Are you ready for a new start?🔥; A women's health ambassador will be appointed in England; Parent-tech startups are on the rise; Can AI predict breast cancer? + more
Biweekly newsletter about the latest news and updates on innovation and diversity in wearable tech, health tech, and IoT space.
Happy Monday everyone! 🙂
…and happy New Year! 🥰 New year, new beginnings, new chapters, we are all for it! We are positive this year will be better, easier, more fruitful than the last one, and many doors will open for all of us if we believe in it, so our message for the beginning of this year would be - BELIEVE! So let’s believe things will get better, and they will! 🙏🏽
To start this year on a positive note, many of us are glad to hear that a women's health ambassador will be appointed to help reduce "gender health inequality" in England, parent-tech startups are on the rise with VCs after pandemic upheaval and an MIT researcher who survived breast cancer has devised a technique that seems to predict many breast cancer cases. Certainly, some great news to make us even more excited for what’s to come this year.
Also, don’t forget our FemTech Untapped program that’s launching in February, we will announce the first event in the series + more exciting activities in our next newsletter. 🔥
Thank you for tuning in this Monday, happy reading! Marija & Anja 💌
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⚡️ WoW members highlight ⚡️
We are excited to have some amazing new companies joining WoW as members last month! 🔥
OncoGenomX offers doctors tumor ∞ treatment matching support, enabled by a blend of AI, a proprietary prediction algorithm, and current real-world outcome data from matching patients. Thus, it is possible to determine the correct treatment for lasting therapy success. Their mission is ending under- or overtreatment of cancer patients, avoiding unnecessary costs, minimizing the risk of therapy failure and liability and their vision is the certainty of therapy success before starting treatment every time.
Presagen is an AI healthcare company that is changing the way clinics, patients, and medical data from around the world are connected through AI. Its platform, The Social Network for Healthcare, connects clinics and patients globally and enables collaboration and data sharing to create scalable AI healthcare products that are affordable and accessible for all. With a focus on improving Women’s Health outcomes globally, Presagen’s first product, Life Whisperer, is being used by IVF clinics globally to improve pregnancy outcomes for couples struggling with fertility.
Reflect Innovation is an IoT startup in the wellness space that develops the Reflect Orb. The Reflect Orb is a soft and comforting wellness companion that weaves together neuroscience and textile design. The Orb uses the power of biofeedback to enable users to bring awareness to their unconscious states and influence their reactions through various relaxation techniques. Reflect was invented by Noga Sapir, the company's Founder and CEO, who has built around her a top-notch team to bring her vision to market, and has raised $4M to date.
Thrive Agency is a specialist agency, creating powerful and trusted women’s health content, campaigns, and programmes. Since 2001 their researchers, writers, medical and behavioural experts have been on a mission to inform, inspire and motivate change for the better. Their focus is to empower women to make positive health choices, and they've helped global brands, NGOs and charities do just this. If you want to engage your audience with effective health communications, get in touch with Thrive Agency’s team!
WoW webinars and virtual events 🌎 📆
HAPPENING IN JANUARY 👇🏽
VIRTUAL LIVE MEETUP - WoW Members' Meet & Greet - Wearables, HealthTech, FemTech, IoT, Fashion, January 12 (10am and 6pm GMT, for all WoW members and non-members who are interested in joining us!)
AMA session with Marija Butkovic, founder and CEO of Women of Wearables (FOR MEMBERS ONLY), January 20, 2022 (10am - 11am GMT / 6pm - 7pm GMT)
Meet the investor - Office hours with Marta Pyrzyk, Lightrock, January 26, 10am-11:30am GMT (FREE FOR WOW MEMBERS)
Marta Pyrzyk is an investor at a growth fund backing Series B + mission-driven companies that are solving large global challenges. She has experience in both early and late-stage investments and as a generalist her sector coverage is broad. Her investments to date include B2C brands: Elvie and Farmdrop; fintech: Satispay and Wefox, as well as B2B software: Messagebird, Neo4j, and Dataiku. Prior to venture capital, she focused on the consumer, retail, and healthcare sector at Citigroup. She holds a master’s degree in Economics from UCL. Marta geeks out on modern consumer brands, loves a good art exhibition and enjoys a fitness challenge.
HAPPENING IN FEBRUARY 👇🏽
Meet the investor - Office hours with Brianna Bao, Simsan Ventures, February 23, 10:00-11:30am GMT (FREE FOR WOW MEMBERS)
Brianna Bao is a Venture Associate at Simsan Ventures in London. Before joining Simsan, Brianna earned an MBA from Cass Business School and worked on VC fund structuring and strategy at Indico Capital Partners as well as marketing, branding, and business development at various startups. Previously, Brianna was a Maths for America Fellow teaching underserved students STEM in New York City.
