for women's health! What opportunities do you see at the intersection of pediatric & women's health?"
Glad you asked! Here's a few areas we thought were interesting:
➡️ Femtech to Famtech
We've seen tons of companies pop up lately with a focus on pregancy & post-partum. Many of them will likely add pediatric health services to their offering taking a similar path as Maven did evolving from women's health to family health in its offer and messaging. Read: Maven acquiring Bright Parenting
➡️ Sex Ed becomes Health Ed
What does sex ed look like in a digital-first enviroment? And how can the "standard sex ed" curriculum be evolved to focus on health literacy overall? An interesting new early-stage company we've spotted is Luna, who are creating an app that educates, empowers and supports young girls and non-binary people aged 9 - 16
➡️ Menstrual Health & Menarche
Let's look at Oky, a period tracking app designed for and with girls in emerging markets. Menstrual health and hygiene can be used as an entry point to provide girl-centred information about menstruation, fertility, contraception, positive health behaviors and where to get help. While many period trackers target an older user, period tracker designed for a younger demographic, need to focus even more on inclusive, evidence-based, and culturally relevant education.
Upcoming Events
TOMORROW: Jan 18, 2022, 6pm GMT - Breaking into Femtech: Careers in Femtech and Women’s Health Innovatiion
This new quarterly career call is an opportunity to learn more about the femtech ecosystem and career opportunities in women’s health innovation. We’ll have valuable tips for those looking to transition to femtech, those in femtech looking to advance their careers and those looking for talent to join their organizations.
Emmanuel Macron for Endometriosis!
Is French President Emmanuel Macron the unlikely femtech hero we've all been waiting for? Just last week we tried to answer this question (somewhat seriously) in an op-ed on our blog following the announcement of France's New National Strategy to raise awareness for and combat endometriosis.
Head on over to our blog, have a read and let us know what you think!
Some additional thoughts:
👉 If you like you can check out our 5-Minute Brief on Endometriosishere.
👉 It's great to see more government support and funding for women's health. Reminds us of the UK's Recent "Listening Tour" & effort to tackle "decades of gender health inequality".
👉 Is Emmanuel Macron to endometriosis what Michelle Obama is to menopause? Her podcast interview is often considered the starting point of more public discourse and who knows.. maybe this initiative can have a similar effect. We sure hope so. #stopthestigma #awareness
👉 One of the most interesting (and best funded) European women's health startupsNabla Health is headquartered in France (currently expanding to the UK).
"Healthcare in 2021 was a hell of a year."
Many "looks back at 2021" have been taken and written up over these past few weeks (including our own), but we have now found the Mother of all Reviews" written by "Healhy Muse" founder Blake Madden. And of course we don't want to keep this newest discovery from you!
So if you have some (a lot of! #longread) time today, check it out and if you don't it's a great post to bookmark and reflect on as we continue to build, invest and innovate in healthcare in 2022 and beyond!
👉 PS: Blake's Healthy Muse Newsletter is pretty great. You can subscribe here if you like.
Startup Spotlight! 🌟
Wanna know which startups get us excited these days? Below are a few of our recent (femtech-healthtech-ish) discoveries!
👉 Clear App: The first integrated social app and verticalised neobank for skincare
👉 Nudge: A wearable that helps users break the cycle of hair pulling, skin picking, or nail biting.
👉 Choir: The first diversity certification for finanical conferences.
Know of a startup that should be on our radar? Let us know!
Twitter Thread of the Week!
Marissa Schlueter Moore is a healthtech investor at OMERS Ventures. In this recent twitter thread she explored caregiver support, an area that got quite a bit of attention in our community last week after ianacare's $12.1M Series A raise.
Check out her tweetstorm - it's worth a read!!
