The momentum in women's health innovation is picking up. The White House announced $100M of funding dedicated to women's health in February, while private investments in women's health continue to increase, even in a tougher funding market (VC investment in women's health has increased 314% over the last 5 years, outpacing the 28% rise in healthcare overall) Excited to share this women's health collaborative thought piece that Chelsea Schlacks, Sarah-Almaza Cox, and I wrote outlining key themes and tactical takeaways for building in women's health. We drew from our reflections from a NYC Women's Health Dinner we co-hosted in April, the NYSE Women's Health Summit featuring First Lady Jill Biden, and inspiring founders and innovators working tirelessly to improve women's health. Huge thank you to Tina Keshani (Seven Starling), Jessica Bell van der Wal (Frame), Maya Hardigan (Mae), Leslie Gautam (Harmonia Healthcare), Stephanie Winans, MBA (Iron Health) for sharing your insights, and to all of the lightning talk speakers and attendees at our dinner in April. We are inspired by each of you. If you are building or investing in women’s health, we would love to hear from you! Women’s health is one of our core investment focus areas at Zeal Capital Partners. Link to article here - feel free to subscribe for more content like this: https://lnkd.in/gknE7Tnn
Emily Zhen - love seeing "the education and awareness gap" at the top of your list. I 100% agree. Companies are doing amazing work connecting women with lactation consultants, pelvic floor PTs, doulas, mental health providers, and more. But if people doesn't know what's "normal" (and not) and who can help, the down-funnel connections won't happen often enough. At SoShe, we go "up funnel" to offer education as an entry point and acquisition hook. We call it "educate and escalate", meaning come to SoShe for the birth plan builder, upgrade to the birth class, learn about doulas, and then let us help you find one. Similarly, our breastfeeding class (in development) is an acquisition hook that naturally escalates to lactation support and broader postpartum support. Not to mention that birth class is a $500M market and breastfeeding class could be $200M (with SaaS margins for an online, self-serve, consumer-driven product). 1-1 care models don't leave time for 1-1 patient education, so virtual care and new in-clinic models will NEED to find more scalable ways to deliver patient education, and ultimately, to improve outcomes and satisfaction while containing costs. And that's what we're building at SoShe.
Thank you for spotlighting our CEO and the great work we do in partnership with our provider customers! 👏 👏 👏
Terrific summary as usual Emily Zhen. Thanks for adding in our learnings at Frame. We love partnering with providers and have seen tremendous results reaching patients through that channel but it's no easy feat. We've learned an immense amount, especially by collaborating with other fantastic companies/founders in this space like Tina Keshani at Seven Starling.
✨Thank you for the inclusion in this important conversation! Here at Laborie OBGYN & Neonatal Health we share in the mission of improving health outcomes for both women and infants. We are very excited for the innovation that is occurring and look forward to continuing to be a best in class partner to clinicians, patients, entrepreneurs, and all the other stakeholders advancing maternal and neonatal healthcare. ✨
Thank you for sharing this. Good steps forward are being made with many more leaps to keep pushing for. Appreciate this work and keeping the topic front and center to drive change.
Eye-opening stats. Thank you for sharing. Gives a founder of a tech-wellness startup some added hope :)
Very comprehensive! I love the takeaways from the NYSE Women's Health Summit -- such a great event 🙌
Thank you for the shout-out Sarah-Almaza Cox, Emily Zhen, and Chelsea Schlacks!
Love this Emily Zhen! Binto and I are always happy to chat women's health with you :)
Co-founder & CEO at Seven Starling - We're hiring!
2moSo well done Emily Zhen ! Proud to partner with you and the Zeal team 🕊️