Female founders are grossly undervalued. Though women make up 38% of business owners, startups with only female founders consistently receive just 2% to 3% of venture investment. That speaks volumes about long-standing gender biases in the entrepreneurial space.

In a system where women must already work harder to be recognized, the added complexity of pregnancy can feel like an almost insurmountable hurdle.

But having navigated a funding at my startup , while pregnant, I know firsthand that achieving your funding goals with a baby on board isn’t impossible.

Rather than an added weight, continuing to raise funding while pregnant is a testament to your passion and commitment, and a fantastic opportunity to highlight your team-building skills and long-term vision — all qualities VCs in a founder.

Maintaining transparency

Investors are putting up capital with no guarantee the startup will survive, let alone deliver a return on investment. Trust is a crucial part of the founder-investor relationship, and disclosing a pregnancy shows the honesty and openness they value.

A seasoned investor has seen it all and no startup is without its struggles. If not pregnancy, there would be a different challenge to navigate, so don’t put your fundraising plan on hold just because you’re expecting.

As long as you can demonstrate your commitment to the product and ability to deal with the challenges ahead, investors will show understanding — as Zing’s successful Series A proves, having been completed in just six months.

Will you face bias? Undoubtedly. A whopping of female founders report experiencing discrimination during the fundraising process, whether pregnant or not. Take this honesty as a blessing. You will have to work closely with this person as your business grows, so would you rather learn of their questionable opinions before or after you sign on the dotted line?

Planning for disruption

Investors are incredibly risk-averse, which is part of the reason just of venture capital funding is given to women-led startups. There’s no telling whether you will require an extended absence to focus on your health or if your appetite for entrepreneurship will wane as you navigate motherhood — but investors will want a clear picture of how it’s likely to impact their investment.

A comprehensive maternity plan — detailing any expected absences, how responsibilities will be delegated while you’re away, and how the company plans to deal with any problems — will reassure investors. This will also put you in good stead to adapt quickly when issues arise.

You will face unique challenges that add to the complexity of leading a startup. For me, it was the intense cravings and constant bathroom breaks that seemed determined to interrupt crucial meetings.

But you’re a founder, so it isn’t like this is your first time dealing with the unexpected. Pregnancy is just another challenge on your company’s journey, so deal with it as you would any other.

Putting your health first

Sometimes, entrepreneurship feels like a competition to see who can work the most and sleep the least. It’s not the healthiest of lifestyles and is only made worse by the aches and pains of pregnancy. It’s incredibly taxing — and, with your little one’s health to worry about too, it’s no time to try to prove your unwavering resilience.

While you shouldn’t pause your fundraising, you should put the post-conference parties and long business trips on hold for a while. Take breaks, listen to your body, and put your health first, and you’ll be back leading your team in no time. But ignoring your body will only harm your productivity and motivation, delay your return to work, and damage your startup’s prospects of achieving its funding goals.

is the CEO and co-founder of, an AI-driven personal training app. She has more than a decade of experience in launching and scaling health and fitness products. Under her leadership, Zing Coach has surpassed 1 million downloads, achieved the highest retention rate among competitors (as reported by ), and recently secured $10 million in Series A funding. In addition to her achievements in fitness tech, Parfenyuk is a passionate advocate for female leadership, actively engaging with organizations including Global Female Leaders and The Female Lead.

Related reading:

• The Portion Of US VC Funding That Went To Female Founders Hit A New Peak In 2023, Thanks To Massive AI Deals
• Is There A Gender Bias in Funding? Yes. Here’s How Female Founders Can Overcome
• These Female Founders And CEOs Raised The Biggest Rounds In 2024

Illustration:

Kenvue’s shares traded at $26.90 each when the market closed on Thursday, a 22% jump from the company’s original asking price of $22, which was in the high end of the range. When it debuted, shares were trading at $25.60.

The company sold 172.8 million shares — an increase from the 151 million it planned on selling. Kenvue raised $3.8 billion from the offering and its valuation jumped from $48 billion at the start of trading to $50 billion when the market closed.

Back in 2021, Johnson & Johnson it would split its pharmaceutical brand from its consumer health division, marking one of the biggest changes to its 100-year history. Kenvue, the consumer health arm that owns a slew of household names like , and , announced last week it would brave the icy public markets and go public. 

Johnson & Johnson is still a majority shareholder in Kenvue, representing a 90.9% stake in the company and owning 1.7 billion shares of common stock.

Sign of a bustling public market ahead?

Kenvue’s blockbuster debut may be a sign that the public markets are thawing. There was an unprecedented number of startups that went public in 2021, but the market chilled considerably in 2022. 

Last year, raised $1.9 billion when it debuted back in July, while marketing platform raised $518 million a few months earlier in January. They were part of a mere 91 startups that went public in 2022, per . By comparison, over 400 startups debuted on the stock market in 2021 and 190 debuted in 2020.

In 2022, several companies scrapped or paused their IPO plans as the economic health of the U.S. became more uncertain, but it’s clear many are waiting for the right time to go public. Both fast-fashion retailer and fintech platform are reportedly in talks to explore IPO options no later than 2024.  

Startups, after raising huge rounds at high valuations in 2021, are looking for ways to extend their runways. And the banking crisis that killed and is only causing more uncertainty for risky startups that don’t often meet banks’ loan requirements. 

Related Crunchbase Pro query:

Illustration:

Eight-year-old Maven follows women and families through fertility and pregnancy to birth, pediatrics and menopause. Through its app, patients are connected to specialists who can talk them through a variety of medical procedures and long-term care plans for nutrition and child care. The company operates in 175 countries and offers care for families with different backgrounds and needs.

“We have reimagined the care model to address the complex needs of women and families in a global system that was not designed for them,” said , Maven CEO and founder.

