FutureFemHealth

Therapeutics platform XRHealth has acquired digital therapeutics company Swing Therapeutics, Inc. - makers of the first digital behavioral therapy indicated for treatments of fibromyalgia, and Swing Care, a specialist virtual clinic for fibromyalgia and chronic pain. Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain condition with no cure affecting around 10 million people in the US and it is estimated to affect women in 80–90% of cases. The acquisition highlights how conditions that disproportionately affect women are increasingly becoming strategic priorities for larger healthcare companies. https://lnkd.in/etRiRAHB

“There are very few places where women can go to process what happened during or after giving birth. There are even fewer that are both safe and accessible,” Lilit M., founder Mendara. The UK startup Mendara has launched an anonymous peer support platform for women recovering from difficult and traumatic births, combining facilitator-led group sessions with trauma-informed digital tools to address a longstanding gap in postnatal support. The platform opened early access to a small group of founding members during Birth Trauma Awareness Week. It has been developed alongside the Birth Trauma Association (UK) and incubated within Nesta's Nesta Mission Studio the UK's innovation agency for social good. Full story: https://lnkd.in/ecmu6jsx

How do you define women's health? There isn't one answer. An investor looking for pure-play women's health companies may define the market differently from a pharmaceutical company interested in conditions that disproportionately affect women, or a policymaker focused on the broader burden of disease. That's why the FutureFemHealth Classification Framework doesn't rely on a single definition. In our Q2 Women's Health Funding Analysis, every company is classified through two lenses: → The health need being addressed → How much of the company is focused on women's health That means you can analyse funding however is most relevant to your work - from pure-play women's health companies, to businesses addressing female-specific conditions, or the wider market of conditions that uniquely, disproportionately or differently affect women. Explore the data now: https://lnkd.in/eHs5Q-ET

This week's FutureFemHealth is out now in your inbox. In this week's issue: 📌 Bayer secures a €3bn investment in its contraception business while retaining operational control. 📌 Menopause moves further into mainstream retail as Naomi Watts' Stripes expands from four to 448 Ulta Beauty stores in just six months. 📌 FDA authorises new technology designed to improve hysterectomy safety through minimally invasive surgery. 📌 McKinsey & Company estimates closing the women's health gap could add £36bn to the UK economy by 2040. 📌 Muun Health secures funding to advance a real-time hormone-monitoring patch, aiming to move hormone testing beyond occasional snapshots. 📌 Vertex Pharmaceuticals's $10bn acquisition of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals brings women's endocrine health into a much broader life sciences deal. 📌 Flo Health Inc. finds one in three women over 35 are unsure whether they're in perimenopause, highlighting the continued need for better education, support and diagnostics. 📌 A new The Lancet Haematology Commission argues blood disorders affecting women should become a recognised women's health priority. 📌 NICE - National Institute for Health and Care Excellence backs rapid endometriosis tests for NHS use in draft guidance, with the key question now whether adoption can meaningfully shorten diagnosis times. And more! 📊 ICYMI: FutureFemHealth Pro has also published two major market analyses over the past week: • Q2 2026 Women's Health Funding Analysis • H1 2026 Women's Health M&A Analysis (co-authored with Stephanie Silverman, CFA of Solstice) Together they provide detailed pictures of where capital is flowing - and how women's health is becoming increasingly embedded across mainstream healthcare. 👉 Join 10,000+ subscribers who receive FutureFemHealth each week: www.futurefemhealth.com Read this week's briefing here: https://lnkd.in/eN_TX9yB

🚨 New research: Who's buying women's health? H1 2026 Women's Health M&A Analysis Today we're publishing our H1 2026 mergers and acquisitions analysis, co-authored by Anna O'Sullivan (FutureFemHealth) and Stephanie Silverman, CFA (Solstice). Combining FutureFemHealth's proprietary deal tracking and analysis with Solstice’s capital markets expertise, we examined all 33 announced transactions to understand what buyers are really looking for in women’s health. One finding stood out above all: the buyer universe has expanded beyond traditional strategics to include private equity, sovereign wealth, payers and international pharma. This suggests founders now have more potential exit routes than ever before - but buyers are becoming increasingly selective about the capabilities they value. FutureFemHealth Pro members can now access: 📊 The full H1 2026 M&A tracker 📈 Segment-by-segment analysis 💡 Strategic implications for founders, investors and acquirers A huge thank you to Stephanie Silverman, CFA, Founder of Solstice, for bringing her capital markets perspective to this analysis. Read the analysis and download the H1 2026 M&A tracker (link in comments)

