👶 Ellen DaSilva's Summer Health Raises $7.5M Seed Round to Reinvent Pedriatic Care
FemWealth Issue #71
Happy Sunday, FemWealth Friends!
In the Spotlight ✨
While on maternity leave after the birth of her second child, Ellen DaSilva, an early executive at Hims & Hers (a company she joined as employee #8 and helped grow into a public company), reflected on how to radically simplify access to pediatrics care.
Guided by her personal experiences with access to emergency pediatric care, she started Summer Health, a telehealth messaging platform that aims to answer patients’ medical questions over text in 15 minutes or less. The service enables families in all 50 US states to connect with a provider via a simple text message and get treatment, prescriptions, referrals, and more for a low monthly fee.
The startup has raised $7.5 million in a seed round led by Sequoia Capital and Lux Capital, with participation from Chelsea Clinton’s Metrodora Ventures, Ashley Mayer’s Coalition Ventures, and founders Kate Ryder of Maven Clinic and Amira Yahyaoui of Mos.
Sign up for the public beta: www.summerhealth.com [US]
Read more: Chelsea Clinton and Sequoia’s Alfred Lin back $7.5 million seed round for pediatric telehealth startup Summer Health (Fortune $)
Leading an Investment in Summer Health: The Future of Pediatric Care by Deena Shakir
FemWealth Favourites ❤️
Politics: 🇺🇸 Women candidates set records in 2022 midterms as gender becomes a primary theme in national discourse, research group says - The number of women running for the US Senate and state governors has reached an all-time high, but the total number of women running for the House of Representatives fell slightly from previous cycles. While Republican female candidates have broken records in all three kinds of contests, Democratic candidates haven’t exceeded past numbers. Women of color are also running in record number - with Black women running for a record number of Senate, House, and gubernatorial races; Latina candidates in a record number of House and gubernatorial races; and Asian/Pacific Islander women in a record number of gubernatorial races.
Startups: 💸 Kira Radinsky’s Diagnostic Robotics raises $45 million Series B - Co-founded and led by Kira Radinsky, the Israel-based startup has developed an AI platform that helps predict which patients will benefit from proactive interventions and improve the point of care.
“Even though I’m an expert in predictions, I didn’t predict what happened and started the funding round just as the market collapsed, which made everything far from trivial. There is always a war or a crisis somewhere and it is part of the role of an entrepreneur to deal with these situations.” - Kira Radinsky
💸 Caraway collects $11M seed for women-focused virtual care - The US-based virtual reproductive and mental health startup is founded and led by Lori Evans Bernstein.
“A lot of Gen Z women previously assumed they’d have the right to make their own health care decisions just like they’d have the right to clean drinking water. Overturning Roe has overturned that basic assumption.” - Lori Evans Bernstein
💸 Sage Raises $9M in Seed Funding - The NYC-based technology company innovating care for older adults is co-founded by Ellen Johnston (CPO). Its software platform captures essential data to prevent emergencies and improve the quality of life.
💸 iLoF Raises $5M in Funding - Co-founded by Paula Sampaio (CSO) and Mehak Mumtaz (COO), the Oxford, UK and Porto, Portugal-based digital health company develops an AI platform to accelerate the future of personalized drug discovery and development.
💸 The Fashion Kingdom, an Egyptian fashion e-commerce startup, raises $2.6M in seed funding - The Egyptian e-commerce marketplace for fashion, beauty and home accessories items is co-founded by Marianne Simaika. Women comprise 43% of the company’s entire workforce and 50% of the company’s managers.
💸 Fintech Guava raises $2.4M to provide banking services to Black small-business owners - The banking and networking platform founded and led by Kelly Ifill aims to narrow the racial wealth gap by providing financial services to Black small businesses and creators. It allows entrepreneurs to check expenses, budget, transfer money, track growth and connect with other entrepreneurs looking to scale their businesses.
💸 Tesla, SpaceX alums stalk energy sector’s white whale with $2 million seed round - Molly Yang, a Tesla alum who helped lead the Supercharger, is the CEO and co-founder of Hgen, a startup that aims to decarbonize industries like steel and ammonia production by focusing on green hydrogen that’s made using renewable power.
