Issue #114 – A Year of Impact, Innovation, and Change :Shaping the Future of Women’s Health and Digital Innovation

Since 2022, FemTech India has grown into a thriving network that supports and connects a vibrant community of 125 companies and 150 founders worldwide. With podcast listeners from 90 countries, with a total reach of over 1.2 million across platforms. We’ve built strong local and global connections that help innovative ideas flourish, foster impactful partnerships, and drive success.

Through our local, regional, and global collaborations, we’re dedicated to inspiring change and making “business for good” the standard. While we celebrate the incredible progress we’ve made together, we remain deeply motivated by the opportunities ahead to expand this mission and create an even greater impact.

To support this mission, we’d love for you to:

🎙️ Subscribe to our podcast global community 

Join our ecosystem to connect with like-minded changemakers.

 🤝 Explore our suite of services designed to help you thrive.

Together, we can amplify voices, scale businesses, and drive meaningful change.Thank you for believing in this vision and being part of our journey. Happy holidays everyone,  Here’s to another year of impact and progress—together.

Write to me, if you’re looking to partner with us or working on something impactful– we want to help you thrive!

FemTech India Impact report 2022 – 2024 

With gratitude,  😊 

Navneet

We hosted our first Digital Creators event in collaboration with Flo Health in Mumbai! The Indian creator economy was valued at USD $960 million in 2023 and is projected to grow to approximately $3.93 billion by 2030. What role do digital creators play in shaping women’s health?

Want to  know more about the event? Details dropping soon on LinkedIn! ✨

• India secured a nationwide subscription to 13,000 journals, granting free access to research through a historic US$715m deal.

• The female-led biotech company Gameto has announced the world’s first live human birth using “Fertilo”—its technology that matures eggs outside the body.

•  Reliance is bringing back Shein products in India; but with a Big Desi twist. 

• Asan has launched a period tracking app. 
•  92 per cent of India’s creators use AI: Classplus.

• Fibroheal Woundcare raised Rs 6.3 crore in a pre-Series A funding round from existing promoters and a new set of investors. The silk proteins-based medical devices startup intends to use the newly raised funds to scale up its go-to-market strategy, recruit more people, and invest in its product pipeline in the medical devices segment.

• Remodel Health, an Indianapolis, IN-based individual coverage health reimbursement arrangement (ICHRA) provider for brokers, raised more than $100M.
• Borealis Biosciences, a Vancouver, Canada-based RNA medicines company, expanded its Series A funding to $30M.
• HERVolution Therapeutics, a Copenhagen, Denmark-based dark genome-focused biotechnology company, raised $11.7M in Series
• Sotelix Endoscopy, a Baltimore, MD-based medical device startup, raised $1.7M in Seed funding.
• Culina Health, a Hoboken, NJ-based provider of a digital platform for clinical nutrition care, raised $7.9M in Series A funding.
• Corsmed, a Stockholm, Sweden-based provider of a MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) simulation platform, raised $3.5M in funding.
• The Bettii Pod, a femtech startup developing a menstrual cup/disc washer for public toilets, has secured total funding of £400,000, including £70,000 from Scottish EDGE and £338,000 from investors Equity Gap and Scottish Enterprise. The company also received the Circular Economy Award as part of the Scottish EDGE competition.
• Arya, a couples wellness platform using AI technology to help partners improve intimacy, has announced an $8.5 million Series A funding round, bringing its total funding to $16 million in under two years. The round was led by Ibex Investors, with participation from Play Ventures, Patron Fund, and BigBets.vc.

