Top startups fighting aging; female reproductive longevity; Covid-19 Vaccines and periods.
Technology and research transforming women’s health and wellness.
Hi there,
Natasha here. It is Thursday, which means we are saying hello to a new (fifth!) edition of the HealthyHer newsletter. The goal of this newsletter is to bring you into the world of technology for women, covering innovations and research to better women’s health and wellbeing.
If you like this edition, I would appreciate your support through sharing it with your friends and liking ♥ it on the top of the page!
Now into the world of technology…
📍 Say hi to out new Twitter account, which will help you stay up to date on what’s happening in the longevity and women’s health space!
⚡ Top news you shouldn’t miss ⚡
Find out about the top five European companies working in the longevity space.
How do COVID-19 vaccines affect women’s periods? Natural Cycles performed a study on over 4,000 women to find out (read more in the News Reads section 👇).
Regina Barzilay, previously affected by breast cancer, programs an AI system that uses mammograms to predict breast cancer in women up to five years in advance.
Funding for women’s health research is surprisingly underrepresented, but in 2021, U.S. femtech startups raised more money than in any years past.
Gameto takes on a tough problem - fighting women’s ovarian aging (read more in the News Reads section 👇).
Fertilis, an Australian startup making IVF more successful and less stressful, raises 20M (read more in the News Reads section 👇).
Is femtech the next big thing in healthcare? (read more in the News Reads section 👇).
Femtech startup boom: Modern Fertility, a company that was created to help women detect essential fertility hormones, was bought out by Ro to reach a wider audience.
📚 News Reads 📚
How do COVID-19 vaccines affect women’s periods? While we don’t have a lot of data about the connection between period changes and the COVID-19 vaccine, Natural Cycles studied over 4,000 women and did find that there is a connection. Some people reported minor changes such as late periods, heavier periods than usual, or unexpected bleeding after receiving the vaccines. In the research done, these minor changes were only temporary. Read further here.
Gameto takes on a tough problem - fighting women’s ovarian aging. Ovaries age a lot faster than the rest of the body, meaning that when women want to start families later in life, they may not be able to as a result of infertility. Women experience menopause and other negative health effects as they get older. Even though women's life expectancy is going up, they may not be as happy while dealing with those negative side effects. Read more here.
Fertilis, an Australian startup making IVF more successful and less stressful, raises 20M. IVF is the route most women struggling with fertility issues take to have children, but it only had a 32% success rate in 2019. There are a lot of variables that can affect the effectiveness of implantation, and a lot of things that can go wrong. Fertilis, a fertility company, is working towards minimising those variables, including decreasing the number of clinicians who handle each embryo, to hopefully have more effective IVF and implantation. Find out more here.
Is femtech the next big thing in healthcare? Research in women’s health has been underrepresented due to men worrying that menstrual cycles would skew research results. Fortunately, companies such as Flo, Elvie, Carrot, and Tia are working towards raising money and awareness for women’s health and research. Though most investors are men, women spend more money and contribute more to their family’s healthcare decisions. Read more here.
🎙️ Listening To 🎙️
That’s it for now. Till the next time!
Yours,
Natasha, Founder & Writer of HealthyHer
By Natasha Antropova, an AI engineer at DeepMind. Belarusian American based in London. Find me on Twitter and Instagram.