Good morning, Broadsheet readers! A new study found that women’s medical ‘pink tax’ is real, former Tinder CEO Renate Nyborg is developing a new AI app, and GV invests in a menopause startup. Have an excellent Wednesday.
– Impactful investment. For three years, GV, Alphabet’s venture capital arm formerly known as Google Ventures, has been looking at the menopause space. The firm has deployed almost $150 million in the women’s health category, says general partner Frédérique Dame. But it hadn’t found the right startup working on meeting the needs of women experiencing menopause—until now.
GV is leading a $25 million funding round in Midi Health, a virtual clinic focused on menopause care that founder and CEO Joanna Strober launched last year, Fortune is the first to report.
Strober previously founded a company called Kurbo Health that aimed to address childhood obesity. She sold the business to Weight Watchers in 2018. Her interest in the menopause space began eight years ago when, at 47, she started having trouble sleeping, which contributed to brain fog and other symptoms. She sought out treatment and eventually found the right solution—but the hormone specialist she saw was cash-only and expensive. Strober, based in Palo Alto, began to think about how to scale the high-quality care she found to women all over the country.
 Joanna Strober, founder and CEO of Midi Health. Courtesy of Midi Health Midi connects patients with medical professionals for live virtual visits. They treat menopause-related symptoms including brain fog, mood changes, and joint pain, as well as offer care for cancer patients affected by similar symptoms because of their treatments. With the new funding, it will expand from accepting insurance in 13 U.S. states to all 50 states. Midi is available through employers’ health care packages but also directly to patients.
There’s been a lot of interest in the menopause space over the past few years—from science-driven companies to celebrity brands. Founders and investors have simultaneously identified an untapped market, but have come up with many different ways to capitalize on that market. “A lot of companies started looking at it like a product opportunity,” says Strober. “What we really wanted to do was create a care company rather than a product company.”
GV’s investors think that Midi has potential to help address some large-scale societal problems, like growing OB/GYN care deserts in areas where anti-abortion legislation has made it difficult for physicians to continue practicing.
The investors were also impressed by Midi’s team. “This is a team who’s seasoned. These are not 30-year-olds,” says executive venture partner Cathy Friedman. “It’s very important to have a subset of the team to have lived it,” she adds about menopause. “To have a bunch of 20-year-olds focused on menopause, you’re probably not going to understand all the nuance in it.”
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
The Broadsheet is Fortune’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. Today’s edition was curated by Joseph Abrams. Subscribe here.
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Check out Fortune's Innovators Shaping the Future of Health This year's winners offer creative solutions to systemic health care problems. Explore the list |
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- Medical 'pink tax.' Women collectively pay over $15 billion more annually in out-of-pocket medical expenses than men do, according to a new Deloitte study, likely because insurance covers less of the treatment that women need. It would cost employers an extra $133 per employee annually to eliminate the disparity. Fortune
- From hookups to help. After years in tech and a stint as CEO of Tinder, Renate Nyborg is entering the AI frontier with Meemo, a new AI-integrated app that gives advice for managing a relationship. Users of the app can ask a chatbot about the best breakup protocols or the best response to send to a partner. Fast Company
- Attacking Amazon. FTC Chairman Lina Khan’s distrust of Amazon came to a head yesterday when the FTC, along with 17 states, filed a lawsuit against the online retailer for allegedly using monopoly power to force sellers to stay on the platform. Lina Khan has publicly shared her skepticism of Amazon’s business practice for years. In 2017, she published a widely-read paper in the Yale Law Journal in which she criticized regulators for failing to restrict Amazon’s growing power. Wall Street Journal
- Diaspora delegation grows. President Joe Biden announced yesterday that actress Viola Davis and Rosalind Brewer, former CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance, would become advisors on a recently-created White House council for engaging with the African diaspora living in the United States. They join other prominent corporate and academic leaders who are members of the board. Bloomberg
- Future is female. Instacart CEO and Metrodora Institute cofounder Fidji Simo is one of the six women included on Fortune's new "13 innovators shaping the future of health" list. Joining her are Ziyi Gao, one-half of the team behind alcohol-reduction app Reframe; Dr. Uché Blackstock, founder of health equity consultancy group Advancing Health Equity; Frédérique Welgryn, global vice president for women's health at pharmaceutical company Perrigo; and the female duo behind virtual health care platform Elanza Wellness. Fortune
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Swiftly appointed Karen Short as board member and Claire Ko as chief people officer. UrbanStems announced Ana Mollinedo Mims as CEO. Faeth Therapeutics named Debbie Chirnomas M.D., M.P.H., as chief medical officer. Figma hired Sheila Vashee as chief marketing officer. Grindr added Solmaz Shariat Torbaghan as director of artificial intelligence and machine learning.
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