New York City-based Maven works with employers to provide supplemental benefits, but doesn’t accept insurance — although its website indicates per-appointment fees cost less than most copays.

Specialized care gains traction

Maven’s raise, so far, marks the largest raise in the femtech category this year. Funding has dropped 52% since last year, garnering only $683 million in 2022. 

But that’s not bad. Before 2020 and 2021, when a flood of funding ensconced the private markets, femtech netted $569 million in 2019. 

Maven is one of several virtual health startups operating in the niche care space, where companies are building care plans for people who have otherwise been shunned by the mainstream health care system: women, people of color, queer people and immigrants. In October we covered ’s $30 million raise to further its care offerings to LGBTQIA+ patients such as gender-affirming health care, access to PrEP (medication that stymies the spread of HIV and AIDS), and fertility services for same-sex couples. , which raised $10.5 million in January, offers health care services for college-aged women such as sexual health education. 

But FOLX, Maven and Caraway, like many startups in this space, don’t take insurance. Rather, they either accept out-of-pocket payments or work with companies or schools to offer benefits to workers. Operating outside the insurance network might make it easier for patients to access specialists that are in demand and otherwise hard to schedule an appointment with. But the system also shuts out another group typically evaded by health care: the poor. 

Illustration:

The San Francisco-based company is throwing its hat into the ring to tackle autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, a broad category of disease for which current treatments don’t fix in full. Most drugs targeted at autoimmune and inflammatory diseases weaken the immune system, which makes patients more at risk of developing infection.

Human Immunology Biosciences is targeting cells like plasma and mast cells that make up the immune system. The startup currently has two drug candidates in its arsenal. One of them, felzartamab, will target plasma cells that are considered the likely drivers of these diseases. 

Precision medicine in biotech

Current autoimmune drugs have two problems: due to their side effects, they can’t be as effective as possible. In order to be as effective as possible, side effects would be severe. 

It’s the problem most drugs face, and that issue has propelled the targeted therapy movement in precision medicine we’ve seen in the last few years. The goal is to create drugs that better target the precise location of the disease and leave the rest of the body relatively untouched. 

Targeted therapies have been popular among cancer startups as a way of killing cancer cells without washing the whole body with radiation or chemotherapy. 

Thanks to advancements in genomics and data collection, precision medicine has taken off in the biotech world. Per Crunchbase data, more than $2 billion has been pumped into drug startups tackling the immune system in 2022 alone. The majority of these companies, like and , are creating targeted therapies. 

On top of its clinical assets, Human Immunology Biosciences is armed with a “toolkit” to identify precise targets in the human body for drugs to swim to. The process involves parsing through genetic biomarkers and using computational data to create these new drugs. 

Artificial intelligence is driving a lot of the innovation in precision medicine. Leveraging a slew of data points, AI can look for more precise targets in the body, allowing scientists to create tailored drugs for each patient’s needs. 

Illustration:

Taiwan-based announced on Tuesday it received FDA clearance for its Kinguide Robotic-Assisted Surgical System, a handheld robot that can be used in orthopedic surgeries. 

The system creates 2D and 3D models of the anatomy and pinpoints where there needs to be a drill point. The robot acts like a “hand” for the surgeon to attach different surgical tools to and use for different procedures. It also balances shaky hands and guides the surgeon to make precise drills into the bone and add screws, making the process as minimally invasive as possible. 

Point Robotics’ watershed FDA clearance is a large badge for Taiwan’s small health care and biotech industry. Funding in the space saw a 176.6% increase between 2019 and 2020, according to Crunchbase data, and went to only nine startups.

The next step for Point Robotics is to apply the surgical system to other types of spinal procedures like herniated disc decompression. It will also start pursuing approval in Europe and China.

The 6-year-old company raised $18 million in Series A funding in 2020 from , and through government-assisted funding. In January it raised an undisclosed sum of funding. 

The rise of orthopedic surgery

SpineAssist, the first spine robot, received FDA approval in 2004 with its ability to improve accuracy and decrease complications and recovery time. Precision is of utmost necessity in the spine to prevent long-term spinal problems or permanent damage to the spine, which could affect mobility or sensory experience. 

However, medical technology in orthopedic surgery is a massive upfront cost for hospitals and clinicians, and requires surgeons to train with the technology.

, an Israel-based company that owns a robotic guidance platform, was acquired by in 2018. , another orthopedic-focused robotics company, was acquired by in 2013 and has expanded its product line to assist in knee and hip surgeries.

Illustration:

The company, which makes natural home and personal care products, had previously raised over , according to Crunchbase.

Subscribe to the Crunchbase Daily

The new round was led by , , and A new investor, , as well as existing investors ,, , and also participated, according to a statement from the company.1

With the fresh cash, the San Francisco-based company plans to expand into clean beauty, create more sustainable packaging and products, and hire more than 100 new employees for its Grove Guide team, which answers customer questions and educates shoppers about the company’s natural products.

Grove Collaborative, which was founded in 2016, promotes its products as natural and healthier for users and better for the environment. It’s known for products like its “tree free” toilet paper made of a bamboo and sugar cane blend. Grove Collaborative has household, personal care, baby, and pet products.

The direct-to-consumer company also has a partnership with Mrs. Meyers Clean Day and sells Mrs. Meyers products on the Grove website. It competes with other e-commerce and natural products companies such as the (aka Jessica Alba’s natural goods company).

Grove Collaborative is growing quickly, expecting its revenue to triple in 2019. The company says it grew eight-fold between May 2017 and May 2019.

The company last raised . It raised , and , according to Crunchbase.

also reported in December that the company was quietly raising money. Filings showed that the company was raising $27.4 million and $76.4 million in 2018, in addition to its Series C.

Illustration Credit: