Wellbeing of Women has partnered with Maroon Venture Fund to launch AstraWell, an initiative aimed at advancing women’s health. The multi-year partnership will focus on accelerating innovation and venture development in women’s health, deploying capital to fund women’s health innovation, and strengthening research and development (R&D) innovation consortiums and commercial venture platforms in the UK, the US, and globally.
Janet Lindsay, Chief Executive Officer of Wellbeing of Women, shared: “We are thrilled to announce this partnership with Maroon Venture Fund. By supporting new ventures in women’s health, we can nurture innovative ideas and tackle pressing issues such as heavy menstrual bleeding, premature birth, and gynecological cancers. This collaboration allows us to leverage our expertise to drive forward initiatives that benefit all women.”
Lisa Lambie, Managing Partner of Maroon Venture Fund, added: “Through our partnership with Wellbeing of Women, Maroon aims to significantly advance research and innovation in women’s health. This initiative will help scale commercial launches in the US and UK and address critical health issues that go beyond reproductive and sexual health, including chronic conditions like diabetes, autoimmune diseases, and neurological disorders.”
The first initiative under AstraWell is the AstraWell Venture Studio, designed to support the development and commercial scaling of early-stage ventures addressing chronic health and climate conditions that disproportionately impact women’s health. The Venture Studio will advance research and innovation with support from the UK’s largest dedicated institution for women’s health and extensive partnerships in the UK and US. It will leverage expertise in financial structuring, AI, data analytics, impact delivery, go-to-market strategy, and investor readiness. The Venture Studio will position ventures for scaling into the US/UK markets through local operations, expand grant funding opportunities, and access providers of investment capital targeting above-market returns.
The AstraWell Venture Studio will operate primarily as a virtual platform, with optional on-site engagement in New York, Boston, Houston, Glasgow, and London. Eligible ventures must be pre-seed or seed-stage, based in the UK or US, and focused on patient-centric innovation and commercial potential in one of the following areas: reproductive or gynecological health, including cancer; chronic health conditions disproportionately impacting women, such as diabetes, autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular conditions, and neurological disorders; diversification of clinical trials in women’s health; healthy aging and longevity; or climate impact on women’s health within the Blue Economy or Built Environment.
