Issue #95- Women’s Sports

Happy FemTech Friday,

Women’s sports are not just having a moment—they’re transforming into a powerful and lucrative industry.

Even with all the buzz and success, women’s sports face ongoing issues like pay gaps, limited opportunities, and outdated stereotypes. Although women make up 51% of the global population, women’s sports are still largely underrepresented. 

Female athletes face unique health issues like menstrual irregularities, mental health challenges and bone stress injuries, but sports science research rarely addresses these problems.

The sports industry has not yet fully recognized the potential of women’s sports as a major business opportunity, missing the chance to scale women’s sports to their full potential.

But here’s something huge: for the first time in history, annual global revenue for women’s sports is set to surpass $1 billion.

This is a great opportunity for companies to get involved and make a difference. The global women’s sports market is expected to hit $200 billion by 2030. 

Investors, sports organizations, and researchers must address gaps and increase support to help women’s sports thrive. 

Community

If you’re a women’s health founder, a product or marketing expert, a passionate advocate for women’s health, or a business leader aiming to create the next big innovation in femtech and women’s health.

Join Founder’s Circle.

In honour of Breastfeeding Awareness Week,Dr. Deepa Mohan Sharma, Consultant Paediatrician and Neonatologist from Motherhood shared insights with our team to shed light on the importance of breastfeeding in India.🤱

Dr. Sharma sheds light on: 

• The challenges breastfeeding mothers face 
•  The legal landscape surrounding breastfeeding 
• The vital role of healthcare professionals 
•  The benefits of normalizing breastfeeding in public spaces and workplaces

Key needs include:

• 47.1% want mental health counselling 
• 39.7% need post-pregnancy support groups 
• 37.4% seek financial awareness programs 
• 36.8% desire flexible work arrangements

For elderly care, there’s a need for:

• 47.7% family support programs 
• 48.4% educational programs 
• 49.7% financial assistance

• Bengaluru-based Genworks Health Private Limited has raised Rs 41 crore in a funding round led by Evolvence India Fund. Somerset Indus Healthcare Fund, Kasiraman Swaminathan also participated in this round. 
• Healthtech startup Visit Health has raised over Rs 250 crore in a transaction comprising primary capital infusion and secondary purchase of stake in the company held by Docprime Technologies Pvt Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of PB Fintech, apart from promoters and employees.
• Beauty, wellness, and health platform kindlife.in has raised $8 million in its Series A round led by JB-Dooeun, TK Fund, and MIXI Global Investments, with Kalaari Capital and other angel investors also participating.

• IDRx, a Plymouth, MA-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, raised $120M in Series B funding.
• Prana Thoracic, a Houston, TX-based medtech startup which specializes in lung cancer intervention, raised $3M in Series A extension.
• Feeling Great, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of newly launched app called the Feeling Great app, raised $8M in Seed funding.
• Protembis, an Aachen, Germany-based medical-technology company, received €20m in venture-debt financing.
• NovAliX, a Strasbourg, France-based preclinical contract research organization (CRO) specializing in expert drug discovery services, received an investment from Bruker

