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Telehealth menopause care provider Elektra Health collected $3.3 million in seed extension funding, COO Jannine Versi tells Erin exclusively.

Why it matters: Rising awareness of how menopause impacts overall women's health — combined with new science and federal programs — has drawn attention to a previously neglected health arena.

Details: UPMC Enterprises led the round, which brings total seed funding to $6.7 million.

New investor Wavemaker 360 and prior backers Flare Capital Partners and Seven Seven Six Fund joined.

UPMC's Kathryn Heffernan and Wavemaker's Monica Jain join Elektra's board of directors.

Funds will fuel hiring additional members of Elektra's executive team and expanding the company's clinical footprint.

What's next: Versi foresees Elektra potentially raising again sometime early next year.

How it works: The New York City-based company combines telehealth and coaching with educational resources and private peer support.

Board-certified clinicians conduct labs and write prescriptions, while a private member platform offers a place for discussions and virtual events with speakers.

Elektra partners with payers and health care systems including Mass General Brigham Health Plan and EmblemHealth.

The big picture: Few OB-GYN residency programs offer menopause training, despite evidence showing a strong link between this stage of life and the risk and prevalence of chronic illnesses including heart disease and osteoporosis.

What they're saying: "Around menopause there have been several recent movements that we're hoping will yield better research and more dollars in the space, such as [the recent White House initiative], which specifically noted menopause — that was a big deal," says Versi.

"Five to seven [years] ago, we saw a lot of interest in the fertility and maternity market and [menopause care] seems like the natural extension of that in terms of reproductive journeys," says UPMC's Heffernan.

State of play: Despite tough macroeconomic conditions and an industry-wide plummet in funding for digital health, deals continue to enliven the VC-backed women's health sector.

In January, menopause care startup Midi was looking to raise $60 million in Series B funding, per Business Insider.

Virtual-first care provider Thirty Madison in June acquired assets from birth control startup The Pill Club for $32.3 million.

Tech-enabled fertility clinic operator and employer benefits provider Kindbody in March raised $100 million at a $1.8 billion valuation.

1 big thing: Elektra debuts for virtual menopause care

Illustration of a middle aged women working on a laptop and sitting on a giant health plus. 

Power, a clinical trial marketplace aimed at improving patient recruitment, raised $12 million in Series A funding.

Why it's the BFD: Many patients report little to no knowledge of clinical trials, while researchers have difficulty identifying and enrolling appropriate participants, Aaron writes.

What's happening: The Series A, led by Kin Ventures and Contrary, could last three to five years, co-founder Brandon Li tells Axios.

Power wants to put fresh funds toward creating a "full suite of solutions around owning the medical record for the patient collecting that record," he adds.

Insider Footwork also participated. Power raised a $7 million seed round in 2022.

How it works: Power users can browse clinical trials by condition, location and drug type and instantly see estimates of their eligibility.

The San Francisco-based company uses AI to simplify medical jargon in trial descriptions and links patients directly with researchers for follow-up questions.

"We like to call ourselves the Airbnb or Zillow of clinical trials," Li says.

What's next: Power hopes to leverage advancements in generative AI and large language models to analyze records and ideally save researchers time, Li says.

By the numbers: Per Li, more than 600,000 patients used Power to discover clinical trials last year.

The big picture: While recruitment for trials remains a challenge, there are also few resources for patients to access comprehensible information about ongoing clinical studies.

The main website tracking trials, Clinicaltrials.gov, is "a very poorly designed website" geared toward medical professionals, not consumers, says Kin partner Tina Hoang-To.

"Using AI and LLMs to gather and structure the clinical trials data, Power has streamlined and modernized the clinical trials process," she adds. "This allows patients on the platform to accurately and instantly self-qualify themselves."

2. The BFD: Power notches $12M Series A

Illustration of a hand pulling a 3D bottle of pills from a laptop screen.

Want more health tech deals? Check out the Axios Pro Deals Tracker.