💸 Why Alexis Ohanian Is Investing In This Career Coaching Startup - Co-founded by Anita Hossain Choudhry and Rei Wang, The Grand, a group career coaching platform that seeks to foster empathy by bringing together employees facing similar experiences in their professional lives, has raised $2.4 million pre-seed round led by Katelin Holloway’s and Alexis Ohanian’s VC firm Seven Seven Six.
VC: 💸 VC fund Variant raises $450M, doubles down on Web3 amid ‘crypto winter’ - Li Jin’s Variant has raised $450m across Seed + Opportunity funds to continue backing founders who are leveraging crypto to build net-new markets and solve user needs in better ways.
“We feel like in the next three to five years, we’re going to see a wave of really high quality projects that then drive us towards mainstream [crypto] adoption.” - Li Jin
💸 Genoa Ventures Closes Second Fund, at $84M - Led by Jenny Rooke, Ph.D., Founder and Managing Director, the San Francisco, CA-based venture firm invests in early-stage companies at the convergence of biology and technology.
💸 Solo Investor Raises $25 Million Debut Fund for Twine Ventures - The US-based VC firm, founded and led by Leshika Samarasinghe, will back purpose-driven startups in sectors such as healthcare, fintech and climate tech. (WSJ $)
👩🏽 Who are the most active VC investors in femtech? - During the first half of this year, VC funding for women’s health focused startups totaled $840M. The top women’s health tech investors list includes Alumni Ventures, Y Combinator, SOSV, and Human Ventures.
🌍 Are impact VCs chasing vanity metrics? - By Milly Shotter and Yumi Tsoy of Bethnal Green Ventures
Culture: 🎶 Missy Elliott Speaks About Inspiration, Her Career, And Longevity In The Music Industry - The Grammy Award-winning artist reflects on her legendary career.
“As a solo artist I’ve been in the game for 25 years, but in the music industry I’ve been here for 29. I’ve been reflecting on that. It’s a huge accomplishment – especially when you’re still around. When I think about my albums, you remember very clearly what space you were in at that time. Looking back at Missy 25 years ago, and looking at Missy in 2022, it’s just an amazing feeling. You go through a lot of ups and downs, so to still be standing is always a blessing.” - Missy Elliott
💃🏾 Beyoncé Releases The Highly Anticipated New Album, ‘Renaissance’ - Queen B has released her seventh studio album. Listen to it here.
What I’m Reflecting On 💭
Stop Undervaluing Exceptional Women
“While it’s assumed that exceptional men will job hop to get a promotion, it’s assumed that exceptional women will stay loyal to their firm because they value their relationships with their coworkers. The assumption that women value these relationships is so strong that people continue to believe exceptional women will choose to stay even in the face of better, outside career opportunities.” - By Elizabeth L. Campbell, professor of management at Rady School of Management, UC San Diego and Oliver Hahl, associate professor of organization theory, strategy, and entrepreneurship at the Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University
Europe’s female founders feel the pinch from VC downturn - In the first half of the year, venture funding to Europe-based female-founded startups has declined down to pre-2021 levels. European and Israeli startups with one or more female founders raised $6.6B across 765 deals, down 2.9% and 23.9% YoY. Late-stage companies were hit harder by the downturn in venture funding, receiving $3.8B in total funding, down from $9.1B.
There Are Too Few Women in Computer Science and Engineering
“Creating more welcoming cultures is a systemic problem that is the responsibility of the tech industry and society more broadly. Key is changing the narrative that pins gender disparities on girls’ and women’s lower interests. Instead, we need to articulate the role that the perceived and actual cultures of these fields play in creating these patterns.” - Sapna Cheryan, professor of psychology at the University of Washington, Allison Master is an assistant professor of education at the University of Houston, and Andrew Meltzoff, Job and Gertrud Tamaki Endowed Chair in psychology and co-director of the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences at the University of Washington
An OB/GYN on What It’s Like Working With Pregnant Children - Patricia Bailey-Sarnelli, an OB/GYN in Massachusetts, US shares her experience working with very young pregnant patients.
Brittney Griner's Fight for Freedom - A worth-reading profile of elite basketball player, Brittney Griner, currently detained in Russia for posession of cannabis oil.
Thank you for reading! 🥰 Wish you a wonderful Sunday!
Anamaria
Founder & Writer of FemWealth