London-based Thena Capital, an all-female GP firm, has closed its debut £45M fund to back digital health and medical device startups in the UK, with a focus on helping companies break into the US market. The fund has already backed five startups and believes AI will fundamentally transform healthcare. It's a notable milestone for diversity in health tech investing.
“The UK MedTech ecosystem has never lacked talent or ambition. What it has historically lacked is the kind of commercially minded, transatlantically connected capital that THENA provides.”
— Andrea Ponti, Co-Founder, GHO Capital
🔗 https://med-tech.world/news/thena-capital-closes-45m-fund-backs-five-uk-medtech-companies/
Apple has updated its Health app to include menopause and perimenopause symptom logging alongside dedicated educational content, announced by Stacey Ford, Apple's VP of OS management. The update puts two of the most underserved life stages in women's health directly into the hands of millions of iPhone users - a significant moment for mainstream awareness and self-tracking.
🔗 https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/apple-health-app-menopause-perimenopause/
The University of Liverpool has launched the Women's Health Innovation Studio alongside £1.8M in NIHR funding to run a multi-centre randomised trial of the PPH Butterfly - a low-cost device designed to control postpartum bleeding rapidly and with minimal training. Postpartum haemorrhage is the leading cause of maternal death worldwide, responsible for around 70,000 deaths each year. The trial will run across UK and global sites.
"Women’s health has often been marginalised within healthcare systems and innovation markets, resulting in treatments, devices and care models that fail to adequately account for women’s specific needs. The funding from NIHR for this £1.8m project is precisely the kind of innovation the WIN Studio exists to foster: clinically urgent, women-centred, and with the potential to save lives at scale.”
— Dr Teesta Dey, Tenure Track Fellow, Department of Women's and Children's Health, University of Liverpool
Impli has received a £1.4M grant from the NIHR Invention for Innovation programme to advance BEAM, its minimally invasive microneedle biosensing patch that continuously monitors estradiol, LH and progesterone in real time. Worn on the upper arm, BEAM can replace up to 10 clinic visits with as few as 2, enabling real-time protocol adjustments during IVF. Partners include Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, the Wolfson Fertility Centre and King's College London. It's described as the world's first continuous hormone monitoring patch.
"We are not just building a device, we are building the evidence base to show that continuous hormone monitoring is possible, clinically meaningful, and ready for the real world. With an exceptional consortium behind us, we now have the funding, the expertise, and the clinical pathway to do that properly. The NIHR i4i award is a pivotal moment for Impli and for continuous hormone monitoring as a field."
— Anna Luisa Schaffgotsch, Founder & CEO, Impli
Alembic Therapeutics has acquired NUVESSA, an FDA-approved prescription treatment for bacterial vaginosis, from Exeltis USA. The single-dose, pre-filled applicator product is available nationwide through retail and specialty pharmacy channels, and Alembic assumes full responsibility for its US commercialisation and distribution. The deal signals Alembic's continued push to grow its women's health offering.
Charlotte O'Neill, Managing Director of Manchester City Women, has been confirmed as a speaker at the Women's Sport Summit on 6 October at Emirates Stadium, London. Her fireside chat with journalist Suzanne Wrack at WHW Europe 2025 is part of what inspired the Summit itself, and now she joins a growing lineup of governing bodies, rights holders and commercial partners coming together to shape the next phase of the women's sport market.
