By Beth Rush Managing Editor at Body+Mind Magazine, Bylines at Blunt Therapy, Dumb Little Man, and The C Word Mag
The health care industry innovates yearly, helping you find intelligent remedies to dangerous conditions. You’ve seen women left out of health tech conversations in the past. However, pioneers seek to change what you know about the industry by turning the tide. These eight women are making waves with their health tech startups in 2023.
1. Erin Treloar
Erin Treloar is a founding partner and executive director at Free to Be, and she’s the founder of the Raw Beauty Co. Treloar started Raw Beauty Talks in 2014 with pictures of 200 women without makeup or digital editing. Her goal is to inspire women to be proud of their authentic selves.
Since 2017, Treloar has coached women about healthy and happy living through wellness, mindfulness and intuitive eating. This entrepreneur understands her clients’ struggles because she combated eating disorders as a child. Now, she wants to help you find sustainable diets and improve your relationship with food.
Some try diets but have difficulty sticking to them, only to find themselves back at square one. For example, you may desire more protein in your vegan diet. Eating edamame gives you 20% of your daily protein intake, keeping your body strong. Treloar’s 12-week program transforms your mind and body through empowerment and healthy habits.
2. Ann Garnier
Caring for your body is more challenging as you age, especially when you start menopause. The average woman begins menopause around 51 in the United States, introducing a complex time. Ann Garnier wants to make this change and aging healthier for women worldwide.
Garnier founded Lisa Health with a tech-focused path toward menopausal care. Lisa Health uses artificial intelligence (AI) to select personalized therapeutics for each patient. Some women go through menopause not knowing what to expect, leading them to struggle with symptoms. The Lisa Health team features female health care entrepreneurs, clinical advisers and other technology professionals to help women through this critical time.
3. Laura Yecies
Laura Yecies has been in the technology sector for five decades, spending time at Yahoo!, Informix Software and Netscape Communications. Now, she’s the CEO of Bone Health Technologies, a startup geared toward tackling osteoporosis and other bone-related diseases.
The company has already made waves with OsteoBoost, a vibration belt that improves bone strength and density. The device gently stimulates your hips and spine to prevent conditions like osteoporosis. Osteoboost makes Bone Health Technologies one of the most exciting health tech startups in 2023 and beyond.
Unfortunately, osteoporosis is hard to avoid as you age. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says the disease affects 20% of women 50 and older. Seniors are more likely to suffer hip fractures and other injuries, so Yecies and her colleagues aim to make life easier for women as they age.
4. Kristy Kilcup
Kristy Kilcup is the founder and CEO of Version of You 2.0 and a coach at GrowthSpace and Ah-ha Healing. Her work centers on helping you through the most challenging life events, such as career changes, trauma, weight loss, stress and anxiety. Version of You 2.0 transforms your life to help you inspire others around you. You have a better chance of success with people encouraging each other.
Kilcup wants to help women where others have failed. You may have tried restrictive diets and expensive gym memberships, but they don’t bear fruit. Kilcup works with you to find a sustainable approach to your diet through biotechnology and genetics. She wants to understand why the weight gain happened before working through how to lose it.
Kilcup, a licensed hypnotherapist, uses this practice to uncover your subconscious behaviors and fix your relationship with food. For example, do you snack too much during the day? It may be because you’re bored or not eating enough at mealtime. Find healthy snacks, such as protein cookies with 15 grams of protein per serving, filling you up between meals.
5. Lucy Townsend
Lucy Townsend founded Functional Medicine Associates, a London health tech startup, in 2023. This company focuses on addressing brain and body imbalances. For over 20 years, Townsend has specialized in helping people with neurodegenerative diseases.
Townsend’s inspiration is twofold. When she was a child, she visited her grandmother with dementia. Unfortunately, she had no idea who Lucy was, and the disease had no treatment. Later in life, Townsend suffered a traumatic accident in a developing country. The incident left her with a brain injury, broken ribs and a collapsed lung. She recovered thanks to an extended health journey and wants to help others do the same.
6. Reka Robinson
Traumatic events are often the starting point of your healing journey to find yourself. Reka Robinson speaks from experience after surviving an abusive relationship, leading her to grow and not rehash the past. Her inspiring story led her to start Single You. In this online community, women learn everything they need about self-love and confidence. Single You teaches women to love themselves and not rely on others for this feeling.
Health care for women by women is essential nowadays. Only 13% of CEOs in health care are female, so you need to find people who relate to you and your journey. Robinson says her calling is to help women and teach them that being single is a gift — not an indictment. Your relationship status doesn’t define who you are. Robinson is famous for helping women with negative emotions and self-sabotaging behavior and replacing them with positivity.
7. Thérèse Mannheimer and Estelle Westling
The United Nations says over 3.1 billion women and girls live in countries with significant empowerment deficits and gender gaps. It’s hard for women in many nations to find quality health care services. Fortunately, organizations like Grace.Health work hard to provide essential care for women worldwide.
Thérèse Mannheimer and Estelle Westling founded Grace.Health to help women track their reproductive health on their phones. The organization primarily serves women in East and West Africa, boasting over a million users. Grace.Health only requires 8 megabytes, so you don’t need an advanced smartphone to use its services.
The app uses AI to predict your period and ovulation. All you have to do is add your cycle and symptom information to your account for the most accurate data. The app also features a chat function, where you can speak with health experts with complete security regarding your privacy. You may have trouble or anxiety about getting to doctor’s offices, so Grace.Health supports you in the comfort of your home.
Before founding Grace Health, Westling started tonaton.com, a Ghanaian marketplace for goods and services. She has also managed the Sustainability Innovation Consultancy and other tech-oriented businesses. Mannheimer worked with Nattskiftet, a nonprofit organization fighting violence and sexual abuse against women at night.
Innovative Health Tech Startups to Watch in 2023
Health care is essential for a happy and happy life. The industry improves yearly, with innovations making your life easier. Treating most conditions is more accessible thanks to health tech startups in 2023.
However, some women feel the industry has left them behind. Women only constitute a tiny proportion of health care C-suites, leaving a large gap. Fortunately, these eight women are changing wellness as you know it. Their work has changed millions of women’s mental and physical health worldwide.
Feature image by Dane Deaner on unsplash