📊 New research: Q2 2026 Women's Health Funding Analysis FutureFemHealth has published its Q2 2026 analysis of global women's health funding, alongside the first application of the FutureFemHealth Classification Framework. Q2 2026 at a glance: → US$738.78 million invested → 40 funding rounds tracked globally → Average disclosed deal size: US$19.96 million (37 disclosed rounds) → Largest raises: CREATE Medicines ($122m) and Nourish ($100m) Rather than classifying companies simply as "women's health" or "not women's health", the FutureFemHealth Classification Framework assesses both: ✓ The health need being addressed ✓ The extent to which women's health forms the core of a company's business As women's health increasingly becomes embedded across mainstream healthcare, more nuanced approaches to measuring investment are essential. Importantly, the framework also enables us to distinguish investment flowing into pure-play women's health companies from broader healthcare businesses that have made women's health a strategic focus - providing a more complete picture of how the market is evolving. The full analysis includes: • A complete Q2 funding tracker and downloadable dataset • Four headline findings from the quarter • Analysis of emerging investment trends • The methodology and boundary decisions behind the FutureFemHealth Classification Framework We hope this contributes to the ongoing discussion around how women's health should be defined, measured and tracked as the sector continues to evolve. 👉 Read the full analysis now: https://lnkd.in/eHs5Q-ET

"We have traded one problem for another. Where there was once silence, there is now a steady stream of unverified advice, quick fixes, and soundbites." Anna Klepchukova, Chief Medical Officer, Flo Health Inc. In a guest article for FutureFemHealth, Anna Klepchukova explains how the conversation around perimenopause has shifted from too little information to too much misinformation. While awareness has grown rapidly, Anna argues that women need better support. Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/ewAiPyPH

Nearly 50% of investors already registered for SOSV’s Therapeutics VC-Founder Matchup (July 6–17) have indicated they’re looking for women’s health opportunities, and therapeutics specific to women’s health is a fast-growing category. Want to get involved? Register now: https://lnkd.in/enP5Dk2j This free, virtual Matchup will bring together about 250 therapeutics startups and 250 investors. Participants can review profiles and request introductory meetings on their own schedule over 11 days. Whether you’re building the next breakthrough in women’s health or actively investing in the category, this is an opportunity to make meaningful connections. Save your spot! https://lnkd.in/enP5Dk2j

This week's FutureFemHealth is out now. In this week's issue: 📌 INTU Diagnostics raises €1.1m to bring lab-free HPV testing closer to routine care. 📌 Emm secures regulatory clearance for what it says is the world's first smart menstrual cup, turning menstrual health into measurable data rather than patient recall. 📌 Xella Health launches its AI platform screening for 130+ often-misdiagnosed women's health conditions from a single blood sample. 📌 ŌURA partners with LillyDirect, reinforcing that some of the biggest GLP-1 opportunities may sit in the support infrastructure rather than the drugs themselves. 📌 BrightHeart secures CE mark for AI-powered prenatal ultrasound, another sign of AI becoming embedded in clinical workflows. 📌 Merck backs expansion of the doula workforce through a new partnership with Mae. 📌 Flo Health Inc.'s Chief Medical Officer Anna Klepchukova argues we've moved from too little information about perimenopause to too much misinformation, making medically verified, personalised guidance more important than ever. 📌 A major review finds most IVF add-ons offer little or no proven benefit, raising difficult questions about evidence and commercialisation. 📌 Australia's Privacy Commissioner rules Monash IVF breached privacy law through website tracking pixels, underlining why data governance is becoming a strategic issue for women's health. And more! 📢 And next week is a big one for FutureFemHealth Pro. We'll be publishing our Q2 2026 Women's Health Funding Tracker and H1 2026 Women's Health M&A Tracker, both built using our new FutureFemHealth Classification Framework to provide a more nuanced view of where investment is really flowing across the sector. Join 10k subscribers who receive FutureFemHealth each week: www.futurefemhealth.com Read this week's briefing here: https://lnkd.in/eHcJwpWZ

"For too long, a critical data gap in women's health has led to delayed diagnoses and the routine dismissal of pain." Jenny Button, founder and CEO of Emm. Women's health wearable company Emm has secured UKCA marking and MHRA registration for the Emm Cup, which the company says is the world's first regulatory-cleared smart menstrual cup. The Emm Cup is designed to passively measure menstrual flow volume, daily flow rates and broader cycle patterns, replacing manual tracking and personal estimates with objective biometric data. https://lnkd.in/edtRp5xU