Investing in Femtech: 3 MBA Founders Shaping Women’s Health (Part II)

Despite recent growth in women’s healthcare, the femtech sector remains largely underfunded. As covered in my initial post, femtech accounts for just 3% of total digital healthcare deals since 2011, and total funding to the sector has actually declined since peaking in 2018.

Encouragingly, across MBA campuses, women’s healthcare is gaining momentum. Since 2018, Dorm Room Fund, First Round Capital’s student venture fund, has backed three femtech companies, representing 25% of the fund’s investments in healthtech. Similarly, 22% of the healthtech investments made by Rough Draft Ventures, General Catalyst’s student venture fund, are within femtech — far outperforming the broader market.

Fed up with the status quo, this new generation of MBA founders is shaking up healthcare and taking a ladies-first approach — prioritizing the needs of women and eschewing societal taboos. Here are three entrepreneurs who are focused on closing the care gap, and pioneering solutions to women’s issues that are finally getting the attention they deserve.

1. Markea Dickinson, founder of Thermaband

• Age: 28
• School: The Yale School of Management (SOM)
• Company: Thermaband, a smart wearable thermostat for menopausal women

Advice to aspiring entrepreneurs: “When it comes to fundraising, don’t try to put a square peg in a round hole. There are going to be investors that get it and support your mission and vision, and there’ll be others that you have to convince of your value, founder story, and reasoning. Be laser-focused and don’t be afraid to say no. Stay true to your why.”

For several months, Markea Dickinson listened to her mom as she described her debilitating hot flashes, frustrated by the lack of options she encountered. Her mom, Debbie, a benefits attorney and former Johnson & Johnson executive, spent months searching for better ways to treat her symptoms, but couldn’t find anything beyond traditional, homeopathic solutions like cooling fans or damp towels. When Markea decided to dig in herself, she was similarly stunned by her findings.

“The typical antiquated solutions don’t give women any dignity whatsoever,” said Markea, who graduated from SOM last May. “The more I dug into this, the more I realized that women need an equitable solution to bring their best selves forward during menopause, which can last for seven years.”

Menopause largely remains neglected and misunderstood in the medical community. While approximately 30 million American women experience menopause annually, just a small minority of patients receive treatment. An AARP survey found that while 84% of women experience disruptive symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats, 42% have never discussed menopause with a healthcare provider. Furthermore, A Yale University review of insurance claims found that while 60% of menopausal women with severe symptoms seek medical attention, just 25% of them receive treatment.

Intent on getting relief, Debbie half-jokingly pitched Markea on the idea of a discreet, wearable device that could automatically provide relief during hot flashes. Markea, who spent years leading operations and logistics at Unilever, immediately started brainstorming ideas. And just a few months later, the mother-daughter duo officially incorporated Thermaband.

Thermaband is a smart wearable thermostat that automatically regulates body temperature and precludes hot flashes. While other devices on the market today must be self-activated, Thermaband leverages embedded device sensors to collect data like temperature and proprietary algorithms to activate heating or cooling accordingly.

“Our original insight came from my mom experimenting at home out of desperation for cooling relief,” Markea said. “She discovered that, if you hold a glass of water to your wrist, your body automatically cools down. We later found several scientific studies that substantiated these claims — that localized heating or cooling on one of your body’s pulse points is really effective.”

Over the past year, Markea and Debbie have been focused on device testing, forming a consumer advisory board of more than 200 women to gather feedback. Thermaband also meets with medical and scientific advisors on a monthly basis to ensure that the device is safe, complies with regulations, and can ultimately be recommended to patients by primary care doctors or OBGYNs.

“The device’s functionality is what’s most important,” Markea said. “We’re partnering with a few research institutions to begin testing, and ultimately aim to publish academic studies to substantiate the claims we are making.”

As the founders continue to iterate on the product, they are simultaneously focused on fostering a strong Facebook community of women aged 25+, aiming to destigmatize menopause, celebrate sisterhood, and create an empowering and supportive space to talk about women’s health.

“Our demographic of menopausal women is very unique, but it helps that my mom and co-founder can directly connect with our target market and join support groups given her lived experiences.” Markea said. “We are taking more of a direct-to-consumer, community based approach, in order to build a sisterhood of women around the brand.”

While the pair never planned to start a company together, Markea believes it is one of the best parts of her founder experience, and has given her a newfound appreciation for her mother’s journey.

