Avestria Ventures Portfolio
Avestria is a venture capital firm investing in early-stage women's health
& female-led healthcare companies.
As Avestria's Director of Marketing (a position I held from September 2019 until I started business school in the fall of 2024), I was responsible for the company's content, including pitch decks, blog posts, & social media
among others.
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Under the Microscope: Clarified Precision Medicine
An Avestria blog post
May 16, 2024: 86% of healthcare providers would welcome assistance with interpreting genomic testing results and would consult with a genetic counselor if one were available.
Clarified Precision Medicine helps provide that assistance. The company analyzes the unique genetic profile of a patient's cancerous tumor to recommend personalized, actionable and easily-understandable treatment options. In the process, it helps bring the benefits of and expertise in precision oncology to both cancer patients and healthcare providers
Learn why Avestria invested in this blog post.
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International Women's Day: How You Can Advance Women's Health
An Avestria blog post
March 7, 2024: While healthcare can seem complicated or overwhelming, Avestria is breaking it down into manageable steps this International Women's Day.
In this blog post, Avestria compiles actionable tips for women looking to improve their health: tips straight from our women's health portfolio company CEOs and/or founders as well as other experts in the women's health field.
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Avestria Ventures and "Women & Health": a JPM24 Recap
An Avestria blog post ​
January 16, 2024: For the past few years, Avestria has hosted a Women & Health Breakfast - so named because it recognizes women founders, women's health, and women in healthcare - during the J. P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. This year, Avestria organized a panel featuring three of Avestria's portfolio company CEOs. This recap summarizes their thoughts on the need for their product, their choices around reimbursement, their ability to reach both patients and clinicians, and more.
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Under the Microscope: Axena Health
An Avestria blog post
September 7, 2023: Like Avestria, Axena Health is a company run by women to improve the health of women - and it specifically is starting with pelvic health improvements.
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Kegels are among the most commonly prescribed exercises to strengthen both men and women's pelvic floor. However, out of 100 women, only about seven will both perform Kegels and perform Kegels correctly. Axena's first product, the Leva® Pelvic Health System: an FDA-approved, at-home, clinician-prescribed solution to help women perform Kegels correctly - and avoid the consequences of a weak pelvic floor or a pelvic floor disorder.
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Learn why Avestria invested in this blog post.
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Happy Fourth Birthday, Avestria: The Whos, Whats, and Whys of the Firm
An Avestria blog post ​
July 9, 2023: On July 9, Avestria celebrated the fourth anniversary of the first close of its first fund. Now, the firm is looking at the whos, whats, and whys behind it, including who Avestria Ventures is, what our portfolio is like, and why we invest in women's health and female-led life science and healthcare companies. This blog post also gives a quick summary of each of the 19 investments that Avestria has made over the last four years.
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Startup Radar: VCs on Femtech Startups Worth Watching
A PitchBook News interview​
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Ghostwrote for Linda Greub, Avestria's Co-Founder/Managing Partner
May 18, 2023: Only about 1% of all venture capital funding goes to women's health (also known as FemTech) companies. This article interviews four female venture capitalists, all focused on investing in women's health, about startups - both in and outside their current portfolios - that they think will be worth watching. The eight companies they list address a range of women's health issues: from pregnancy, labor, and delivery to cancer detection, diagnosis, and treatment.
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Are (Male) Investors Missing the Obvious? Why Investing in Female Leaders in Healthcare Can Increase Returns and Improve Health Outcomes
A Crunchbase News op-ed​
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Ghostwrote for Linda Greub, Avestria's Co-Founder/Managing Partner
May 12, 2023: Male investors still control the majority of financial assets and of investment power. However, they have historically under-invested in female leaders in healthcare. This op-ed argues that female leaders in healthcare should be an obvious, not an overlooked, investment opportunity because of women's involvement as healthcare decision-makers, patients, and workers - and because of female teams' superior performance to male teams'.
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Under the Microscope: Candesant Biomedical
An Avestria blog post
April 20, 2023: Published only about a week after Candesant's first product received FDA clearance, this blog post explores why Avestria first invested in Candesant Biomedical.
Candesant is focusing on treatments for hyperhidrosis, or excessive sweating, which affects 15.3 million people in the United States. Candesant's Brella™ SweatControl™ patch helps treat patients in under three minutes, allowing them to remain sweat-free for three to four months and regain the quality of their lives.
