Vira听Health, a digital health company focused on improving long-term health for women, has raised 拢1.5听million听in seed funding.听
Founded in 2020 by Andrea听Berchowitz听and听Rebecca听Love, its听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,听diabetes and dementia.听
Stella,听the first product from Vira Health, a personalised app for menopause relief, has launched today and will be available on iOS听next week.听听
The funding comes from听LocalGlobe听and MMC听Ventures, plus angel investors including Megumi听Ikeda, MD at Hearst Ventures, Andrea听Zitna听of听Elvie, former听Spotify executive Sofia听Bendz,听founder of GoCardless Matt听Robinson听and Simon听Lambert, former CTO, MOO.com, and听Treatwell.听
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Stella听supports women through personalised menopause treatment plans rooted in scientific research and the ability to talk to a trained coach for support. Each woman using Stella gets a personalised treatment plan based on her specific symptoms.听听
For example, if she听is dealing with sleep disturbances and urinary incontinence, her Stella plan would combine cognitive behavioural therapy, pelvic floor exercises and other guidance related to lifestyle and behaviour change. Plans are 12 weeks, giving users time to learn, practice听and embed new habits.听听
In addition to the treatment plans, the Stella platform has articles, recipes, mindfulness meditations, exercise suggestions and access to virtual events such as yoga classes or a Q&A with a gynaecologist.听
鈥淎t Vira, our vision is to fundamentally transform long term health and wellbeing for women,鈥� said听Berchowitz.听鈥淲e believe better menopause care is the first step.听听
鈥淔emale health issues have historically been under-researched and under-invested, and this remains the case听today. There is an opportunity to use technology to redress this balance by improving the collection and use of female data in healthcare.听听
鈥淭his first round of seed funding is a step towards realising our vision.鈥�听
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Dr Love听added: 鈥淢enopause is a time point in a woman鈥檚 life where you can fundamentally change the trajectory听of her lifelong health. It seems outrageous that we have not been focusing on this before.听听
鈥淪tella is about getting women the relief and support they need for immediate symptoms like sleep issues, incontinence, mood swings, hot flushes and many others as well听as setting them up for the best brain, bone and heart health in later life.听
鈥淓very woman鈥檚 menopausal experience is different. The symptoms she deals with are unique and fluctuate, she听has her own preferences around treatments.听听
鈥淲hat most women seem to have in common is that there is never enough time. A digital solution that is personalised to her symptoms and brings high quality specialist advice such as pelvic floor physiotherapy, cognitive听behavioural therapy and nutrition guidance to her on her own device and own time is critical to her finding relief.鈥�听