Many outside of the healthcare industry are unaware that research into women’s health research lags far behind that of men. Yolanda Fintschenko, PhD, Executive Director of i-GATE, became aware of the issue in August 2022, when she cohosted a Startup Tri-Valley podcast that featured Dr. Neil Ray. The pediatric anesthesiologist is founder and CEO of East Bay company Raydiant Oximetry, which works to prevent unnecessary Caesarian sections with the company’s novel, non-invasive fetal pulse oximetry technology. As Dr. Ray explained on the podcast, women’s health “has historically been underfunded,” and added that less than 1% of European Commission dollars go to women’s healthcare, and less than 5% of National Institutes of Health research dollars go to women’s healthcare.

“Even as a male founder working in women's health, it was very difficult for Raydiant Oximetry to fundraise,” notes Fintschenko. “The perception that this is a niche market can hold back investment in women's health, despite the fact that the women's health market is as large as the agriculture market in this country.”

After the podcast ended, Dr. Ray recommended other guests who could speak on the issue. That led to a two-part podcast later in 2022 with Managing Partner Linda Greub and Partner Dr. Tracy Dooley of San Francisco-based Avestria, which invests in women’s health and female-led life science ventures. Avestria views women’s health broadly, defining it as “any area that impacts women exclusively, predominantly or differently than men,” according to Dooley, who also notes the importance of personalized medicine.

Fintschenko was struck by points made by Greub as well. “Linda introduced me to the idea that this is an interesting funding problem because there's no actual, market-limiting reason for not investing in women's health. “The actual size of the market is huge; it's an unseen opportunity.”

A Bold Initiative

Several experts told Fintschenko that investors were missing a major opportunity in terms of women’s health innovation because they define women’s health narrowly, as a field restricted to contraception, fertility, and birth. When we think about areas where women are impacted exclusively, that does include things like reproductive health, Dr. Dooley noted in a Startup Tri-Valley podcast aired in September 2022. “So labor and delivery, ovarian cancer, endometriosis, menopause, right? But then when you think about how women are impacted disproportionately, those can include things like neurodegenerative disease or autoimmune disease. With autoimmune disease, over 80% of the patients are women. That’s something that impacts a lot of folks. When you think about diseases in which women or men are impacted differently, in cardiovascular disease, that’s the number one killer of women. That is a huge area of research.”

Startup Tri-Valley followed up its 2022 podcasts on the opportunities in women’s health with several events. On April 25, 2023, it produced an online webinar called The Unseen Opportunity in Women’s Health, which featured Greub, Dr. Dooley, and Dr. Ray. On May 14 of this year, Startup Tri-Valley partnered with ZEISS and the Alameda Alliance for Health for an in-person panel and lunch on the same topic that featured a keynote by Genevieve LeMarchal, Managing Partner of venture capitalist firm Suncoast Ventures. That was followed by a smaller event held on August 27 in collaboration with LeMarchal, among others.

At the August event, Fintschenko argued that the Tri-Valley should take advantage of this huge and promising market opportunity. “Our region is uniquely positioned to lead–with four hospital systems, a growing investor base, and a science-driven startup ecosystem,” Fintschenko said. “Yet no region has claimed the identity as the center of mass for women’s health innovation. We believe the Tri-Valley can be that place.”

During the event, Fintschenko announced a bold initiative to launch a quarterly series of women’s health events in 2026. The events are meant to bring together founders, clinicians, investors, and patient advocates to spotlight underrepresented topics and unseen investment opportunities in women’s health. As planned, each gathering will have a focus on one of four topics: birth trauma, obesity, menopause, and endometriosis.

The initiative’s goals include helping to remove capital barriers, bridge the gap between hospital and patients, highlight financial benefits of this market, and showcase success stories in the $60 billion global market in women’s health that remains underserved. The Tri-Valley region has a strong science-based startup ecosystem, and is already home to a host of life sciences, biotechnology, medical device, and pharmacology enterprises.

“We have four hospital systems here in the Tri-Valley,” notes Fintschenko. “Having them as partners and helping drive this is a significant advantage for the region.”

Visit Tri-Valley, the City of Pleasanton, and the City of Dublin recently became sponsors of Startup Tri-Valley’s Womenʼs Health Innovation Series. Startup Tri-Valley continues to seek partners, sponsors, and participants to help organize, fund, and contribute to the initiative. Fintschenko notes that the organization overall has received tremendous support from public officials and corporate executives throughout the Tri-Valley as well as from the State of California.

“Pleasanton is proud to support the Startup Tri-Valley’s Women’s Health Innovation Series,” says City Manager Gerry Beaudin. “Our partnership with i-GATE and Startup Tri-Valley reflects the City’s commitment to fostering a strong, diversified innovation ecosystem—one that includes the growing opportunities in women’s health. With leading healthcare providers based right here in Pleasanton, this series creates a valuable platform for collaboration, investment, and new ideas that will benefit our residents, our businesses, and the region.”

Fintschenko could not agree more. “Genevieve LeMarchal described this eloquently in her keynote address at our women’s health event in May–addressing the unmet need in women's health is not virtue signaling,” Fintschenko says. “It is an economic opportunity that can drive our economy. And I want our region to capitalize on that.”

For more information about i-GATE and Daybreak Labs, please visit www.igateihub.org. For more information about Startup Tri-Valley, please visit www.startuptrivalley.org.