Vira Health raised a £1.5 million Seed round to improve long term care, and extend healthy life expentancy, for women.
We’re delighted to be backing Andrea, Rebecca, and the Vira Health team alongside our friends at LocalGlobe and angels including Megumi Ikeda, Managing Director, Hearst Ventures, Andrea Zitna of Elvie and former Spotify executive Sofia Bendz.
Vira Health’s mission is to make high-quality personalised menopause care accessible to all women. Their ultimate vision is to improve healthy life expectancy for women by reducing the prevalence of later life conditions such as osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and dementia. Stella, the first product from Vira Health, a personalised app for menopause relief, is about to launch and you can join the waiting list here.
Menopause affects most women at midlife, typically occurring at age 51, although many experience symptoms well before that. The impact of menopause symptoms on daily life can be hugely debilitating, affecting both personal and professional life. Menopause often hits at a critical point for women in the workplace. In their late 40s and 50s, many women are stepping into senior leadership roles and this coincides with symptoms like hot flushes, insomnia, joint pain, anxiety and depression. Over 80% say that symptoms interfere with their daily life, and nearly half say that it makes work difficult or near impossible. In the UK, menopause is responsible for about 14 million lost working days and 1 million premature career exits.
In her recent TED Talk, Vira co-founder and CEO, Andrea Berchowitz, shared practical advice on how to create a menopause-friendly work culture that supports gender equity and diversity retention in the workplace. You can watch it here.
More on the funding news via TechCrunch.