🫶 Ellen Rudolph's WellTheory Addresses the Root Causes of Autoimmune Conditions
FemWealth Issue #86
Happy Weekend, FemWealth Friends!
In the Spotlight 🫶
Founded and led by Ellen Rudolph, WellTheory is a nutrition and lifestyle coaching provider for those living with autoimmune diseases. The platform offers membership-based 1-on-1 and community-based coaching and nutrition programs enabling patients to better manage and treat their autoimmune conditions by addressing the root causes.
“We’re doing it through a personalized, evidence-based approach to care. We’re identifying the root cause of autoimmune disorders – rather than prescribing band-aid fixes that mask symptoms – and treating the whole person, and doing this by combining food as medicine, community care, expert-led holistic health programs, and personalized health data insights. Our goal is to support anyone and everyone no matter where they are in their autoimmune journey.” - Ellen Rudolph
The San Francisco-based startup has raised $7.2 million in seed funding, led by Accel and joined by investors including Lux Capital, Box Group, Coalition Operators, and other angels.
Read more: The Virtual Care Platform for Autoimmune Disease by Amy Saper, Partner at Accel
Introducing FemWealth Springboard 👩🏻💻
Read the first edition of the new FemWealth Springboard series featuring Ourspace, a remote company co-founded by tech veterans - Megan Murphy (former VP of Product at Hotjar), Stephanie Bowker (former VP of Marketing at Spendesk), and Mark Allen (former Sr Engineering Manager at Glovo). Ourspace’s mission is to empower tech leaders to strategically, intentionally, and inclusively build teams that reflect the diverse people they serve.
FemWealth Favourites ❤️
Startups: 💸 Laika laps up $50M for its automated security compliance platform - Eva Pittas is a co-founder and CEO of the New York-based company.
💸 Vivrelle Raises $35MM Series B Round with Participation from Celebrities Lily Collins and Nina Dobrev - Blake Cohen Geffen is the co-founder and CEO of the New York City-based membership club for designer items. 3L Capital led the round, with participation from Origin Ventures, Chapford Capital Group, Plus Capital, actresses Lily Collins and Nina Dobrev, and entrepreneur Morgan Stewart McGraw.
💸 Southeast Asia health tech platform Speedoc raises $28M - Serene Cai is a co-founder of the Singapore-based health tech startup that brings hospital care to homes.
💸 Ping wants to simplify global payments while helping Latin Americans embrace crypto - Mary Saracco is a co-founder of the digital payment platform facilitating international payments for remote workers, contractors, and freelancers in their local currency and in fiat and cryptocurrency. The company has raised $15 million in seed funding from Y Combinator, Race Capital, BlockTower, Danhua Capital, Signum Capital, and Goat Capital.
💸 Even Healthcare lands additional capital to advance primary care adoption in India - Matilde Giglio is a co-founder of the Bangalore-based health tech startup on a mission to provide affordable care to communities across India. The company has recently raised $15 million from Alpha Wave and Aspada to expand its clinical team and scale preventive care in conditions like diabetes, PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome), and obesity.
💸 Founded by four Hungarians, Antavo snaps €10M to run next-gen omnichannel loyalty programs - Zsuzsa Kecsmar is a co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of the London-based provider of an enterprise loyalty cloud platform.
💸 SAIL Announces $4.7 Million Seed Fundraising Round to Help Advance Life-Saving Clinical Research - Anne Kim leads the US-based next-generation clinical data registry for patient advocacy groups.
💸 Brand 3.0 tokens startup Kalder bags $3 million to sign up its first Euro brands - Founded and led by Gökçe Güven, the San Francisco-based company provides a Brand 3.0 toolkit enabling marketing firms, brands, and creators to tokenise product enthusiasts.
💸 HR platform WorkTorch raises $2.2M seed round - Founded by sisters Deborah Gladney and Angela Muhwezi-Hall, WorkTorch is a US-based company focused on employee recruiting and retention. Tenzing Capital led the seed round with participation from Bloomberg Beta, MATH Venture Partners, Ruthless for Good Fund, and Graham & Walker.
“Finding the right talent is just half the battle. Where companies are really being hit the hardest is losing people faster than they’re coming in the door.” - Deborah Gladney
♻️ Humble keeps excess inventory out of the Philippines’ landfills - The Manilla-based company, co-founded by Niña Opida (COO), has raised $750,000 in an oversubscribed seed round led by Seedstars International Ventures, with participation from iSeed Ventures and angel investors.
🌍 This Platform Makes Sure Companies Stick to Their Climate Pledges - Features Lubomila Jordanova, CEO and founder of the carbon-reporting startup Plan A.
📣 Shout out to Ekaterina Matveeva, founder and CEO of Amolingua, a multilingual, multicultural virtual learning hub for professionals, business people, and international organisations. A female solo founder with an international team, she is currently raising a seed round. Get in touch!
VC: 💸 Quona Capital sinking $332M into startups focused on financial inclusion - Monica Brand Engel is a co-founder and Managing Partner of the US-based venture capital firm that invests in emerging markets that accelerate financial inclusion. Now at its Fund III, the firm invests in companies in Latin America, India, Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
👩🏻💻 Laid off from your tech job? Day One wants to give you $100,000 to start a company - Day One Ventures, founded by Masha Bucher, launched “Funded Not Fired,” a program aimed explicitly at those impacted by tech layoffs this year. It plans to write $100,000 checks into 20 startup teams by the end of the year.
🙌🏼 I found my breakout role in VC. Here’s what I learned. - By Vedika Jain, who has been recently promoted to Partner at Weekend Fund, three years after starting as a part-time Chief of Staff.
Women’s Health: 👩🏾⚕️ Michelle Browder’s $5.5M Project Will Turn the Building That Was Used to Experiment on Enslaved Black Women Into a Clinic - Michelle Browder, an Alabama artist and activist, plans to transform the building where J. Marion Sims (considered the “father of gynecology,” he conducted infamous experimental gynecological surgery on enslaved Black women) practiced into a training center for doulas and midwives and provide reproductive healthcare to Black women.
👩🏽🦳 Vira acquires online menopause treatment provider Alva - Andrea Berchowitz and Dr Rebecca Love’s Vira Health, creator of the menopause support app ‘Stella’ has acquired London-based menopause treatment prescriber Alva for an undisclosed sum.
Politics: 🇺🇸 Women Voters Were Underestimated. Again. - In the US, women voters proved to be a voice to be reckoned with in the midterm elections results. Female governors will break a record in 2023. Also, read 🇰🇷 Korea Urges More ESG Focus on Women to Address Fertility Crisis
Culture: 🎶 A new label revives forgotten female composers' music - Features French cellist Héloïse Luzzati, founder of La Boîte à Pépites, a new record label focused on restoring the music of forgotten female composers. It dedicated its first release to French composer Charlotte Sohy (1877-1955).
“We don’t know enough works composed by women. My aim is to increase the percentage of known works written by female composers.
We want this music to exist for the future and for the young generations too. We don't want to rewrite the story of the music. We want to add the women who count in the story.” - Héloïse Luzzati
What I’m Reflecting On 💭
The Unintended Consequences of Apple’s Fertility Tech
The challenge for ‘chauffeur mums’: navigating a city that wasn’t planned for women
Thank you for reading FemWealth! 🥰 Wish you a relaxing weekend and a super exciting week ahead!
Anamaria
Founder & Writer of FemWealth