Follow us on Eventbrite to stay up to date with all our future events and meetups! Link here.
Interested in joining us for one of our future webinars or you would like to discuss partnership and collaboration? Get in touch!
WoW community events, news, and updates 💻🌎📆
🔥 Seedrs to be acquired by Republic to create world’s first global private investment platform + join their webinar about equity crowdfunding here
📌 Thrive’s Digital opportunities for women’s wellbeing white paper explores the barriers to truly closing the health gap and potential solutions in overcoming them. You can download it here. Check out their guest blog post about women’s health wins worth celebrating in 2021!
⚡️ The FemTech Lab's 3-month program gives startups access to support from world-leading industry experts, pitching to the most prominent health tech and femtech investors in the world and alumni community of like-minded founders and entrepreneurs, all on a mission to improve women's lives all over the world. The Spring 2022 program will begin on March 1, run for 3 months, and culminate on June 1 (Demo Day). The application deadline is January 15th, so you better hurry up!
💥 Call for application 2022 cohort at Tech4Eva – a joint program between EPFL Innovation Park and Groupe Mutuel. Apply to this 9-month innovative support program and game-changing accelerator starting in April 2022! Tech4Eva is looking for 15+ innovative solutions in one or more areas related to women’s health. The deadline to apply is March 1st, 2022 and the program is completely equity-free. Apply here.
✨ Applications for the next cohort of Intrepid Entrepreneurs’ Next Health accelerator program are now open! The deadline is January 16, 2022. Apply here.
👏🏽 Our member, femtech Startup Elidah, unveils ELITONE® at CES 2022
🤰🏽 Global survey, done by Amma Family, reveals 82% of pregnant women would like more paternal involvement in pregnancy issues, find out more.
💰 Onoco, the parenting app designed to help organise families through planning, documenting infant care, and tracking their development, founded by our member Margaret Zablocka, has raised £150,000 from Jenson Funding Partners as part of an ongoing pre-seed round. The funding comes as demand for parent tech has spiked, with US companies in the sector raising $1.4bn in 2021 alone – over the total investment amount accumulated in the four years prior. Congrats, Margaret! 🤩
📆 Register for ‘GOODWIN + KPMG @ JPMORGAN SYMPOSIUM – VIRTUAL’ conference and symposium that will cover topics such as innovation in healthcare technology, biotechnology, and women’s health, January 12-13, more info here.
📆 The Reproductive Health Innovation Summit (February 15-16), organised by Kisaco Research, is the destination for uncovering what is next in fertility, contraception, and maternal health, from AI and big data to genetic testing, laboratory automation, consumer wearables, non-hormonal devices and solutions, and new care delivery models. Use code WoW10 to receive 10% off your ticket price.
📆 Our members from the Clementine app are hosting their second annual wellness festival Reframe, starting today. Join them for four nights of powerful and unique conversations about money, sex, body & mindset as they bring you experts and takeaways that you can implement into your life to reframe your perspectives. Get your tickets here.
📆 Online Demo Day: Barclays Eagle Labs Funding Readiness Programme, January 19
Industry events, news, and updates 💻🌎📆
Top 10 robotic and artificial intelligence stories of 2021
Kiddo picks up $16M for a kids’ wearable aimed at four chronic conditions
UBC team creates stretchy, washable battery — and new possibilities for wearable tech
Online Gaming Is the New Therapist’s Office
The therapists using AI to make therapy better
This ambitious smart ring hopes to one day monitor chronic illnesses
Digital health inclusion can provide healthcare for all - this is how
Israel earmarks $17m for new digital health innovation program
In NYC, the Future of Healthtech Is Female
Amazon, Vocera team up on new Alexa skill for patients in hospitals
VR treatment for chronic pain gets FDA authorization
New study: Women of color in tech aren’t just underrepresented, they’re also undervalued
🔥 Become a WoW member to learn from and connect with our community of entrepreneurs, designers, and technologists, leverage valuable resources, and discover career opportunities! All our members get free access to all our events and other resources, including ones in the FemTech Untapped program!
➡️ Follow us on Twitter / LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook.
🧑🏫 Join our LinkedIn femtech group with 800+ members where we discuss all things women’s health, femtech innovation, and investment.
📆 Check out our events page.
📧 Get in touch if you’d like to become our partner and promote your company in this newsletter!
📌 If you are a female founder, designer, or technologist, we would love to feature you on our WoW women blog!
Thanks for reading this newsletter, next one will land in your inbox on Monday, 24 January. 📧
If you wish to send us feedback or have a question, email us, we would love to hear from you! 🥰