The philanthropist has announced a further $215M investment in women's health, with a new focus on midlife and menopause - an area she describes as receiving less than 1% of aging research funding. The commitment includes a $10M grant to The Menopause Society. French Gates has highlighted that for every dollar invested in medical research globally, just five cents goes to women's health, and women experience higher levels of illness and disability than men at nearly every age.
"The role of philanthropy, in my opinion, is to look at some of these societal problems that have been left behind, and shine light on them, show ways of making progress so you can then crowd in other donors and ultimately crowd in government funding. Part of what I'm doing here, I hope, is sending a signal to say, 'This is really important. Let's do something about it.' And my hope is that I'll be able to get others who will join me."
— Melinda French Gates, Founder, Pivotal Ventures
UK-listed Venture Life is acquiring the FemiClear and Curoxen consumer healthcare brands from OrganiCare Nature's Sciences for up to $28M - $23M upfront and up to $5M deferred based on 2026 trading performance. FemiClear addresses gynaecological conditions including bacterial vaginosis, genital herpes and UTIs, and is stocked at Walmart, Walgreens, CVS and Target. The brands generated combined net revenue of $12.1M in the 12 months to March 2026, up 29% year on year. FemiClear accounts for ~98% of that performance.
“The acquisition brings relationships with key strategic US retailers, a valuable IP set, and a high calibre team that have been instrumental in the success of the brands to date, providing an essential, scalable platform for growth in the US market and women's intimate health category,”
— Jerry Randall, CEO, Venture Life
🔗 https://www.investments.halifax.co.uk/research-centre/news-centre/article/?id=22621824&type=bsm
Hims & Hers has completed its acquisition of Eucalyptus, parent company of UK women's health platform Juniper, which has served more than 220,000 customers since launch. Juniper has been evaluated by NICE for multidisciplinary weight-management services and recommended for early use within the NHS. The deal significantly expands Hims & Hers' UK footprint across sexual health, dermatology and weight management, with the ambition of delivering whole-body preventive care to British patients at scale.
"What Juniper has built in the UK shows what consumer health looks like when it is clinically rigorous, locally led, and genuinely built around the people it serves. We see our role as complementing the existing health system by meeting people earlier in their journey, supporting them more continuously, and helping them stay well for longer. Our continued expansion in the UK will introduce a new standard of care to more people across more areas of their health."
— Andrew Dudum, Co-Founder & CEO, Hims & Hers
Oli's wireless wearable monitors maternal and foetal signals and aims to predict up to 15 conditions across pregnancy and birth - including postpartum haemorrhage, foetal distress and stillbirth risk. The Series A3 round, backed by Scale Investors, Clare Ventures and the University of Sydney, brings total private capital raised to $13M, alongside $9.5M in non-dilutive grants. Pivotal clinical trials are underway across seven sites in Australia and the US, with TGA and FDA submissions in progress.
“Giredestrant represents the first major endocrine therapy advance in early-stage ER-positive breast cancer in decades, where the chance for cure is highest,” said “The FDA’s filing acceptance brings us closer to delivering a new standard-of-care with the potential to fundamentally change the treatment paradigm for people with early-stage disease.”
— Levi Garraway, Chief Medical Officer and Head of Global Product Development, Roche
🔗 https://www.roche.com/media/releases/med-cor-2026-06-02
Elation Health has acquired Aster, a women's health-focused AI-native EHR co-founded by siblings Fifi Kara and Dr. Lailah Kara-Newton - the latter of whom built the platform after experiencing undiagnosed preeclampsia during her own pregnancy. Aster raised $2.8M from Zeal Capital Partners, Octopus Ventures and others. The acquisition accelerates Elation's development of an agentic operating system for primary care, bringing Aster's Atlas voice agent and autonomous AI capabilities into the platform
"The Aster team impressed us with their vision and creative inventions to support independent practices. Like Elation, Aster was founded by siblings with a personal mission to fix healthcare. That shared north star means they understand what we're building and why it matters. It was clear right away they would significantly add to our capabilities."
— Kyna Fong, Co-Founder & CEO, Elation Health
🔗 https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/elation-health-acquires-aster-expand-131500482.html
Alife Health's Embryo Predict has received FDA clearance to help fertility specialists select embryos for IVF transfer - one of the most consequential decisions in the process. The clearance was supported by a prospective, randomised, multi-centre trial across seven US clinics enrolling 440 patients. Studies show a 34.6% disagreement rate among fertility specialists selecting the top embryo, rising to 44% when patients have three or more to choose from. Embryo Predict is now commercially available in the US, Europe and the UK.
"Six years ago, we set out to put IVF's wealth of clinical data to work in a way the field had never seen before. Today, that work is validated. This clearance reflects years of rigorous clinical research and the trust of the clinicians and institutions who partnered with us. For the first time, the collective insight from thousands of embryos and outcomes around the world is available to every embryologist, at every transfer decision."
— Melissa Teran, CEO and Co-Founder, Alife Health
A new £5M fund has been launched to improve mental health provision for young women and girls, targeting services that are under-resourced and often inaccessible. The fund will support organisations working on prevention, early intervention and specialist care, addressing a recognised gap in mental health support tailored to young women's needs.
