💸 Numi Raises €3M to Recreate In Vivo Breast Milk In Vitro
FemWealth Issue #135
Hi FemWealth Friends,
In today’s edition: Founded by Eden Banon-Lagrange and Eugénie Pezé-Heidsiec, France-based Numi secures a €3M Seed funding round to recreate in vivo breast milk in vitro, through cell cultivation; Dr. Stephanie Simmons’ Canada-based Quantum technology company Photonic raises $100M; co-founded and co-led by Julie Sawaya and Ryan Woodbury, Needed raises $14M to provide science-based perinatal nutrition; co-led by Amanda Herson, Founder Collective raised $95M for its fifth and largest fund; co-led by Founding Partner Maria Wasastjerna, Helsinki-based Kvanted Ventures launched its inaugural fund of €70M to support early-stage industrialtech startups in Northern Europe; and more in women-led startups, VC, business and women’s health.
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In the Spotlight 💸
Founded by Eden Banon-Lagrange (CEO) and Eugénie Pezé-Heidsiec (CTO), France-based Numi is on a mission to recreate in vivo breast milk in vitro, through cell cultivation.
“Thanks to cell culture, we can get as close as possible to the benefits of natural breast milk.” - Eden Banon-Lagrange, co-founder and CEO of Numi (via BFM Business/Tech.eu)
Aiming to offer parents a natural choice when breastfeeding isn’t an option, the company sources mammary cells through partnerships with hospitals and lactariums. The cells are then cultivated under controlled lab conditions.
Numi secured a €3 million Seed funding round from investors including Heartcore Capital, HCVC, Financière Saint James, Kima Ventures, and Kost Capital. The company plans to use the funds to grow its team and for R&D acceleration.
Read more: Numi secures €3M Seed funding to advance cultivated breast milk
FemWealth Favourites ❤️
Startups: Photonic Raises $100 Million USD for Quantum Technology from BCI, Microsoft, and Other Investors - Founded by Dr. Stephanie Simmons, the Montréal-based startup is building one of the world’s first scalable, fault-tolerant, and unified quantum computing and networking platforms based on photonically linked silicon spin qubits. It raised a $100 million round from Microsoft, the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, the National Security Strategic Investment Fund, Inovia Capital, and Amadeus Capital Partners.
Noice raises $21M for multiplayer game and livestreaming platform - Co-founded by creative director Jenni Wilson, the Helsinki-based startup combines livestreaming and multiplayer gaming into one platform. It raised a $21 million round from Sedona Holdings, Team Builder Ventures, Bitkraft, F4 Fund, and angel investors.
Needed Raises $14M to Champion Better Nutrition Standards for Women During Pregnancy and Beyond - Co-founded and co-led by Julie Sawaya and Ryan Woodbury, the company provides science-based perinatal nutrition to support various aspects of women’s health, including fertility, lactation, and overall well-being. The company secured a $14 million funding round led by The Craftory, with additional participation from Seae Ventures and Crescent Ridge VC.
“Nutrition is one of the most significant and most overlooked decisions made in the pregnancy journey. However nutrition is often relegated to an afterthought and women are left with more questions than answers about their nutritional needs. What’s more, standard prenatal vitamins are designed to meet just the bare minimums, leaving over 95% of women depleted. Needed is setting a new, radically better standard for perinatal nutrition combining the products, education, and access to nutritional experts that all women need and deserve.” - Julie Sawaya, Needed co-founder and co-CEO (via FemTech Insider)
AppMap's GitHub Integration Brings Runtime Code Review to Every Developer - Founded and led by Elizabeth Lawler, AppMap helps developers untangle unexpected runtime defects. It raised a $10 million round from investors including Work-Bench Ventures, Forgepoint Capital, Venture Guides, Unusual Ventures, Dell Technology Capital, Uncorrelated Ventures, Secure Octane, and Argon Ventures.
Healthtech Doctorly turns to family offices for a Series A extension - Co-founded by Anna von Stackelberg, German medical practice software startup Doctorly raised a €7.2 million Series A extension. Simon Capital led the round.
Singapore-based startup EduFi raises funding for its student loan platform - Founded and led by Aleena Nadeem, EduFi is a fintech startup that enables financially strapped students in Pakistan to secure loans for their education. It raised $ 6.1 million in a Pre-Seed round led by Zayn VC, with participation from Palm Drive Capital, Deem Ventures, Q Business, and angel investors.
Dreamfarm, a startup out of Italy’s Food Valley, is setting its sights on the perfect vegan mozzarella - Co-founded by Maddalena Zanoni, Parma, Italy-based Dreamfarm offers plant-based mozzarella using a base of fermented almonds. The company raised €5 million in a Pre-Seed round of funding from local business angels with ties to the food industry.
Octarine Bio raises €4.35M for sustainable dyeing tech - Co-founded by Nethaji Gallage, Octarine Bio is a Copenhagen-based biotech startup that aims to reduce environmental toxicity in the textile industry. It raised €4.35 million for sustainable dyeing technologies. Unconventional Ventures, Óskare Capital, and The Footprint Firm co-led the round, with participation from dsm-firmenich Venturing.
Health AI startup Cercle debuts with backing from Sheryl Sandberg - Co-founded by Liya Sharif Lancia, Cercle’s mission is to personalize and contextualize biomedical and genomics information to enable women to make better, more informed health decisions. The US-based company raised a $4.2 million round led by Sherly Sandberg’s newly launched firm Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners.
Insurtech startup Flitter raises €3.5M for expansion and profitability by 2024 - Co-founded by Hajer Gorgi, Flitter, a Paris-based insurtech startup, raised €3.5 million in Seed funding to expand its pay-by-mile car insurance services. Helvetia Venture Fund led the round, with additional support from Frenchfounders fund, and angel investors.
Fyma Raises $2.1M to advance AI in real estate management - Co-founded by Karen Burns, Tallinn, Estonia-based Fyma provides commercial real estate developers, asset owners, and managers with property management through monitoring and occupancy analysis. The company raised a new $2.1 million investment round from Quadri Ventures and Second Century Ventures.
Betterleave brings in $2.4M for end-of-life care (Axios Pro $) - Founded and led by Cara McCarty Abbott, the US-based end-of-life care platform helps companies build and launch bereavement care programs. It raised $2.4 million in a round led by Chingona Ventures, joined by Bread and Butter Ventures, Vitalize VC, Wisdom Ventures Fund, and AARP.
PreventScripts raises more than $1 million in latest capital raise (The Business Journals $) - Co-founded by Brandi Harless (CEO) and Natalie Davis (Chief Medical Officer), PreventScripts provides behavioral interventions for diabetes and hypertension. It raised $1.5 million in Seed funding led by Keyhorse Capital and iSelect Fund.
How AI is transforming female friendship - Ulrika Lilja and Claudia Gård, co-founders of gofrendly, share how we can embrace AI to seek and improve friendships
“Whether the user is seeking a workout buddy, a travel group or a fellow bride-to-be, AI can significantly improve the experience of women looking for compatible friends. Finding these friends is incredibly important; we no longer live in a society where women only rely on family and romantic relationships as they grow older.”
VC: Founder Collective has quietly built a seed-investing powerhouse that just raised a $95 million new fund. Its secret sauce: staying small. - Co-led by Amanda Herson, Founder Collective raised $95 million for its fifth and largest fund.
Kvanted Ventures launches €70M fund for nordic industrialtech startups - Co-led by Founding Partner Maria Wasastjerna, Helsinki-based Kvanted Ventures launched its inaugural fund of €70 million to support early-stage startups in Northern Europe, aiming to transform the industrial value chain. The firm aims to back approximately 20 companies, with ticket sizes ranging between €500,000 and €3 million.