“I love understanding from my mom’s point of view about what works and what doesn’t,” Markea said. “We’re very similar in terms of our worldviews, but we are yin and yang when it comes to business, and it’s been such an exciting ride to have the opportunity to work on this together.”

Follow Markea Dickinson on LinkedIn and Medium

2. Albert Mikkelsen, founder of Ollipsis

• Age: 30
• School: The University of Chicago Booth School of Business (Booth)
• Company: Ollipsis, a company offering free fertility preservation services to women while helping those who struggle with infertility

Advice to aspiring entrepreneurs: “Focus more on doing. I think as MBAs, we have a tendency to be overly analytical before doing things, but it’s only when you’re out on the field and speaking to customers, that you start realizing how the industry really works. I think that’s priceless. Stop sketching, start building.”

Despite significant innovation in the women’s fertility space, treatments remain largely out of reach for most patients and families. A 2010 study of US women seeking fertility treatments found that median per-person costs ranged from $1,182 for medication only, to a whopping $38,015 for IVF-donor egg groups. The story is no different for egg freezing, with sessions costing $15,000–20,000 each.

Albert Mikkelsen, a second-year MBA student at Booth, is no stranger to this problem. Before starting business school, Mikkelsen previously consulted for the largest fertility network in Europe. Through his work, he increasingly noticed how isolated and stigmatized women felt during the egg donation process, and knew that he wanted to develop a more inclusive solution — one that prioritized patient education, affordability, and optionality.

“One in five couples struggle with infertility and there are 22,000 egg donations per year,” Mikkelsen said. “Yet finding a donor in whom you can see yourself is something people don’t talk about… its a painful process.”

When Mikkelsen arrived on campus, he immediately began working on his idea, ultimately applying to Booth’s New Venture Challenge (NVC). As part of the application, Mikkelsen conducted a feasibility study to validate his initial concept and understand the key issues users faced in their fertility journeys.

“We wanted to know, is there actually a market for this?” Mikkelsen said. “We uncovered how awful the experience usually is for donating or freezing eggs, and going through IVF. At the end, we were convinced that our idea was possible.”

Armed with these insights and an acceptance to NVC, Mikkelsen and his team officially launched Ollipsis Fertility in the spring of 2020. At its core, Ollipsis enables women to freeze their eggs free of charge, provided they donate 50% of their eggs to those trying to conceive.

“Paying donors creates the wrong incentives,” Mikkelsen said. “We instead find people who want to postpone parenthood, offer freezing for free, and place half of retrieved eggs with families struggling with infertility.”

Ollipsis’ business model mirrors that of traditional egg banks, which are compensated by families for finding donors. Today, Ollipsis works with a partner fertility clinic in Chicago for egg storage and implantation. To vet clinics, Mikkelsen conducted a thorough due diligence process, analyzing the data clinics are required to publish in the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, such as the clinic’s success rate, the number of completed procedures, and physician credentials, among other factors. Ollipsis is also working with top medical advisors — Drs. David Cohen and Ilan Tur Kaspa, the founders of the Institute for Human Reproduction as well Dr. Maria Arque, a leading fertility expert at Fertty International in Barcelona.

Before launching Ollipsis, Mikkelsen spent significant time validating his concept, specifically focused on the ethical implications of egg donation. Mikkelsen ultimately gained the conviction to move forward based on three key data points. First, in a survey of 70 MBA students, Mikkelsen found that 25% of respondents were open to freezing and donating their eggs. Second, an ongoing study of 700 students led by a Wellesley College Professor found that 56% of respondents are similarly open to donating and freezing their eggs. Finally, Mikkelsen secured 21 letters of intent from donors who were eager to begin the egg preservation process.

“We are seeing a tailwind of generational acceptance,” Mikkelsen said. “We want to educate people, and then they can decide whether this is right or not for them. We’re committed to helping women freeze their eggs and finding a solution even if it doesn’t involve egg donation.”

Despite facing challenges in the wake of COVID-19, Mikkelsen remains excited about Ollipsis’ long term prospects, and the future of fertility. Over his remaining year at Booth, Mikkelsen said he is focused on optimizing the customer experience, fundraising, and ultimately launching operations. Longer term, his goal is for Ollipsis to be the trusted advisor to a patient, from the moment she decides to freeze her eggs until she decides she is finished having children.

“I’m the eternal optimist,” Mikkelsen said. “While many people believe there will be a baby boom after COVID, I also believe a lot of people will decide to postpone parenthood due to the economic crisis. This is a moment where I can foresee couples and individuals delaying this decision.”