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Learn why Avestria invested in this blog post.
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Women's Health is an Unseen Opportunity
An Avestria blog post
April 17, 2023: This article looks forward to a webinar that Avestria Ventures hosted with Startup Tri-Valley and Raydiant Oximetry. Despite the fact that women are half the population, only 4% of all healthcare research and development goes specifically to their health products and services. The result is that women's safety is compromised, including in childbirth. This article previews the webinar, which features why women's health has been overlooked, what we can do, and how one of Avestria's portfolio companies specifically is helping to fill the gaps in healthcare for women.
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International Women's Day: By the Numbers - 10 Challenges Facing Women & Women's Health
An Avestria blog post
March 7, 2023: Every International Women's Day, Avestria publishes a special themed blog post. This year's counts down from 10 to 1 and gives a specific challenge facing women and/or women's health for every number.
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For example, about 10% of girls and women didn't have health insurance recently, about six months have passed since the creation of the first car crash test dummy that represents the average female, and cardiovascular diseases kills one in three women.
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Read the full list in this blog.
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Read this post on Medium.
5 Questions Emerging Managers Should Ask Before Selecting LPs
A TechCrunch op-ed
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Ghostwrote for Linda Greub, Avestria's Co-Founder/Managing Partner
February 24, 2023: For emerging managers - those who are still new to running a venture capital fund - finding investors (also known as LPs, or limited partners) is crucial.
However, not all LPs are created equal. In this op-ed, Linda Greub covers the five questions that emerging managers should ask before adding an LP to their fund: which LPs are the emerging managers targeting? Do your target LPs understand your investment thesis? Are you close to the decision-maker? Do your target LPs understand venture capital investing? What other resources can your potential LPs provide?
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Why Investing in Women's Health is Impact Investing
A Fast Company op-ed​
February 24, 2023: Impact investing is growing in popularity, offering investors a chance to contribute to social good as well as financial gains.
This op-ed argues that women's health is a sector that has been historically overlooked but meets the goals of impact investing. Investing in women's health betters not just individual women but also families, workforces, and economies.
Plus, investing in female founders - who are the usual founders of women's health companies - offers economic advantages as well as social ones.​
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This Female-Run VC Firm Invests in Startups that Prioritize Women's Health
A GirlTalk HQ interview
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Ghostwrote for Linda Greub, Avestria's Co-Founder & Managing Partner
​January 20, 2023: GirlTalk HQ, which covers stories of female empowerment, conducted this written interview with Avestria's co-founder and managing partner, Linda Greub. This interview covers what inspired Linda to co-found Avestria, what companies are in Avestria's portfolio, and how women's health is starting to see a rise in attention, even in pop culture.
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The Rise of Interest and Investment in Women's Health
A MedCity News article
January 19, 2023: In the third century BCE, the Greek philosopher Aristotle believed that women were deformed: the opposite of strong, healthy men.
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Thousands of years later, this gender bias still persists - and affects the way that women's health is diagnosed, understood, and treated.
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However, the interest and investment in women's health and in women's health companies has slowly been rising over the past few years. This article tracks the reason for that increase, the new understanding that women are not just small or deformed men, and the social and economic benefits of investing in the women's health market.
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Avestria and "Women & Health": A Recap of the J. P. Morgan Healthcare Conference
An Avestria blog post
January 17, 2023: The J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference is the largest healthcare symposium in the industry - and, after a two-year hiatus, returned to in-person events in 2023. Avestria, in turn, hosted its traditional "Women & Health" Breakfast, which is named because it supports women's health, women entrepreneurs and (women) in healthcare and the life sciences.
Read a recap of Avestria's event, including major takeaways from the three panelists and other insights from the room of entrepreneurs, investors, strategics, and supporters.
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The Top 10 Women's Health Opportunities for 2023
An Avestria blog post
December 20, 2022: The end of one year marks the season of making predictions for the year ahead - and Avestria is jumping on this trend. Changes in digital advertising policies, new political attention on maternal and reproductive health, and changes in standards and references for medical care and education are all included on Avestria's list of the top 10 opportunities for women's health innovation in 2023.
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Under the Microscope: ENB Therapeutics
An Avestria blog post
November 3, 2022: In 2018, James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo won the Nobel Prize for Medicine for their work in advancing a relatively new field of cancer treatment: immunotherapy.
