Every Monday we share a quick “best of” from the week that was in the world of women’s health innovation with our Inner Circle members. What’s trending in the Femtech Insider community and beyond? Read on!
Femtech Momentum in the UK
What a week for UK femtech! Jennis raised a $1.35M pre-seed round for its wellness app, that helps women map their workouts to their cycle, The Lowdown got $800K in pre-seed funding for to scale their contraception review platform, and Tuune (previously known as Pexxi) raised $4.6 to launch their hormonal health & contraception offering in the U.S.
Femtech in London and in the U.K. overall (Side note: Keep an eye on the Cambridge ecosystem!) is currently seeing a lot of growth and momentum, so we wanted to share a quick list of 30+ UK femtech companies we’re watching closely these days exclusively with you, our Inner Circle audience.
Have a read and let us know, if we're missing any companies you're particularly excited about!
Psychedelics and Women's Health
Covering innovation in any given space is really about identifying the signal in the noise and when it comes to psychedelics, the signal these days is very, very strong as evidenced by a couple of stories we recently covered on our blog:
- Psychedelic Biotech Eastra Health launched with plant to address menopause and PMS
- Female-founded psychedelic biotech company Aphrodite Health launched with a focus on women's mental and physical health
- Field Trip pursues postpartum depression as lead indication for FT-104, its novel psychedelic compound
Besides the work done by these biotech companies, there are also a few startups looking to enter the market DTC. These are usually focused on micro-dosing and going after productivity & wellness. An example would be Gwella.
What peaked our interest this week, though, and why we're talking about psychedelics in this brief today, was a new article in renowned science magazine Nature with recommendations for a roadmap to wider acceptance and utilization of psychedelic therapy.
"Given the worsening mental-health crisis, and a lack of innovation in psychopharmacology, it is urgent that the US Congress make funds available for psychedelics research, which is currently sustained mainly by corporate and private donors."
All of this to say: Psychedelics? A space to watch.
💡 Tip: If you're new to the space and would like to learn, have a look at the upcoming events at the bottom of this email - we're organizing an intro session in a few weeks.
The State of Women in the Workplace
A year and a half into the COVID-19 pandemic, women have made important gains in representation, and especially in senior leadership. But the pandemic continues to take a toll. Women are now significantly more burned out—and increasingly more so than men.
Despite this added stress and exhaustion, women are rising to the moment as stronger leaders and taking on the extra work that comes with this: compared with men at the same level, women are doing more to support their teams and advance diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. They are also more likely to be allies to women of color. Yet this critical work is going unrecognized and unrewarded by most companies, and that has concerning implications. Companies risk losing the very leaders they need right now, and it’s hard to imagine organizations navigating the pandemic and building inclusive workplaces if this work isn’t truly prioritized.
Read McKinsey's new "Women in the Workplace" Report
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