FemTech Focus

A live interview from Tokyo, Japan, Saki Oshima is the Head of Femtech Partnerships at Scrum Ventures and the Founding member of Femtech Community Japan. Saki has been involved in collaborative projects between startups and large Japanese corporations her entire career. Saki's been leading femtech initiatives at Scrum connecting with femtech startups and large Japanese corporations. To raise more awareness of Japan's women's health sector, she founded Femtech Community Japan as one of the founding members. In this episode, we discuss the Japanese interest in femtech and what unique aspects of the Japanese economy, culture, and government initiatives are creating a massive interest in female health innovation.

Dr. Nicole Danos is an integrative biologist by training, currently working as an assistant professor at a primarily undergraduate institution, the University of San Diego. When she became pregnant she realized that there was a scarcity of data on the basic biology of the female body during pregnancy and lactation. Her current research program engages undergraduate students, and addresses this gap, in particular how muscles and tendons change at these physiological stages. She is an advocate for more basic research on female biology in particular with respect to movement biomechanics and exercise. She is also putting together a FemTech innovation Engine to stir up the innovation ecosystems of Southern California, with the intention of filling both the knowledge and participation gaps. Learn more about Nicole’s research at www.nicoledanosphd.net Enjoy the episode!

Milena Bacalja Perianes is a femtech expert and gender lens investing specialist. She is committed to driving more innovation and investment into women's health solutions that can close the gender gap. She is the co-founder of Madami and the Menstrual Health Hub which was just recently acquired. She is also the founder of the just freshly launched femtech-focused angel investing network called HerShare. In this episode, we discuss trends we’re seeing in femtech like business models that are and are not working, fundraising strategies that do not include venture capital, and how we get more men to attend femtech events. If you’re fundraising, go to www.hershare.co to submit your deal for potential investment. And if you’re a woman interested in investing in women’s health, even if it’s just a few thousand dollars then you can also go to hershare.co and join the waiting list for this first ever femtech specific angel network!

Dr Mary O’Neal is an expert in Women’s Neurology, serving as the Director of the Women’s Neurology Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She’s written multiple papers on this subject and edited several books including the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Continuum edition of “Neurological Illness in Pregnancy”, “Women’s Neurology- what do I do now?”, and “Neurology and Psychiatry of Women: A Guide to Gender-based Issues in Evaluation, Diagnosis, and Treatment”. She also directs a Harvard Medical School Women’s Neurology and Psychiatry course. In this interview, we discuss the difference between male and female brains, how contraception could affect what therapeutics patients take for disorders like epilepsy, and how pregnancy affects the brain. Enjoy the episode!

Tara Elmore is the Co-Founder of Complex Creatures, a breast wellness brand that makes topical and ingestible products to support breasts. Women mostly pay attention to their breasts when there's a problem. Complex Creatures want to make breast care a regular practice, in the same way women take care of other body parts. In this interview, we discuss Tara’s experience being diagnosed and treated for breast cancer and how it inspired their product lines. This holiday season, treat the ones you love with breasts to Complex Creatures products. Go to www.wearecomplexcreatures.com and enter promocode FEMTECH for 25% off your order.

Laura Youngson is the CEO and Co-founder of Ida Sports. Laura is a STEM advocate, TED speaker, and four-time Guinness World Record Holder. After completing a degree in physics, she worked at the 2012 Olympics and was immediately drawn to the power sport had in bringing people together. She founded the nonprofit Equal Playing Field which challenges inequalities in sports. During one of her Guinea World Records where 30 female athletes played 90 minutes of soccer at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, she realized that cleats were not designed for female feet. This was the start of Ida Sports which makes cleats specifically for the female foot. In this interview, we discuss the difference between male and female feet and the consequences female athletes face by wearing male-designed cleats. Go to www.idasports.com and use promocode FEMTECH15 for 15% off your order!

Cindy Eckert is a highly regarded entrepreneur, a strong advocate for female entrepreneurship, a pharmaceutical leader and one of the few women to have ever sold a company for a billion dollars. Over a distinguished 24-year career in healthcare, she started and sold two businesses for more than $1.5 billion. Having co-founded and sold Slate Pharmaceuticals, which redefined long lasting testosterone treatment for men, she launched Sprout Pharmaceuticals immediately thereafter. As Co-Founder & CEO of Sprout, the company broke through with the first ever FDA-approved drug for low sexual desire in women named Addyi — dubbed “female Viagra” by the media. In 2015, Cindy sold the company to Valeant Pharmaceuticals for $1b cash. Shortly after the sale, Valeant became the subject of media scrutiny for the rampant price inflation of their drugs and an SEC investigation related to accounting practices. Not one to sit idly by, Cindy negotiated to reacquire Addyi at no cost, in order to properly launch it into marketplace on her own terms. Today, Cindy is focused on mentoring, investing in, launching and building other women-led or focused businesses. In 2016, she opened the doors to The Pink Ceiling — a cross between a VC firm, a ‘pinkubator,’ and a consulting enterprise — where she is CEO. At The Pink Ceiling, she has personally invested $15m across 10 different health tech companies at various stages of development.

Lu Zhang is the Founder and Managing Partner of Fusion Fund. Lu is a renowned Silicon Valley based investor, a serial entrepreneur, and a Stanford Engineering alumna. Lu was recently selected as one of the Best 25 Female Early-stage Investors by Business Insider. The Fusion Fund just closed its third fund at $125M, to invest in founders innovating in deep tech and healthcare with a focus on seed and series A stage companies in North America. In this interview, we discuss what venture funds want to see in femtech startups, common mistakes, and Lu’s biggest advice. This is a great opportunity for an inside look into how VC is thinking about femtech investments! Learn more about the fund at www.fusionfund.com.

Jillian Fink is the CEO and founder of Occiguide which is a medical device that treats headaches. Headaches are a leading cause of pain and disability, and routinely affect the well-being and work productivity of more than 45 million Americans each year. Women are twice as likely to have headaches than men and even worse, 85% of migraine patients are women. Many people suspect its hormonal fluctuations are to blame but research still needs to be done. Learn more at www.occiguide.com

Jenny Wu is the Co-President & Chief Product Officer at Understood.org. Understood.org is a resource for more than 70 million people with learning and thinking differences like ADHD and dyslexia. They help these neurodivergent individuals understand and anticipate life’s challenges, and build their confidence through personalized and expert-driven experiences, community and content. Understood.org is a 501(c)(3) private operating foundation based in New York. In this episode, we dive deep into ADHD or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Although males are diagnosed with ADHD 3x more than females, it takes significantly longer for females to be diagnosed even though the symptoms arrive as early as they do In males during childhood. Jenny and I discuss why that is and what we could do about it. For more information, to donate, or to become a partner, visit u.org/media and follow them on Twitter @UnderstoodOrg