ENB Therapeutics, the first investment of Avestria Ventures Fund II, is building off their work: developing a small molecule drug that increase the effectiveness of a common immunotherapy treatment: Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors
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Learn why Avestria invested in this blog post.
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Happy Third Birthday, Avestria: We're Answering Your FAQs
An Avestria blog post
July 9, 2022: July 9 marks Avestria's third birthday or, in other words, the third anniversary since the first close of its first fund.
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This blog post covers the questions that we've been asked most frequently since then - ranging from why Avestria focuses on women's health and female-led life science ventures to why the term "FemTech" is relevant to how the readers can support Avestria. It also touches upon some lessons learned after three years, two company exits, and one closed fund behind the company.
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Under the Microscope: Antiva Biosciences
An Avestria blog post
April 21, 2022: If one women dies of cervical cancer every two minutes, then treating cervical lesions before they become cancerous can save the lives of millions of women around the world.
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Antiva Biosciences is targeting this market with its novel, at-home topical therapeutic for pre-cancerous cervical lesions.
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Learn why Avestria invested in this blog post.
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How can we get more dollars to diverse asset managers and founders?
An Avestria blog post
March 22, 2022: Currently, it'll take ~200 years for female fund managers to have equal status to male ones.
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How can we start to close this gap? One way is to rethink college and university endowments in order to benefit both diverse asset managers and founders.
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International Women's Day: By the Letters - Opportunities in Women's Health
An Avestria blog post
March 8, 2022: A is for autoimmune disorders...
B is for birth control...
C is for cardiovascular disease...
D is for...?
On International Women's Day 2022, Avestria tracks opportunities for improvement, innovation, and investment in women's health - one for every letter of the alphabet.
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Under the Microscope: Curio Digital Therapeutics
An Avestria blog post
November 4, 2021: Postpartum depression affects 10-20% of mothers around the world (14 million to 28 million women) - and yet fewer than 20% of them get treated.
Through a suite of digital tools, Curio Digital Therapeutics is helping to identify, diagnose, prevent, and treat these women.
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Under the Microscope: AmplifiDx
An Avestria blog post
October 21, 2021: The COVID-19 pandemic brought an exponential interest in quick, reliable testing, especially PCR testing, and a massive backlog as laboratories tried to fulfill this demand.
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AmplifiDx is developing a low-cost platform to detect infectious diseases, starting with COVID-19, not only with PCR-level sensitivity but also with the convenience of testing and receiving results at home and within an hour.
Learn why Avestria invested in this blog post.
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Under the Microscope: Mae
An Avestria blog post
September 16, 2021: What if you're pregnant but worried about racial and/or gender discrimination from doctors?
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Mae's "digital marketplace" for pregnant women - starting with Black women - aims to mitigate the treatment they receive. The company helps connect these women to the education, resources and support they need for a healthy pregnancy and postpartum period.
Learn why Avestria invested in this blog post.
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Investing in FemTech
A 2021 FemTech Market Report
August 16, 2021: How did "FemTech" go from a word first coined to make male investors comfortable with investing in women's healthcare to a market projected to be worth $60B+ by 2025?
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This chapter in investing in FemTech for FemTech Collective's 2021 Market Report covers the challenges facing founders of femtech companies, areas for innovation, and the positive economic impact of putting dollars into women's health.
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Happy Second Birthday, Avestria: Looking at the Past, Present, and Future of the Firm
An Avestria blog post
July 9, 2021: To celebrate Avestria Ventures' second birthday, this blog post looks at the past, present, and future of the company. It covers why Avestria was originally founded, what three major lessons the team has learned, and what the company is looking forward to in the years to come.
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Under the Microscope: AOA Dx
An Avestria blog post
June 28, 2021: By 2035, new cases of ovarian cancer are predicted to increase by 55% and deaths by 67%. One way to decrease the fatality rate, though, is through early diagnosis: the focus of AOA Dx.
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AOA'snovel blood test, which focuses on detecting circulating tumor gangliosides, can help increase early detection, decrease cost, and save patients' lives.
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Learn why Avestria invested in this blog post.
