Why investors are so ‘bullish’ on women’s health

“I’m incredibly bullish about women’s health. Women’s health is not just about women, it’s human health,” said Alyssa Jaffee, partner at 7wireVentures, an early-stage health care venture fund. “Women are over 50% of our population, yet we make 80% of health care buying decisions. It’s not just reproductive rights, it’s not just maternal health care.”

Chelsea Clinton, a health advocate and vice chair of the Clinton Health Access Initiative, said she’s steering her money toward addressing high maternal death rates. She’s invested in midwife-care startup Oula, participating in the company’s seed round in 2020 and Series A earlier this year.

Executives also spoke about the promise of new technologies to improve health outcomes—not just for women but for all patients. 

“I keep hearing, ‘tech-enabled, data-enabled, A.I.-enabled,’ and because of those advances in health care, you’ve been able to have so much information put into the hands of the consumer,” said New York Stock Exchange president Lynn Martin. “I think that the health care industry is only just now starting to see what the effects of putting data in consumers’ hands is, (and it’s) going to transform the industry.” 

Health insurance provider Elevance Health uses A.I. both in clinical settings and for administration tasks, and CEO Gail Boudreaux cautioned that there are risks to the technology that her team is trying to address. 

“I think implicit bias is a really big issue. And quite frankly, it’s there. It exists because these models are learning from data and people today,” she said. “We have a group both inside and outside individuals who look at that because we know how important it is. And so we continually look at these models, we continually refresh our data.”

Whether in A.I. or investing, Sarah Pinto Peyronel, partner and head of growth at Emerson Collective, said that “the intersection of mission and people” is what makes her optimistic for the future of health care. “I think health care attracts amazing people. (It’s the) caliber of the people I see building mission-driven companies.” 

Kinsey Crowley (she/her)
kinsey.crowley@fortune.com
@kinseycrowley

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ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

- Why now. Writer E. Jean Carroll testified in the early days of her sexual assault trial against former President Donald Trump, detailing how Trump allegedly raped her in a department store dressing room decades ago. On cross-examination, Trump's lawyers asked Carroll why she waited so many years to come forward. She said that it was the revelations about Harvey Weinstein and the #MeToo movement that pushed her to include the incident in her 2019 memoir. Trump has not attended the trial and denies the allegations. New York Times

- Restructuring. Women's professional network Chief laid off 14% of staff Thursday, citing the challenging economic environment. Founders Lindsay Kaplan and Carolyn Childers also laid out new priorities for the future, including embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion in all aspects of the business. The emphasis on DEI comes after members raised concerns about the company's dedication to social justice issues. TechCrunch

- Housing leadership. Women are at the helm of the four key government agencies overseeing housing for the first time in history at a time when the $45.3 trillion U.S. housing market is under strain. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge is leading the charge to strengthen fair housing practices, and she says the other women are joining her in the effort. Forbes

- Caretaker discrimination. Moms still face discrimination at work with little ability for recourse or accountability. Retaliatory actions during pregnancy are prohibited as being sex-based discrimination, but caretaking does not receive the same protections. Women across industries have reported being passed over for projects or chastised for asking for arrangements that help them better balance family life and work life. The 19th

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Dana Bash is taking over CNN's weekday show Inside Politics. Meta's former vice president of investor relations Deborah Crawford is taking over investor relations at Fanatics. Roxy Young is expanding her CMO role to be chief marketing and community experience officer at Reddit. Louise Troen will be the CMO of the self-hypnosis app Reveri. Angela Ferrell-Zabala will be the first executive director at Moms Demand Action. Kristen Habacht has been appointed chief revenue officer at Typeform. 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

- Mocktail manager. Heidi Dillon, managing director at Distill Ventures, has emerged as a leader in the growing no- and low-alcohol industry, bringing a wellness perspective to the male-dominated industry. She makes diversity a part of her everyday mission while working with founders of alcohol and spirits brands. New York Times

- Glass pyramid. Laurence des Cars's appointment as president of the Louvre in 2021 solidified a growing trend: More women are taking over as museum directors. The majority-white group of recently appointed museum directors says the pattern is not surprising given how many women are in other leadership and curation roles at museums. New York Times

- Only G7. Japan's ruling party will seek to pass a law that takes a stand against LGBTQ discrimination ahead of the G7 summit in Japan next month. Japan is the only G7 country without a law banning LGBTQ discrimination or recognizing same-sex marriage, an omission that business lobbyists say inhibits recruiting global talent. Bloomberg

- Rare merger. Software company for online consumers Logiq has acquired Park Place Payments, a payment processing company founded in 2018 by Samantha Ettus, for a $10 million all-stock deal. Since founding the company, Ettus brought on more than 1,500 account executives—the majority of whom were women—to sell payment services to small businesses. Park Place Payments processed more than $180 million in payments annually and brought in $5 million in revenue this year. Business Insider

ON MY RADAR

Jill Biden doesn’t want to tell you what she is wearing New York Times

Inside tennis star Iga Swiatek's unique mental game Time

Priyanka Chopra Jonas is ready to flex her muscles Elle

Why female celebs could never get away with pulling a John Mulaney The Daily Beast

PARTING WORDS

“When I first set off as a tennis player, when I was a kid, I didn’t think I’d be in this position and I feel like I’m constantly learning new things."

—Naomi Osaka on raising $5 million for her media company Hana Kuma