• MMI, a Pisa, Italy-based robotics company focused on complex conditions, raised $110m in Series C funding led by Fidelity Management and Research Company and joined by all previous investors. axios.link/3wmTLzc

• Fabric, a New York-based provider of automation tools for clinical and administrative work, raised $60m in Series A funding led by General Catalyst with participation from insiders Thrive Capital, GV, Salesforce Ventures, Vast Ventures, Box Group, and Atento Capital. axios.link/49GdbgW 

• Bioptimus, a French LLM-focused biotech startup, raised $35m in seed funding led by Sofinnova Partners and joined by Bpifrance, Frst, Cathay Innovation, Headline, Hummingbird, NJF Capital, Owkin and Top Harvest Capital. axios.link/3SONNic

• HealthSnap, a Miami-based provider of remote patient monitoring tools to health care providers, raised $25m in Series B funding led by Sands Capital and joined by new backers Comcast Ventures, Acronym Venture Capital and Florida Opportunity Fund. Insiders Asclepius Growth Capital, Florida Funders, MacDonald Ventures and TGH Ventures also participated. axios.link/3uGk8zD

• Upwards, an LA-based national child care network and care benefits company, raised $21m in Series B funding led by Alpha Edison with participation from insiders M13 and Fika Ventures. axios.link/3UHGyuY

• Blackbird Health, a Pittsburgh-based youth mental health provider, raised $17m in Series A funding led by Define Ventures. blackbirdhealth.com

• Siftwell Analytics, a Charlotte, N.C.-based provider of predictive analytics to community health plans, raised $5.8m in unlabeled funding from AlleyCorp, Arkin Digital Health, Tau Ventures and The Charlotte Fund. axios.link/4bH7oth 

• DarioHealth, a New York-based digital therapeutics platform for chronic conditions, acquired Twill, a New York-based mental and physical health platform. dariohealth.com

• Aptar Digital Health, a Congers, N.Y.-based software platform providing medical device and digital patient support programs, acquired Healint, a Palo Alto-based digital health and virtual clinical studies platform. aptardigitalhealth.com

3. Deals o' the day

• Kara Justis, former VP of strategic consulting at Trella Health, joined Pera Holdings as chief commercial officer. axios.link/3uKgFA3

• Ryan Gruhala, former COO at Ascension Living, became CEO of HospiceServe. axios.link/3uKgFA3

• Cliff Culver, former Precision Medicine Group exec, joined OncoHealth as COO. Also at OncoHealth, Scott Warshaw, former XiFin exec, became CFO, and Brett Erhardt, former Bright Health Group exec, became chief strategy and growth officer. axios.link/3wjBNgS

• Myoung Cha, former Carbon Health president and chief strategy officer,  joined Verily as chief product officer. verily.com

• Meredith Brunette, former CEO of Bunnii, joined Progyny as director of product. progyny.com

• Dan Unger, former SVP at Health Catalyst, joined Anomaly as chief product officer. findanomaly.com

• Scott Frederick, managing partner at Sands Capital, joined HealthSnap's board of directors. axios.link/3uFfAcS

4. It's Personnel

💸 Invitae prepares for sale, files for Ch. 11 bankruptcy — Fierce Biotech

📱 Telehealth abortion is as safe as IRL medication abortions — STAT

📉 UCHealth is chasing down medical debts — Axios

5. Your daily dose

Illustration of a repeating pill bottle pattern with one rolled up newspaper.

Happy Wednesday, Health Tech readers. You're already halfway through the week.

Situational awareness: Check out the sheer amount of VC-backed deals in this edition and tell us: Do you think the digital health funding bubble is un-popping? Why or why not?

🍳 Aaron is looking forward to brunch with some friends at Soho House this weekend. 

🫶 Thanks for reading, and extra thanks to newsletter editor Claire Rychlewski and copy editor Egan Millard. Please ask your colleagues, friends and family to sign up.

February 21, 2024

1 big thing: Elektra debuts for virtual menopause care