Female-led Black Opal Ventures Raises $58M for Inaugural Healthtech VC Fund - Co-founded by Dr. Tara Bishop and Eileen Tanghal, New York-based venture capital firm Black Opal Ventures (BOV) launched a health-tech fund to back early-stage companies that integrate healthcare with technology.
20GROWTH secures $5M to invest in early-stage startups, provide growth strategies - Elena Verna (Interim Head of Growth at Dropbox) and Hila Qu (previously Director of Growth at GitLab) are two of the firm’s founding partners.
Business & Tech: Bumble announces Slack CEO Lidiane Jones will be its new chief exec - Tech executive Lidiane Jones (currently Slack’s CEO) will become Bumble’s CEO early next year, replacing the company’s founder CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd who will be moving to the executive chair role.
‘It’s Like I Created a Baby’: An AI Matriarch Appraises Her Offspring (The Information $) - Features AI pioneer and Stanford professor Fei-Fei Li
Leadership: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Is Forging a New Path for the Next Generation of Women Leaders
“Women bring another dimension to leadership. They settle conflict rather than fight to resolve it. That does not take away from the application of the strength of authority when required, but when they can find an alternative route to peace, they seek it.” - Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia (2006-2018), Nobel Prize laureate, and Africa's first democratically-elected female head of state
Women’s Health: Daye now offers tampon-based STI screening — starting in the UK - Founded by Valentina Milanova, UK-based gynaecological-health startup, Daye launched the “STI Diagnostic Tampon.” Using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing tech to detect the presence of pathogens, it currently can test for five STIs, including Chlamydia, gonorrhoea, trichomonas, mycoplasma, and ureaplasma.
The urgent call for innovation and investment in maternal health
“It’s clear that maternal health has been left behind among the breakthroughs in medicine. This is troubling because women’s health is family health. Women who experience pregnancy complications face an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, mental health conditions and premature death, and children born preterm are at increased risk for numerous challenges across their life span. This disproportionate impact on families means that women’s health should concern every one of us, not just mothers. This can, and must, change. Maternal health is family health.” - By Maneesh Jain, PhD, CEO and co-founder of Mirvie, a company pioneering the prediction of life-threatening pregnancy complications
Also read: ‘I felt safe and taken care of:’ Can midwifery startups change our broken maternity care?
What I’m Reflecting On 💭
10x more money goes to VC funds owned by all-male vs all-female teams - A new report from Ada Ventures, Diversity VC, and Google Cloud, shows that of the £6.6 billion raised by UK-based VCs since 2017, all-female-owned funds raised just £462.5 million. Furthermore, just 23 women hold a significant stake (more than 25%) in a VC firm in the UK.
“Venture capital is ultimately a relationship and networks-based industry (unfortunately), and if the top allocators [the limited partners who back VCs] invest in such a homogenous way, we are never going to get out of the cycle of less and less funding going to diverse founders. We know that, for example, only 2-3% of funding goes to women, but ultimately it’s because there are very few women doing the funding.” - Monik Pham, Founding Partner of London-based early-stage VC Pact
Why are fewer women using AI than men?
“Stem fields [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] have traditionally been dominated by males. The current trend in the adoption of AI tools appears to mirror this disparity, as the skills required for AI are rooted in Stem disciplines. (…)
As the industry grows, we definitely don’t want to see a widening gap between the genders.” - Jodie Cook, AI expert and founder of Coachvox.ai
‘We’re sedating women with self-care’: how we became obsessed with wellness
“Real wellness means having conditions under which we can flourish. It means social support, medical care that is accessible and empathetic, decent working conditions and ready sources of affordable and nutritious foods.” - Colleen Derkatch, Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University
What Pregnant Women Face in Gaza - The UN Population Fund estimated on Nov 3. that 50,000 women in Gaza are pregnant. Many are at risk of preterm labour and lack basic access to food, water, and toilets.
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Until next Sunday,
Anamaria
Founder & Writer of FemWealth