💸 Mary Lou Jepsen's Openwater Secures $54M to Revolutionise Disease Diagnosis and Cure
FemWealth Issue #173
Hi FemWealth Friends,
In the Spotlight 💸
Founded and led by Mary Lou Jepsen - a brain tumor survivor and former Google X, Meta, and “One Laptop Per Child” executive, Openwater is on a mission to safely and effectively treat the world’s most devastating diseases.
Its healthcare platform combines high-resolution infrared imaging, precision-tuned ultrasound, and targeted electromagnetic fields.
“As a brain tumor survivor, I’m not just developing technology; I’m fighting for my life and the lives of millions like me. We’ve shrunk brain tumors and treated depression using lower intensity sound waves than fetal ultrasounds.” - Mary Lou Jepsen, Openwater’s founder and Chief Executive Officer
The San Francisco-based company secured $54 million from Plum Alley Ventures, Khosla Ventures, and Bold Capital Partners.
FemWealth Favourites ❤️
Startups: How Fabric plans to make advanced cryptography ubiquitous - Co-founded by Tina Ju, Fabric Cryptography aims to make modern cryptographic techniques like zero-knowledge proof and fully homomorphic encryption ubiquitous. The company secured $33 million in a Series A round led by Blockchain Capital and 1kx. Offchain Labs, Polygon, and Matter Labs also joined.
Sarah Buchner started as a carpenter when she was 12 — now her AI construction startup has raised $20 million - Founded and led by Sarah Buchner, Trunk Tools provides automation tools to organize unstructured construction documentation. The US company closed a $20 million Series A funding round led by Redpoint.
BeMe Health Nabs $12.5M Investment for Teen Mental Health Platform - Co-founded and led by Dr. Nicoletta Tessler, BeMe Health is a teen-focused digital mental health provider. The US startup raised a $12.55 million Pre-Series A round led by Hesperia Capital, with additional support from Flare Capital, Polaris Partners, Fiore Ventures, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas, and the California Health Care Foundation.
Seattle biotech startup secures $11.2M to make drugs for ‘undruggable’ disease targets - Co-founded by Lindsay Pino, Talus Bioscience is a drug discovery and development company for hard-to-treat diseases. The Seattle biotech raised $11.2 million in Seed+ funding. Two Bear Capital led the round, joined by WRF Capital, NFX, YC Continuity Fund, Funders Club VC, and BoxOne Ventures.
Munich-based XO Life bags €7M to expand meta platform for patients - Co-founded and led by Dr. Friderike Bruchmann, XO Life connects patients, healthcare providers, and pharma companies. The Munich, Germany-based startup raised €7 million in a funding round led by Sandwater and Grazia Equity, joined by Vi Partners, Bayern Kapital, Aescuvest, Isartal Ventures, Winning Mindset, MediVentures, and Capacura.
Indu Raises Over $5M In Seed Funding From Unilever Ventures, V3 Ventures And More - Co-founded by Reena Hammer, Indu is a British beauty brand aimed at teens. The UK company raised $5.1 million in Seed funding led by Unilever Ventures, with participation from V3 Ventures and Verlinvest.
Stork Network Raises more than $4 million in Seed Round co-led by Lightspeed Faction and Lattice - Co-founded and led by Meredith Pitkoff, Stork Network provides decentralized data solutions for decentralized protocols. The New York startup raised a $4.7 million Seed round co-led by Lightspeed Faction and Lattice, with support from CMS, and Wintermute Ventures.
Swiss digital coaching platform FLOWIT raises €4.2M in Seed funding - Co-founded by Dr. Yasemin Tahris, FLOWIT provides an employee coaching platform. The Swiss startup raised €4.2 million in Seed funding co-led by Vi Partners and Alstin Capital.
Finnish biotech NADMED raises €3.5 million Series A for vitamin B3 deficiencies testing - Co-founded by Jana Buzkova and Liliya Euro, NADMED provides a new method of blood testing to help clinicians establish more precise and personalized treatments for various diseases. The Helsinki-based company closed €3.5 million in Series A funding. Nordic Science Investments led the round, joined by Voima Ventures, and University of Helsinki Funds.
Monzo alumni raise £2.8m led by LocalGlobe for AI customer service agents that ‘act like humans’ - Co-founded by Danai Antoniou, Gradient Labs is an AI customer service startup for companies working in “complex and higher-risk environments.” The UK company raised £2.8 million in a Seed round led by LocalGlobe. Puzzle Ventures and Monzo co-founders Tom Blomfield and Jonas Templestein also participated.
Openmart wants to make it easier for enterprises to sell to local businesses - Co-founded by Kathryn Wu, Openmart uses AI to scrape data from public business filings, maps, customer reviews, and other sources to aggregate a database of local businesses organised by type. The US startup raised a $2.75 million Seed round from investors including Y Combinator, Rebel Fund, and Afore Capital.
How Apheros Plans To Take The Heat Out Of The World’s Data Centres - Co-founded by Dr. Julia Carpenter and Dr. Gaëlle Andreatta, Apheros develops solutions for cooling data centers. The Zurich, Switzerland-based startup raised $1.85 million in Pre-Seed funding led by Founderful.
Oslo’s SportAI attracts €1.6M seed funding to expand AI-powered sports coaching platform - Co-founded and led by Lauren Pedersen, SportAI provides AI-driven sports technique coaching and analysis. The Oslo, Norway-based startup raised $1.8 million in a Seed funding round led by Skyfall Ventures.
Spotless Materials raises seed (Axios Pro $) - Co-founded and led by Birgitt Boschitsch, Spotless Materials develops PFAS alternatives for surface coatings. The US startup raised $1.6 million in Seed funding from Ben Franklin Technology Partners and the Penn State Garber Fund.
TEAMology Secures Seed Round to Revolutionize Mental Health Support for Kids - Founded and led by Linsey Covert, TEAMology is a US-based youth mental health startup. It raised $1.2 million in Seed funding led by VC 414.
Tingit is building a marketplace for ‘zero-effort’ repairs, starting with fashion - Co-founded and led by Indrė Viltrakytė, Tingit provides a B2C marketplace focused on fashion repairs. The Lithuanian startup raised a $650,000 Pre-Seed round led by Firstpick, with participation from BADideas.fund, PurposeTech, and Heartfelt Capital.
VC: Danish VC Nine Realms lands €50 million from EIF to decarbonise the supply chain sector - Co-founded by Christy McCaig, Nine Realms secured €50 million from EIF to decarbonise supply chains.
Life sciences investor BEVC raising $25M climate fund - Co-founded by Rowan Chapman, Widya Mulyasasmita, and Risa Stack, Ph.D, BEVC is a US life sciences investor. It is currently raising a $25 million fund aimed at climate-related startups.
Co-led by ex-Sound Ventures investor Maaria Bajwa, Timespan Ventures is raising its debut fund (via Axios Pro).
Jennifer Hellmers launched Rebel Venture Capital, a Baltimore, US-based venture capital firm that aims to invest in business and infrastructure at the intersection of environmental innovation.
Maria Palmer - previously a General Partner at Kindred Capital VC, joined Freestyle Capital as a General Partner.
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Until next Sunday,
Anamaria
Founder & Writer of FemWealth