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International Women's Day: By the Numbers - Investing in Women & Women's Health
An Avestria blog post
March 8, 2021: Although women are the major workers, decision-makers, and consumers when it comes to healthcare, Avestria still hears that women's health is a niche investment sector.
This blog post for International Women's Day 2021 focuses on the numbers behind women’s healthcare - including female founders of and female investors in women's health - to show the current lack of support for women's health and the economic opportunity that it represents.
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Under the Microscope: DrugViu
An Avestria blog post
February 18, 2021: About 40% of the U.S population is a minority - but clinical trial participants for healthcare products remain mostly white and male.
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DrugViu is serving the needs of minority patients, especially those with autoimmune diseases, to help them understand their symptoms, receive a diagnose, connect with others, and learn about the efficacy of different medications.
Learn why Avestria invested in this blog post.
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Under the Microscope: Genome Medical
An Avestria blog post
January 14, 2021: The era of genomic medicine arguably started in 1990 with the Human Genome Project and is still going strong today, more than 30 years later.
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Genome Medical has differentiated itself in this massive market through its platform and clinician network, which allow the company to deliver low-cost, high-quality genetic counseling, including to those in underserved areas.
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Learn why Avestria invested in this blog post.
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Under the Microscope: Knowledge to Practice
An Avestria blog post
January 7, 2021: When medical information doubles every 73 days, how can medical professionals keep up and deliver the best care possible?
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Knowledge to Practice (K2P) helps physicians with their board reviews and continuing medical education by offering convenient and personalized microlearning modules - allowing physicians to access needed education without a huge sacrifice on their time.
Learn why Avestria invested in this blog post.
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Under the Microscope: Rhinostics
An Avestria blog post
December 16, 2020: By December 2020, the COVID-19 had led to nearly 192 million tests with more than a million done daily - but processing 500 tests is more than a full day’s work for a single technician.
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Rhinostics' one-piece cap-and-swab combo, dual barcodes, and automated workflow help save time, reduce manual error, and
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Learn why Avestria invested in this blog post.
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Under the Microscope: Raydiant Oximetry
An Avestria blog post
December 9, 2020: The current standard of care to monitor fetal safety during labor and delivery is electronic fetal heart rate monitoring: a technology that was introduced in the 1970s and hasn't been significantly changed since.
Raydiant Oximetry's LUMERAH helps monitors fetal oxygenation and detect fetal hypoxia during labor, working with fetal heart rate monitoring, to provide objective results, reduce medically unnecessary C-sections, and keep mothers and babies safe during childbirth.
Learn why Avestria invested in this blog post.
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Under the Microscope: Madorra
An Avestria blog post
December 3, 2020: Around 50% of menopausal women and 70% of breast cancer survivors experience vaginal atrophy: a condition that only worsens without treatment.
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Madorra's device provides a non-invasive, non-hormonal treatment to these women - and all others who don't want to or can't use common hormone treatment options - to bring them relief and an improved quality of life.
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Learn why Avestria invested in this blog post.
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Under the Microscope: Uqora
An Avestria blog post
November 19, 2020: Feeling stressed, swimming in a lake, or having a profession — like an ambulance driver — that doesn't allow bathroom breaks as needed: all these factors increase an individual's risk of urinary tract infections. In fact, 12% of men will have at least one UTI in their life while 50% to 60% of adult women will.
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Uqora is developing a line of urinary health products that include FDA-approved for their ability to flush bacteria from the system. The company's products have helped over 100,000 people!
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Learn why Avestria invested in this blog post.
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Under the Microscope: Alydia Health
An Avestria blog post
November 12, 2020: The United States has the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world.
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But one of the main causes of maternal mortality - postpartum hemorrhage - can be treated. Alydia Health's Jada System helps stop postpartum hemorrhage within minutes and without the same risks to the mother as other treatment options such as blood transfusions or hysterectomies.
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Learn why Avestria invested in this blog post.
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The healthcare system has long ignored women's health and failed female patients. Female-backed health startups can change things.
A Business Insider op-ed
September 27, 2020: Although women compose 50% of the population, only 4% of all healthcare research and development goes towards women's health issues specifically.
Ignoring sex-based health differences only puts women's health at risk. This op-ed not only argues for increased research in and funding towards women's health but also proposes a solution - levying female investors and women-centric health ventures to replace the male standard in healthcare and develop women-centric care.​
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Read this op-ed on Business Insider.
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