Upstart Impacts, a Philadelphia-based non-profit that helps early-stage life sciences and medical technology companies bring their innovations to market, has launched a Women's Health Innovation Program aimed at changing how startups think about women's biology in the products they build.
The programme, announced on 15 October, will select 10 pre-seed and seed-stage companies based in Pennsylvania. Applications are open until 15 December 2026, with selected companies to be announced in January and the programme beginning in February 2027. Participation is free, and Upstart Impacts takes no equity.
The initiative is supported by partners including Ben Franklin Technology Partners and Life Sciences Greenhouse Investments.
A Different Definition of Women's Health
Unlike many femtech accelerators that focus on conditions specific to women, such as fertility, pregnancy or menopause, Upstart Impacts' programme takes a broader view. It asks startups across life sciences and medtech to examine how their products work in women's bodies, and how that understanding could lead to new applications and better care.
Karina Sotnik, president of Upstart Impacts and chief executive of WorldUpstart, framed the programme as a response to a long-standing failure of medical research. "For centuries, medicine has treated women's bodies as an afterthought," she said. Women's health, in her view, is about ensuring that every life sciences and medtech company considers women's biology in how products are built and evaluated.
The Evidence Gap
The statistics cited by Upstart Impacts illustrate the scale of the problem. Women are nearly twice as likely as men to experience adverse drug reactions and are 50 per cent more likely to be misdiagnosed after a heart attack. Despite making up nearly half the global population, women's health receives about 5 per cent of healthcare research and development funding.
Much of this gap stems from historical research practices. For decades, clinical trials enrolled predominantly male participants, and preclinical studies often used male animals and cells, partly to avoid the perceived complexity of hormonal cycles. As a result, many drugs and devices were tested and dosed based on male physiology, with consequences that became apparent only after they reached the market.
Regulators have since required greater inclusion of women in clinical research, but gaps in data and understanding persist, particularly in areas such as cardiovascular disease, pain and autoimmune conditions, which affect women differently or disproportionately.
What Participants Receive
Selected companies will receive access to more than 50 mentors and experts, one-on-one mentoring, and introductions to funders, healthcare institutions and investors. The equity-free structure is designed to make the programme accessible to very early-stage companies that may not yet be ready to give up ownership.
Scott Nissenbaum, president and chief executive of Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, said his organisation is "proud to support early-stage women's health companies in our region."
Results From the First Cohort
The programme builds on a 2025 predecessor initiative, funded by the Knight Foundation, which supported 10 companies. Eight of those companies have since secured funding, raising a combined $7.4 million, according to Upstart Impacts.
Ajaya Bio, a Philadelphia biotech developing a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease that affects women more often than men, took part in the 2025 programme. "As first-time entrepreneurs, we benefited enormously from the experience of mentors who had been through the process," the company said.
Women Leading Health Innovation
Sotnik's leadership of the initiative reflects a broader trend of women driving investment and innovation in women's health. Women founders and investors have been at the forefront of efforts to build companies and funds focused on conditions that were historically overlooked, and women's health has become one of the fastest-growing areas of venture investment, though it still represents a small share of total healthcare funding.
Recent weeks have brought several significant moves in the sector globally, including large commitments from philanthropic foundations to reduce stillbirths and new funding rounds for companies providing insurance-covered care for women's hormonal and reproductive conditions.
Lessons for India
The issues Upstart Impacts is addressing are equally pressing in India, where women's health has often been viewed narrowly through the lens of maternal care. Conditions such as anaemia, polycystic ovary syndrome, cardiovascular disease and autoimmune disorders affect millions of Indian women, yet research tailored to Indian women's physiology and needs remains limited.
India's growing femtech and healthtech startup ecosystem, along with government initiatives to strengthen research and innovation, could benefit from programmes that encourage companies to design and test products with women in mind from the outset.
The Business Case for Women's Health
Beyond the moral argument, investors increasingly see a commercial opportunity in addressing gaps in women's health. Conditions that predominantly affect women, such as endometriosis, menopause symptoms and certain autoimmune diseases, affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide yet have historically attracted limited research and investment. Analysts and consultancies have argued that closing the women's health gap could generate substantial economic benefits through improved productivity and reduced healthcare costs.
That perspective has helped attract new funds and corporate programmes dedicated to women's health. Yet funding remains small relative to the scale of need, and companies in the sector often report difficulty convincing generalist investors of the size of their markets. Programmes such as Upstart Impacts' can help by preparing early-stage founders to present stronger scientific and commercial cases, and by connecting them with investors and institutions already committed to the field.
Pennsylvania has a strong base in life sciences, anchored by research universities, hospital systems and pharmaceutical companies in the Philadelphia region. Programmes that connect early-stage founders to that ecosystem, while encouraging attention to women's health, could help the region convert research strength into companies that serve a broader range of patients.
The Bigger Picture
A regional, equity-free programme for 10 startups is modest in scale. But its approach, embedding attention to women's biology across all of life sciences and medtech rather than treating women's health as a niche, reflects a shift that advocates argue is essential to closing the gender gap in medicine.
If more accelerators, investors and regulators adopt that mindset, the next generation of medical products may be designed from the start to work well for everyone, rather than being adjusted for women after problems emerge.