• Eating more fruits and veggies can lower blood pressure and improve heart health by reducing acid levels in the body, a new clinical trial finds.People who added two to four cups of fruits and vegetables to their daily diet wound up with lower blood pressure and reduced heart disease risk, as well as improved kidney health, trial results published Aug. 6 in the American Journal of Medicine showed.
• New research reveals significant shortcomings in the health information and support women in the US receive during pregnancy and postpartum.The State of Maternal Health Report, conducted by The Harris Poll in April, showed that pregnant women in the US are being underserved when it comes to postpartum education and support.
• Plenty of women know that having an IUD inserted in their uterus can be an excruciating experience, but new government guidance issued Thursday may soon make the experience less painful for many. For the first time, updated recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advice doctors to counsel women about pain control before the procedure takes place. Experts say that guideline may prompt doctors to take that potential pain more seriously and to use painkillers more often.
• There’s more evidence to suggest that the common artificial sweetener erythritol mightpose dangers to consumers’ hearts. The new study, involving 20 healthy adult volunteers, found that at doses commonly found in an erythritol-sweetened soda or muffin, the sweetener was linked to heightened activity of blood platelets, which could make clots more likely.
• People with a genetic predisposition for high cholesterol can lower their levels by taking fish oil supplements, a new study shows. The results indicate that lifestyle can be a powerful influence on artery-clogging cholesterol, even if a person’s genetics tends to make those levels higher, researchers said.
• A new immunotherapy is now available to treat a rare soft tissue cancer that most frequently occurs in young men.The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted accelerated approval to Tecelra (afamitresgene autoleuecel) to treat synovial sarcoma, which most commonly develops in the muscles and ligaments of the arms and legs.
• Your friends carry genes that may or may nor predispose them to mental health issues ranging from addiction to anxiety and depression. That can influence the mental health of the people in their friend circle, according to researchers at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
• Researchers are gleaning important insights into miscarriages in women from an longtime four-legged friend: horses.It shouldn’t come as a surprise, since female horses have long pregnancies (11 months) and embryos of both species grow at similar rates, said a team overseen by Mandi de Mestre, a professor of equine medicine at Cornell University in New York.
• Medicare and Medicaid patients are less likely to get cutting-edge weight-loss drugs than people with private insurance are, a new study finds. Medicaid accounted for less than 10% of semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy) prescription fills in 2023, researchers found.
• About 14% of women will develop diabetes while pregnant, a condition known as gestational diabetes.It’s linked with obesity and older age, and the number of cases is growing although they usually resolve by the time of delivery. Now, a new study delivers reassuring news for women hit by gestational diabetes: The condition will not raise their long-term odds for breast cancer.
• Wildfire smoke could interfere with the safety of surgeries, a new study warns. Inhaling the smoke could complicate the effects of anesthesia on surgical patients, and it also might hamper their recovery, researchers reported Aug. 6 in the journal Anesthesiology.
• Screening for cancer saves lives, but a new report shows it comes with a hefty price tag: The United States spends at least $43 billion annually on tests that check for five major cancers.
• MediBuddy, India’s largest digital healthcare platform, announced the launch of its AI-powered fraud detection system ‘Sherlock’ for healthcare reimbursement claims. The platform according to the company harnesses the power of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and data analytics to detect and prevent fraudulent claims in real-time, revolutionising the reimbursement process for healthcare providers, insurers, and patients.
• An iron-binding drug that is already approved for the treatment of other diseases could provide a novel way to attack ovarian tumours, new research has shown. Iron is essential for multiple cellular processes, so actively multiplying cancer cells often need larger amounts of it than normal cells. That’s especially true in ovarian cancers.

• Sweaty Betty and Hertility have launched new activewear designed for menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause to improve comfort and movement.
• TaraCares has been recognised as one of the top 16 UK/EU start-ups shaping the European digital health market by Wavestone’s 2024 Digital Health Radar. 
• The Canadian support platform Fertility Wise has announced a partnership with Fairfax EggBank to expand the resources available to fertility patients.
• The award-winning gynaecological health start-up Daye has expanded its revolutionary at-home tampon-based screening kit to include HPV testing.

• Sepalika released a thoughtware on the “Possible Root Causes of Unexplained Infertility”.
• Etta Watts-Russell, founder of Lactamo released a thoughtware on #WorldBreastFeedingWeek and covered the aspects of the Global 2024 theme which is “Closing the Gap”
• “The Best Pain Relief for Cancer – Why Vijaya is preferred” a blog which covered aspects of cancer pain statistics along with benefits of Vijaya.
• Aditi Mittal founder of Newmi Care released a post on how Sexual health is a topic that is neglected in India.

• The Tamil Nadu Pharma Traders’ Association (TNPTA), the parallel trade organization floated by the expelled members of TNCDA led by Mannargudi Ramachandran and T Natarajan, is unlikely to get the recognition of the all India trade body, AIOCD, it is learnt.
• The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has fixed retail prices of a total of 70 new drug formulations, including 12 for which the companies launched the products without obtaining price approval from the Authority.

📳 – Quick Reads: 

• Kids Worldwide Are Consuming More Sugary Drinks
• 4 Tips to Keeping Your Gut Healthy– You can avoid inflammatory bowel disorder by following a few simple steps to a healthy gut.

See you next Friday, friends 👋
Navneet

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