Issue # 148 – Women’s Health has a new BFF 📲

✨Hey there! You’re reading the free edition of the FemTech India newsletter — your go-to source for the latest in women’s health, industry updates, and opportunities to help you navigate what’s next in your journey.

Happy Independence Day 🇮🇳

As India celebrates 79 years of independence, we’ve become a global leader in adopting tech and AI. But true freedom for women will come when we harness that same innovation to close the gender health gap using AI and women’s health to end decades of under-researched, underfunded women’s health challenges. 

Tech has changed our systems. Now it’s time to change our cycles.

Nevedya Nair I Joy-Moriah Balenthiran, and Vedant Bhardwaj, are building Lea, an AI-powered tool designed to help women take charge of their health. Lea combines insights on menstrual health, nutrition, fitness, and productivity into the ultimate science-backed resource, all in one place.

Join the waitlist

• Oracle Health has introduced a new electronic health record (EHR) system integrating artificial intelligence and voice navigation. The system is designed to simplify clinician interactions and support ambulatory care in the United States.
• Mayo Clinic has partnered with Nvidia to introduce an AI computing platform to advance digital pathology, drug discovery, and precision medicine.
• Aarthi Scans and Labs has launched India’s first helium-free 1.5 Tesla MRI system from Siemens Healthineers at its newly opened center in Whitefield, Bengaluru. 
• Quick commerce platform Zepto has officially entered the online pharmacy segment with the launch of Zepto Pharmacy, which promises to deliver prescription and over-the-counter medicines within 10 minutes.

• Gameto, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing stem cell-derived therapies for reproductive health,  announced the completion of a $44 million Series C financing round led by Overwater Ventures, with participation from Insight Partners, RA Capital, Two Sigma Ventures, BOLD Capital Partners, Future Ventures, Ingeborg Investments, Arcadia Investment Partners, PAGS Group, Pontiva Healthcare Partners, Portfolia, and additional investors.
• Asia Healthcare Holdings (AHH), backed by Singapore’s GIC and TPG, has announced an investment of INR 400 crore in the Asian Institute of Nephrology and Urology (AINU) over the next four to five years.
• UK-based maternal health brand My Expert Midwife has secured £1.6 million in fresh funding led by Pembroke VCT, with existing angel investors contributing the remainder. The funding will support e-commerce development, retail expansion, and product innovation.
• Better Medicine, a Tartu, Estonia-based startup developing AI-powered diagnostic tools for radiology, raised €1M in Pre-Seed funding. The round was led by Soulmates Ventures, with participation from Specialist VC, UT Ventures, and angel investors.
  
• Wanda Health, a Seattle, WA. and Emersons Green, UK-based provider of an intelligent platform for remote patient monitoring (“RPM”) and virtual care, raised £1.9M in funding.

• A study published in Indian Journal of Pediatrics found that 57.5 percent of 2235 adolescents surveyed in the country had experienced recurrent headaches in the past year.  Out of these, 2% had chronic migraines, a condition more common among girls than in boys because of hormonal changes during puberty. 
• Experts emphasise that while some observational studies show signals for improving sleep, anxiety, and period cramps, large-scale evidence is lacking, and professional medical consultation is crucial before use
• Experiencing complications during pregnancy is linked with a higher risk of stroke before age 50, according to a study published August 6, 2025, in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology
• Thanks to new advances in cancer care, more and more people are surviving cancer, with a projected total of 22.5 million survivors by 2032. The need for proper cancer survivorship care grows with each new case of remission, but according to new research from the University of Missouri School of Medicine, primary care could fill that need, given enough support.
• During magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedures, contrast agents, such as the rare metal gadolinium, can pose potential health risks. Researchers at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) have spent years developing contrast-free scanning technology and successfully developed AI-powered virtual MRI imaging for accurate tumor detection, offering a safer and smarter diagnostic approach. 
• A Canadian study published in Frontiers in Psychology, suggests that certain food—particularly dairy—may be linked to poor sleep and disturbing dreams, especially in people with food sensitivities. Researchers surveyed 1,082 college students to examine the relationship between diet and sleep. As many as 40.2 per cent of participants believed certain food negatively impacted their sleep, while 5.5 per cent reported that food affected their dreams. About one-third of participants said they experienced regular nightmares.
• AI is detecting tumors more often and earlier in the Dutch breast cancer screening program. Those tumors can then be treated at an earlier stage. This has been demonstrated by researchers led by Radboud university medical center in a study published in The Lancet Digital Health. The use of AI could reduce workload and save millions of euros annually.
• Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have found that prenatal exposure to acetaminophen may increase the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), in children.
• A global survey is underway to rename polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) to better reflect the condition and its impact on millions of women worldwide. PCOS can cause a variety of symptoms including hormonal imbalances, excessive androgen levels – male hormones also produced in smaller amounts by women – and irregular periods, and is a leading cause of infertility.
• Women who have been stalked or obtained a restraining order are more likely to experience a heart attack and/or stroke in later years compared to those who have not, according to new research. The link between stalking and cardiovascular disease may be due to psychological distress, which may disrupt the nervous system, impair proper blood vessel function and negatively affect other biological mechanisms, the researchers said.
• A new study from Denmark shows for the first time that men with biochemically recurrent prostate cancer who undergo PSMA PET/CT before salvage radiotherapy have improved survival rates compared to those who do not.
• A study published in JAMA Network Open reported that treatment with antidiabetic medicines semaglutide and tirzepatide increases the risk of optic neuropathy and other optic nerve disorders in patients with type 2 diabetes.  
• A new research paper was published in Volume 16 of Oncotarget on July 29, 2025, titled “PCAIs stimulate MAPK, PI3K/AKT pathways and ROS-Mediated apoptosis in aromatase inhibitor-resistant breast cancer cells while disrupting actin filaments and focal adhesion.”

• Personal care brand Dove has launched its first ‘Women’s Wellness Range’, targeting perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms through four specialized products developed with gynecologists, menopause experts, and dermatologists. The collection is available exclusively on Amazon’s U.S. store with products starting at $19.99.
• Delhi-based gut health startup Guttify, a Lifechart venture, has introduced India’s first saliva-based gut scan kit priced at INR 199. The test provides a quick, noninvasive method for assessing gut health at home. It delivers results within 24 hours without requiring stool samples or lab visits.
• Apriori Bio, a biotechnology company focused on developing variant-resilient vaccines, announced a research collaboration with the Francis Crick Institute to better understand critical aspects of immune response, with the goal of informing the development of more predictive and effective vaccines against present and emerging viral threats for patient benefit. 
• Tempus AI has expanded its Tempus Next care pathway intelligence platform to include breast cancer, adding to its existing lung cancer capabilities. The AI-enabled platform integrates patient electronic medical record data with clinical guidelines to help physicians identify care gaps and deliver guideline-directed medical care.

• Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati, in collaboration with Ohio State University, have developed an underwater vibration sensor that can enable contactless voice recognition.
• Goa has launched a landmark healthcare program combining artificial intelligence (AI) screening with an innovative drug-pricing model to make lifesaving treatments more affordable.

📳 – Quick Reads: 

• Myths debunked: Does wearing a bra at night cause cancer? A viral Instagram reel claims that wearing a bra at night causes breast cancer. Here’s what medical experts and leading cancer organisations say about this widely debunked myth and the scientific truth
• Want to lose weight? Reducing food cravings and controlled snacking could be the keyWeight loss success is strongly linked to managing and reducing food cravings, a significant challenge for many. Find out what a recent study had to say about this strategy

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See you next Friday, friends 👋
Navneet

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