Actress and activist Jaime King is joining Allara Health, the first chronic care platform for women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), as an investor and director of impact.
As King describes, the path to a PCOS diagnosis often requires multiple visits to siloed specialists. Allara touts to offer a collaborative care management model that combines medical care, nutrition counseling, lifestyle coaching, and community support—all built into a digital health platform. Diagnosis and treatment are streamlined and backed by a specialized group of care professionals and medical advisors in reproductive endocrinology, gynecology, nutrition, and holistic wellness.
King recently shared more with Fortune about her eight-year journey with her own PCOS diagnosis and her decision to work with the company.
- Startup: Allara Health
- Location: New York City
- Year founded: 2021
- Valuation: Declined to disclose
- Investment level: $4.7 million raised to date
- Number of employees: 15
- Other major investors: Global Founders Capital, Great Oaks, Humbition
Why she invested, in her own words
When I first spoke with Allara’s founder Rachel Blank, there was an immediate connection. I related to her personal journey with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome because I’d been there myself. After nearly eight years, nine doctors, and endless roadblocks trying to conceive, I was ultimately diagnosed with PCOS and endometriosis.
When I found out that one in 10 women of childbearing age have PCOS and nearly 50% of them go undiagnosed, I couldn’t believe it. How could no one be talking about this? How did my doctors not bring this up sooner? How many women in my world are unknowingly going through life with PCOS?
Until Allara, there was no singular resource for PCOS diagnosis, ongoing care, and community.
I believe Allara’s unique approach is the missing piece in women’s healthcare journey and I wish it was around when I was going through my own discovery. It never made sense that I could see so many doctors and specialists, yet none of them were in sync or even interested in one another’s perspective. Being an Allara member is the polar opposite. Your doctors all talk to each other and work behind the scenes as a team to efficiently and effectively identify and address what’s going on with your body. They have experts in every relevant field from reproductive endocrinology to nutrition and life coaching.
As director of impact, I’ll be focused on driving awareness, furthering education, and destigmatizing unattended women’s health conditions. We need to get patients, doctors, and insurers on board to support women in their diagnosis (or lack thereof) and sustainable, holistic, ongoing care. It’s time for our fragmented healthcare system to recognize the urgent need for collaborative, comprehensive healthcare, not only for women with PCOS, but for all women struggling with underserved conditions and in marginalized communities. I’m grateful and humbled to be on this journey with the radically conscious and disruptive team at Allara, on a mission to make a difference in the lives of millions of women.
This is an installment of Why I Invested, a series featuring famous investors from all different backgrounds and industries, revealing what inspired them to invest their own money in a new business.