NurX CEO Varsha Rao joins host Jonah Comstock and MobiHealthNews Managing Editor Laura Lovett to discuss her telehealth company's journey from a laser focus on contraception to a broader play for women's (and men's) health that includes dermatology and migraines.
Along the way, we also discuss broader trends in telehealth, the challenges of femtech and NurX's foray into COVID-19 testing.
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Women are taught from a young age to be ashamed of our bodies. We’re conditioned to stay small, look pretty, and have no flaws - and if we do, we must certainly never admit them. This is maybe why so many areas of women’s health - from periods to fertility to menopause - are shrouded in taboo. We’ve been taught that anything less than physical perfection is something to be ashamed of.
Taboo and...
The health and fitness wearable maker Garmin unveiled its latest smartwatch Wednesday, called Lily, which the company is pitching as a product “designed by women, for women.”
Lily is Garmin’s smallest watch yet, with a 34mm watch face and 14mm band meant to “enhance the overall feminine aesthetic,” Garmin said in the announcement.
Despite its smaller frame, the watch contains the same health and...
AI fertility company, Embryonics aims to use AI to improve the odds of successfully implanting an embryo during in vitro fertilisation.
The team of algorithm specialists, data scientists and embryologists are developing an algorithm to predict embryo-implanting probability, through training with IVF time-lapsed imaging of developing embryos.
An ongoing clinical study at the Nadiya Clinic of...

Credit: EPIQ Elite obstetrics ultrasound imaging
Netherlands-based global health technology company, Royal Philips has announced a multi-year partnership with US science and technology company, Merck to develop digital solutions for personalised fertility treatment.
WHY IT MATTERS
According to the National Health Service, roughly one in seven couples in the UK will have trouble conceiving.
The platform will leverage advanced informatics and...
Period and fertility-tracking-app maker Flo Health has settled with the Federal Trade Commission regarding a complaint alleging improper disclosure of sensitive user data to third-party marketing and analytics services from Facebook, Google and others, the agency announced today.
The FTC's complaint listed several ways in which Flo deceived its users. These included messaging from the company...
The term “femtech” – short for female technology – is used to describe the rising trend of applications, devices, products and diagnostics catering to the needs of women’s health. Pitchbook estimates that in 2019 the global femtech market generated $820.6 million and could reach at least $3 billion by the end of 2030.
Despite its popularity, femtech remains a significantly underdeveloped area of...
In today's episode of HIMSSCast, guest host Laura Lovett, managing editor of MobiHealthNews, checks in with Maria Velissaris, founding partner at Steel Sky Ventures and Colette Courtion, founder and CEO of Joylux about some of the challenges facing the burgeoning women's health and reproductive health, or femtech, industry. In particular, they chat about advertising double standards, funding...
The femtech world is beginning to venture out of the boundaries of reproductive health and into other areas of women’s health, according to panelists at Bayer G4A summit yesterday.
Over the summer, Rock Health report that about 65% of all femtech funding has gone into fertility, pregnancy or motherhood. Today innovators are looking beyond the reproductive umbrella, at how technology and research...
Virtual fertility clinic, Apricity has launched an online fertility predictor tool designed to predict a woman's chances of conceiving naturally based on information input about her lifestyle choices.
The tool combines a woman’s age with questions about her lifestyle choices via a short quiz in order to predict her chances of conceiving naturally, with the result displayed as a percentage.
Users...