• A new screening method that combines laser analysis with a type of AI is the first of its kind to identify patients in the earliest stage of breast cancer, a study suggests. The fast, non-invasive technique reveals subtle changes in the bloodstream that occur during the initial phases of the disease, known as stage 1a, which are not detectable with existing tests.
• Adding cereal to a baby’s bottle is a habit that’s been around for a long time to help introduce solid foods while also supplementing a mom’s breast milk.But this practice can cause babies to pack on some pounds early in life, however, a new study says.Infants were about 50% more likely to experience rapid weight gain if they were fed milk cereal drinks during their first year, according to results published Dec. 18 in the journal Acta Paediatrica.
• A new review of clinical studies has found that endometriosis is associated with upper gastrointestinal (GI) problems and higher healthcare usage.Previous research has indicated that endometriosis is associated with upper GI issues. This study compared GI symptoms and health care utilisation in women with and without endometriosis.
• Sleep apnea is known to wreak havoc with the body, contributing to heart problems, diabetes and liver disease.The sleep disorder also appears to have direct effects on brain health, a new study shows. People with sleep apnea appear to experience accelerated aging of the brain’s white matter, which serves to connect the various regions of the brain, researchers reported Dec. 18 in the journal Neurology.
• Folks worried that they’re developing dementia have few options for catching their brain decline before it’s too late.But a new blood test might be able to detect early changes that wind up leading to cognitive impairment and dementia. The test looks at a protein that appears to play a role in the ability of drugs, nutrients, water and other substances to pass through the walls of a blood vessel.
• The sicker a senior becomes, the more likely they’re going to develop kidney problems on top of their other health challenges.A new study published Dec. 17 in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS), shows that as a person’s number of chronic illnesses increases, a decline in their kidney function becomes both more likely and steeper.
• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration wants to redefine the meaning of healthy food, issuing a new rule Thursday that changes the way food companies can claim their products are indeed nutritious.
• Millions of American adults are struggling with Long COVID, and a fifth have symptoms so debilitating they interfere with daily activities, a new report finds.
• Knee arthritis could become easier to detect and diagnose thanks to a new test involving the lubricating fluid inside the joint.A new study shows that arthritis of the knee often is diagnosed in its late stages, after cartilage has degraded and bones are rubbing against each other in the joint.
• Parkinson’s is a relentless disease for which few treatments, and no real cure, exists.Now, researchers say they are on the trail of a potential new therapy for the disabling neurological illness.
• Listening to music may help you recover faster after surgery, finds a US study presented at the American College of Surgeons’ Clinical Congress. To examine the role of music in postoperative recovery, researchers analysed 35 papers.
• Hidden dangers of paracetamol: Study links side effects to digestive tract, heart, kidneys among adults. A recent study was conducted by researchers at the University of Nottingham. Researchers cautioned the use of paracetamol, which is widely used by people as a pain reliever.
• Constipation can put your heart at risk. Constipation doubles the risk of cardiac events like heart attack, stroke and heart failure, especially if individuals have a pre-existing condition of high blood pressure
• Acute respiratory infections, malaria, pre-term birth complications, and birth asphyxia remain the major leading causes of death for children under the age of 5. However, a recent study showed that the ‘leading killer’ causing most of the deaths among children and the elderly remains to be diarrhoea and related infections.  The study points out that mortality is high in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, even though deaths from these conditions have come down globally by 60 per cent between 1990 to 2021. 
• Microscopic plastic particles in the air could be contributing to a wide variety of health problems, including lung and colon cancers. Tires and degrading garbage shed tiny pieces of plastic which become airborne, creating a form of air pollution that’s not very well understood, a new review says.

• A new comprehensive initiative at the Technical University of Denmark aims to accelerate the development of biosolutions and strengthen the bio-based economy. The Novo Nordisk Foundation is supporting the initiative with up to DKK 1.05 billion (€134.1 million).
• WellTheory, a virtual care platform for autoimmune disease, has announced a new women’s health program focused on addressing hormonal conditions including PCOS, endometriosis, postpartum, hypothyroidism, perimenopause, and menopause. The program aims to support women dealing with the interconnected challenges of autoimmune disease and hormone imbalances.
• Maven Clinic, the world’s largest virtual clinic for women’s and family health, has announced it has received Health Equity Accreditation from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). This makes Maven the first women’s and family health organization to achieve this recognition.
• Roche, one of the first industrial manufacturers of branded medicines, has announced results from the phase IIb PADOVA study investigating prasinezumab in 586 people with early-stage Parkinson’s disease, treated for a minimum of eighteen months while on stable symptomatic treatment.

• The Karnataka government plans to launch a new programme- Midwifery-led care units (MLCU) to tackle the alarming rise in number of caesarean (C-section) deliveries in the state. The rate of caesarean deliveries has increased to 46 per cent of live births this year, compared to 38 per cent in 2022-23 and 35 % in 2021-22.
• The Union Ministry of Ayush (MOA) will soon launch a national portal for pharmacovigilance in Indian Systems of Medicines (ISM) to aid the efforts of the Ayush Ministry to curb the proliferation of misleading advertisements.
• Raising concerns over the consistent decline in fund allocated for various schemes run by Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) as against the considerable increase in the Budget Estimates (BE), the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilisers has sought the Department to analyse the reasons for reduced allocation and utilisation allocated funds in a time bound manner.

📳 – Quick Reads: 

• Do vegetarians who eat plant-based meat alternatives face higher depression risk? Researchers at the University of Surrey analysed data from over 3,300 vegetarians in the UK Biobank, half of whom consumed plant-based meat alternatives for the study
• Petticoat cancer and the sari link. Doctors found that tying an underskirt too tightly can lead to the development of Marjolin ulcer, also known as squamous cell carcinoma, which is a rare and aggressive type of skin cancer
• Sleep’s secret ally: Breathing rhythm found to enhance memory consolidation. The study says that breathing patterns are important for memory consolidation during sleep.

See you next Friday, friends 👋
Navneet

[Sign up here to never miss on the latest updates.]