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 Kindbody becoming a unicorn, plus...
- DTx Around the World
- Startup Spotlight: Alice Clinic & GinaLife 🌟
- And more!
🦄 Digital Health Unicorns
Ladies, gents and non-binary pals, we've got another unicorn in our ecosystem: Kindbody. The company reached unicorn status ($1.15B valuation) through M&A having acquired fertility clinic network Vios Fertility Network.
"Kindbody and Vios are both women-led and together have performed nearly 10,000 fertility treatments in 2021, a number they expect to double in 2022. Vios clinics, located in Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin, will rebrand to Kindbody and integrate Kindbody’s proprietary patient portal, EMR (electronic medical record), and telehealth platform into the expanded operations to ensure a seamless continuum of care."
Exciting times! But Kindbody isn't the only unicorn we're watching closely in our space. The company joins others like Maven, Every Health, Ro (not exclusively women's health) or Hims (not exclusively women's health) and if you're looking for a bit of a deep dive into the world of "digital health unicorns", the spreadsheet below curated by Halle Tecco, Natalist Founder & Everly Health's EVP of Women's Health.
DTx Around the World 🗺️
Last week Lover, a sexual wellness DTx (Digital Therapeutics) company, announced FDA approval (and a $2M raise).
"The $2M bridge round was led by led by investors including Lerer Hippeau, Manta Ray, Global Founders Capital and FJ Labs. Following FDA approval Lover is now joining the FDA’s Safer Technologies Program STeP. The FDA has stated that Lover has been shown to provide “significant safety advantage in treating or diagnosing less serious diseases or conditions” and “can also provide an important public health benefit.”
💡 Wanna learn more? We spoke to Co-founder Dr. Britney Blair about a year ago. Here's the interview!
Now we've been following the DTx space for a while (Shoutout to Brian Dolan's Exits and Outcomes Newsletter!) and it definitely is an exciting space to be in these days. Speaking to entrepreneurs, however, it still seems to be a challenge to positioning the category (with investors, payers, employers, policy makers etc.) within the digital health ecosystem and in relation to e.g. virtual care or telehealth.
One of the organizations keen to adress this "awareness challenge" is the Digital Therapeutics Alliance. The non-profit was founded in 2017 by industry leaders and stakeholders with the mission to "broaden the understanding, adoption, and integration of clinically evaluated digital therapeutics with patients, clinicians, payors, policymakers through education, advocacy, and cross-industry collaboration."
And the reason we're telling you this today? Just last week the group released a new really handy resource: Country-specific DTx Briefs
These briefs include information on:
- The definition of a DTx
- The value of DTx in patient care
- Types of DTx interventions
- DTx safety and effectiveness
- Country-specific regulatory and product access pathways
So if you're interested in this space, definitely a good one to bookmark! 👇
Startup Spotlight
Wanna know which startups get us excited these days? Below are a few of our recent (femtech-healthtech-ish) discoveries!
👉Alice Clinic aims to reinvent the gynecological delivery model for the next generation, focusing on those with high deductibles and the uninsured. They are modernizing and streamlining the experience via a blend of culturally competent digital tools and vetted in-person delivery partners.
👉GinaLife is developing a platform to identify pathologies based on vaginal discharge. It operates using a smart “pad” that provides early diagnosis for a variety of medical indications - from endometriosis to ovarian and cervical cancers.
Know of a company that should be on our radar? Let us know!
Tweet of the Week