Follow Albert Mikkelsen on LinkedIn and Medium

3. Tina Beilinson, founder of June Motherhood

Age: 31

School: Harvard Business School (HBS)

Company: June Motherhood, a maternity education platform combining expert coaching with a small group support system

Advice to aspiring entrepreneurs: “Work on something you want to work on in your free time. If you’re up at night working on a problem you’re excited about, it doesn’t feel that hard. It gives you the energy and fuel to keep going even when things don’t go as planned. You have to have so much conviction and passion about your idea that you’re going to jump through every hoop to get it done.”

For years, a growing physician shortage in the US has impacted doctors and patients across various specialties and geographies. Obstetrics and gynecology has been among the worst affected — in 2012, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists projected that the US will have a shortage of up to 8,800 OBGYNS by 2020, growing to 22,000 by 2050. Furthermore, half of US counties — areas that are home to more than 10 million women — lack even a single OBGYN, severely impacting the quality of care women receive, whether for routine health checkups or pregnancy-related care.

This insight around the maternal care gap is ultimately what led Tina Beilinson, HBS ’20, and her cofounders, Julia Cole, HBS ’20, and Sophia Richter, HBS ’20, to launch June Motherhood earlier this year. For years, Beilinson and her cofounders grew increasingly frustrated by their experiences with the healthcare system and knew they wanted to create a better customer-centric solution. After interviewing more than 100 families, it became clear that there were massive care gaps throughout the pregnancy and postpartum journey.

“Pregnancy can be a really anxious and lonely time for many people,” Beilinson said. “There are so many pain points in this journey because of the care gap, like really short appointments, where there’s no time to ask questions. Doctors have so much to cover that they don’t have time to talk about broader physical, emotional, or psychological issues.”

Beilinson and her cofounders began working on June in the summer prior to their second year at HBS. After spending months rigorously testing and validating their idea, the founders officially launched June in August 2020. June provides virtual, group-based programs for prenatal and postpartum care. Upon joining, members are matched with a small cohort of other families in the same stage, who move through the curriculum together, and who are guided by an expert coach. June’s programs are OBGYN-approved and are based on the latest scientific and behavioral evidence.

“June is all about making care communal,” Beilinson said. “We enable women to get ongoing expertise, evidence-based support, and access to a community of people who are going through the same thing as you are, so you feel supported through your entire journey.”

When Beilinson and her co-founders first began working on June, many doubted their ability to convince patients to seek digital care in place of traditional in-person support. But with the onset of COVID-19, everything seemingly “changed overnight” — expectant mothers no longer had regular access to their in-person care teams, and many hospitals limited, or even completely prohibited, visitors allowed in the delivery room.

“When COVID hit, we realized we had a huge opportunity to support more families, as we heard first-hand from our doulas that hospitals were cancelling in-person services,” Beilinson said. “I always had this conviction that telemedicine was the future, that it could provide a fundamentally better, more affordable patient experience… but COVID sped up our timeline.”

In just a few days, the June cofounders worked tirelessly to launch a free, childbirth education class on their website guided by one of their Doulas and Childbirth Educators. Although Beilinson never expected to offer standalone classes apart from the June curriculum, the course attracted hundreds of new families to their website. Inspired by these results, June soon released 13 classes, ranging from partner-focused classes to newborn care.

“We ended up launching this whole suite of curricula in just a few months,” Beilinson said. “It allowed us to quickly test the curriculum with customers and get their feedback. Customers loved the classes, our average NPS was 86, and now this curriculum is part of our core program.”

Prior to HBS, Beilinson spent nearly six years at Warby Parker, joining in 2012 as the one of the first 100 employees and playing a critical role in managing the company’s large-scale strategic initiatives. It was in this capacity that she was first exposed to the world of digital health, launching Warby Parker’s first telemedicine service and working on an insurance partnership with United Healthcare.

While today, June is focused on helping families with the journey to parenthood, in the future, Beilinson plans to apply this model to other events such as preconception, early childhood, and the myriad of other moments in life where individuals could benefit from strong community and expert guidance

“We are pioneering the next generation of digital health,” Beilinson said. “It’s about rethinking what it means to have a digital experience with community at the center. It’s less transactional, where you get more out of it by going through the experience with other families doing the same.”

Follow Tina Beilinson on LinkedIn