Our Innovation Analysts recently looked into emerging technologies and up-and-coming startups working on solutions for the healthcare industry. As there is a large number of startups working on a wide variety of solutions, we decided to share our insights with you. This time, we are taking a look at 6 promising women’s health startups.
Heat Map: 6 Top Women’s Health Startups
For our 6 top picks, we used a data-driven startup scouting approach to identify the most relevant solutions globally. The Global Startup Heat Map below highlights 6 interesting examples out of 580 relevant solutions. Depending on your specific needs, your top picks might look entirely different.
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Ava Women – AI-Powered Sensor Bracelet for Ovulation Tracking
A sensor bracelet is a convenient device for women to track their ovulation. It helps women who are trying to get pregnant, as well as women who want to better track their menstruation cycle. Such wearable devices collect information about specific physiological parameters that are further analyzed in order to predict the next ovulation. The result of the analysis is displayed on the accompanying phone app.
Swiss startup Ava Women develops a women’s health product that consists of a sensor bracelet, a smartphone app, and a backend with self-learning algorithms. The sensor bracelet is worn during the night, it measures nine physiological parameters in order to predict a woman’s next fertile window and ovulation. It also can be used for women’s health issues screening.
Bloomlife – At-Home Contraction Monitor
One more way of innovating Women’s Health is the development of devices and technologies that allow for visualizing and tracking contractions at home. One of the examples for this is a wearable sensor that is connected with a smartphone app to provide expecting parents with a comfortable way of contraction counting.
The US-based company Bloomlife develops a small, lightweight, and comfortable smartphone-connected sensor for automatic, hands-free contraction counting and timing. This sensor is stuck to a pregnant woman’s belly and requires no straps or belts. The Bloomlife at-home contraction monitor is offered for both iOS and Android via a weekly rental.
MamaMend – Childbirth Recovery & Postpartum Health
The postnatal period is the most critical and yet the most neglected phase in the lives of mothers and babies. Most maternal and newborn deaths occur during this period. Smartphone apps help guide new moms by guiding them through this important time, helping to save their and their babies’ health and lives.
Based in the US, startup MamaMend is a personalized, evidence-based, week-by-week guide to childbirth recovery and postpartum health. The app’s content is personalized, supportive and evidence-based. It covers topics such as postpartum mental health, breastfeeding, thyroid health, pelvic floor conditions, and many more.
Grace.Health – Female Health Chatbot
Many women all over the world lack access to healthcare services. In order to democratize health services for these women, companies are creating female health chatbots, that provide users with fast, accurate and affordable health information directly from experts instead of web pages or Google.
The Swedish company Grace.Health works on a female health chatbot — an instant, private and free way to get instant answers to women’s sexual & reproductive health questions. It also allows a woman to track her period, symptoms and fertility, as well as get fertility alerts. Grace is CE-marked as a medical device.
TruScreen – Innovative Method of Cervical Cancer Screening
Cervical cancer is a major cause of female mortality worldwide, with a bigger death toll in the populations that lack screening programs. Screening methods that don’t require lab facilities for cervical cancer diagnostics can solve the accessibility challenges in developing countries as they are an alternative to traditional Pap smear tests.
TruScreen, based in New Zealand, develops a screening device that detects precancerous changes through optical and electrical measurements of cervical tissue. In a number of studies, TruScreen proved to be of equal sensitivity compared to Pap tests. TruScreen can be effectively used with minimal training of medical or paramedical staff and doesn’t require the infrastructure and resource costs associated with cytology-based screening.
Cyrcadia – Wearable Sensors for Early Diagnostics of Breast Cancer
According to statistics, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide. Early detection is the key to the successful treatment of this often deadly disease. One of the innovations that enable early diagnostics is wearable sensors for monitoring breast abnormalities. These wearables are pressing-, pain- and radiation-free, as well as convenient to use, making them a good alternative to traditional screening methods.
Hong-Kong-based Cyrcadia develops itBra – intelligent wearable patches for breast health monitoring and early diagnostics of breast cancer. The patches track circadian temperature changes in breast tissue. Then anonymized data is transmitted to Cyrcadia’s core lab for analysis. The results of the analysis are available within minutes and can be shared with a doctor, insurer or family members.
What About The Other 574 Women’s Health Startups?
While we believe data is key to creating insights it can be easy to be overwhelmed by it. Our ambition is to create a comprehensive overview and provide actionable innovation intelligence for your Proof of Concept (PoC), partnership, or investment targets. The 6 startups showcased above are promising examples out of 580 we analyzed for this article. To identify the most relevant solutions based on your specific criteria and collaboration strategy, get in touch.
