Nearly 150 million women give birth each year worldwide, but the startup’s founder says potential investors aren’t taking pregnancy-related health issues seriously enough yet. increase.
in the meantime The broader femtech market is gaining attention In recent years, just £133m of venture capital was put into pregnancy-related startups in Europe in 2022, down from £210m the year before, according to PitchBook. This is a bucket drop compared to more than €91 billion invested across the region in 2022. Pregnancy-related services include connecting with midwives, finding professional support and postnatal care.
“The majority of VCs are men, and unless you have a wife or sister who has been through something, it’s hard to get a sense of the scale of the problem. says Leila Thabet, founder of Naytal, an online pregnancy and postpartum clinic in
Thabet’s experience highlights one of the broader reasons why pregnancy-related startups are struggling to raise capital. Many of them are founded by women, and women have more difficulty raising funds. According to PitchBook, just 13% of European capital went to startups with at least one female co-founder of hers.
“People don’t understand the market value. Women spend more money than men in this demographic. says Michelle Kennedy, who founded Peanut, a social networking app for women, after her successful stint as Badoo’s deputy CEO.
Berlin-based Keleya co-founder Victoria Engelhardt says it struggled to raise money. company. She said the final funding round, which closed in 2021, was much easier because the business already had market recognition and investor connections.
But that doesn’t keep ambitious founders away. Here, based on discussions with VCs and Sifted’s own research, we present 10 innovative startups in the pregnancy space.
peanuts
Peanut is a social network for women founded by Kennedy in 2017. Kennedy was a new mom who felt underserved in a marketplace full of apps designed to make people’s lives easier, from ordering food to rides. The network allows women in similar stages of life, including pregnancy, to connect with each other.
The London-based platform raised $12 million in 2020 from EQT Ventures, Index Ventures and Female Founders Fund. To date, Kennedy has raised her $23 million in funding, and Sifted says the company has enough capital to continue operating and does not intend to raise more soon. I say no. With the launch of the Pro service, Peanut started monetizing its product last year by connecting women and professionals.
castle
Berlin-based Keleya connects German women and midwives. Engelhardt launched the platform after realizing that there was a huge shortage of midwives in Germany and a lack of information for women. He started by offering safe workouts for pregnant women and has evolved into a more comprehensive app offering birth preparation courses and post-natal support. The company has contracts to provide services to 40 German health insurance companies and has begun working with the German Association of Midwives, which represents his 97% of German midwives.
The company has raised a total of $3 million and closed its final round in the summer of 2021. Engelhardt said the group is currently looking at additional strategic partners.
Night
Thabet founded Naytal with co-founder Lara Russell-Jones in 2021 after experiencing fertility challenges and a high-risk pregnancy with postpartum complications. It was then that she realized that women had nowhere to turn.
“GP has become verbose and reliant on an extended system, providing no support beyond the basics,” she says.
“In all other parts of my life, I can order taxis, food, and clothes. [immediately] However, when trying to solve breastfeeding challenges and health issues such as incontinence, finding the right person was very difficult.
Naytal, an online clinic for women, has secured £300,000 in pre-seed funding led by Fuel Ventures for 2021. Thabet said she is currently working on another fundraiser.
preg life
Preglife is based in Sweden and helps women track their pregnancies. This she has been around since 2010. According to PitchBook, it received an estimated SEK 70m of development funding from eEquity in 2019. And in 2020, we acquired Bej Technologies, a networking platform for parents.
Sonio
Paris-based Sonio has received €10 million from the European Innovation Council (EIC) accelerator in December 2022. This follows his €5 million funding round over the summer, backed by Elaia, OneRagtime and Bpifrance.
Founded in 2020, the company uses artificial intelligence software to improve prenatal screening and diagnosis. This solution is used by over 250 healthcare providers to help fetal sonographers. We will use the additional funding received in December to release new features to the platform.
pregnolia
Founded by Sabrina Badir, Pregnolia makes medical devices for the proactive detection of premature birth. The Swiss-based start-up has raised CHF 4.2 million in 2020. The company was originally funded by the EU. The EU estimates that premature birth is worth around €20 billion in medical costs per year and is also the leading cause of infant mortality.
Harder
Spain-based Innitius has received €3.8 million in capital from EIC Accelerator and is working on solutions to improve maternal health. Its first product is called Fine Birth, which helps diagnose premature birth. The startup was launched in his 2017 by CEO Rubén Molina and Dr. Francisca Molina.
full of energy
UK-based Peppy is a B2B digital health platform set up to help employees manage life transitions such as pregnancy and parenting. Users can access experts through chat and video consultation. We partner with companies such as BNP Paribas, Santander and Clifford Chance. It recently raised a $45 million round. debt and equity Enter the United States.
Elby
Health tech company Elvie has raised £12.7m in its 2021 Series C round, bringing its total raised to date to £70m. In 2013 she was founded by Tania Boler to develop a hands-free breast pump and pelvic floor trainer for nursing mothers. Postpartum pelvic floor problems are common in many postpartum women, leading to things like urinary incontinence.
leia health
The Sweden-based startup has raised €1.4 million in pre-seed funding from People Ventures, Norrsken, Unconventional Ventures, The Case for Her, and Octaquest. Founded in 2021 by Sandra Wirström and Astrid Gyllenkrok Kristensen, her Leia is committed to providing postnatal care to women. The group is building a mobile app focused on postnatal physical and mental well-being.
Selin Bucak is a freelance financial writer based in Paris.she tweets from @SelinBucak2.