FemTech Accelerate
This International Women’s Day, we’re celebrating by inviting some of our business members, leaders in their fields, to deliver workshops designed to make a real difference.
We envisioned FemTech Accelerate as an immersive workshop series that enables founders and innovators to explore the strategies, tools, and frameworks needed to successfully advance women’s health products.
Join us for FREE online sessions, packed with hands-on workshops led by industry leaders and expert service providers. This event is designed to give founders the practical knowledge they need to succeed in the femtech space.
Dive into essential topics, including:
Insurance Considerations for Scaling HealthTech Innovation
Collaborations in FemTech: Driving Innovation and Impact
Designed for Women: Accelerating Healthcare Solutions Through Product Design & User Experience
Fundraising in FemTech: Strategies for Male-Dominated Investor Rooms
From Concept to Market: Capabilities for Developing HealthTech Products
FemTech Accelerate brings together the essential skills, strategies, and insights founders need to accelerate women’s health and healthtech innovations. Across a series of expert-led workshops, participants will explore: building market-ready femtech and healthtech products with user-centered design and wearable integration; navigating regulatory and insurance considerations; applying engineering principles to create impactful healthtech wearables; and developing commercialization strategies, partnerships, and business models that drive growth.
Whether you’re just starting out or looking to scale, these workshops will equip you with the tools, insights, and connections every FemTech founder needs. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from the experts and accelerate your journey!
ABOUT THE SESSIONS
Collaborations in FemTech: Driving Innovation and Impact
This practical session explores how collaborations among companies in the femtech space can drive innovation and create new growth opportunities. Through real-world examples and insights, it highlights how working together across the ecosystem can strengthen offerings, amplify impact, and accelerate progress in a rapidly evolving market.
Led by:
Mika Miyake is Garmin’s Health Business Development Manager, leading data-driven collaborations in Women’s Health topics globally and strategic business relationships in Employee Health/Wellness for the regions of Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India. She also launched the Garmin Health business in Japan before moving to Germany. Before Garmin, she dedicated her career to health science business planning and employee wellness promotion, achieving positive behavior change for many through innovative approaches. Her passion for sports extended her experience to include work at international sporting events. Mika has lived and studied in the U.S. and Australia. Her academic background is in Psychology, Health and Exercise Science, and Public Health. She was selected as one of “200 Trailblazing Leaders in Women’s Health and FemTech 2025” by Women of Wearables.
Garmin Health empowers innovative third-party digital health solutions with the Garmin Health Ecosystem, comprised of the Garmin product portfolio and its data integration services. By leveraging the Garmin Health API and SDKs, organizations can receive real-time or existing biometric data – with customizable levels of granularity – in accordance with their specific privacy policies. Garmin Health is a globally focused division of technology leader Garmin, collaborating with entities in areas like healthcare, research, employee benefits, insurance, fitness and defense.
By supporting women’s health research through strategic relationships – most recently with King’s College London for its historic EMBRACE project, which focuses on improving outcomes for pregnant women and newborns – Garmin Health contributes to this important and historically under-researched subject. And with collaborators from around the world focused on women’s health, Garmin wearables enable personalized feedback and solutions for metabolic health, perimenopause, fitness and more.
Designed for Women: Accelerating Healthcare Solutions Through Product Design & User Experience
A practical framework for developing women’s health solutions, focusing on product development, enhanced user experience, and a robust product development roadmap to bring ideas from concept to impact.
Led by:
Sukie Whitehall is the Head of Women's Health at Cambridge Design Partnership. She is a consultant mechanical engineer with a decade of experience in medical device development, specialising in drug delivery, diagnostics and life sciences. She leads multidisciplinary teams and has particular expertise in systems-level design for point-of-care diagnostic platforms integrating cartridges and instruments. Many of her projects push at the boundaries of what is thought to be possible, occasionally delivering truly novel solutions. Sukie heads up CDP’s Women’s Health sector and champions inclusive design, working closely with clients as one team to deliver impactful, user-focused products.
Cambridge Design Partnership is an end-to-end innovation partner, propelling global brands and ambitious start-ups to success. They build breakthrough products and services – from insight to ideas, prototypes to production – bringing innovation to life. Their teams are multi-disciplinary, uniting scientific rigor, design ingenuity, and engineering excellence for consumer and healthcare clients. People-centered, deeply collaborative, and – above all – expert, they’re uniquely positioned to shape the future for consumers, patients, and industry. The Women's Health Team at CDP partners with innovators to advance women's health and well-being through cutting-edge product development.
Insurance Considerations for Scaling HealthTech Innovation
A clear, founder-friendly introduction to HealthTech insurance, covering key considerations when securing coverage, common pitfalls to avoid, and how insurance supports building a resilient, investable business.
Led by:
Meryn Bailey, Medtech and Life Sciences Business Development Manager at Superscript
Sophie Weston, Medtech and Life Sciences Insurance Broker at Superscript
Every business — from micro to multinational — should be able to get the right insurance to suit its needs. That's where Superscript comes in. Superscript's specialist brokers provide custom cover for high-growth tech businesses and have helped global companies scale and thrive, raising billions while protected by their tailored cover. Their team specialises in maximising premium savings without cutting corners on cover. They understand the unique risks you face in the medtech landscape and are supported by transparent digital processes that unburden you from the boring stuff — allowing you to go all-in on raising and scaling.
Fundraising in FemTech: Strategies for Male-Dominated Investor Rooms
Candid advice and actionable strategies from someone who's been in the room many times — how to frame the opportunity, anticipate objections, and advocate confidently for women’s health innovation. In this session, Colette gives women entrepreneurs a practical roadmap for raising capital in women’s health. She covers the most common funding pitfalls to avoid, how to identify and target investors who truly understand and value the category, and how to evaluate investor feedback without losing conviction. Founders will learn when a “no” is a useful signal—and when it’s simply the wrong person, timing, or bias—so they can pursue aligned capital with clarity and confidence.
Led by:
Named one of Inc. Magazine's Top 100 Female Founders of 2020, Colette Courtion is a distinguished and award-winning consumer marketer, inventor (24 issued patents), and business leader steeped in brand building, marketing, strategic planning, and finance with leading consumer product, retail, and medical device companies. She is the founder of Joylux, the leading menopausal intimate health company, with Halle Berry, the acclaimed actress and menopause advocate, as an investor, brand ambassador and co-developer of products.
Joylux is a leading menopausal platform company offering high-tech home-use medical and wellness devices, digital tools, and products that address menopause-related intimate health concerns such as incontinence, vaginal dryness, sexual function, hot flashes, and other common symptoms. Their hero product is the vFit/ vSculpt device – the first home-use device clinically validated to improve the genitourinary syndrome of menopause using photobiomodulation technology. Joylux products are sold in over 10 countries worldwide under the brands Joylux, vFit, vSculpt, Cooling Care, and HER Intimate Care. Our mission is to help women find delight in their lives through all phases of menopause.
From Concept to Market: Capabilities for Developing HealthTech Products
A session highlighting the full spectrum of capabilities required to bring healthtech innovations to life, including concept ideation, user-centered design, wearable and connected device engineering, prototyping, usability testing, and packaging design — all with a focus on creating solutions that are safe, effective, and ready for real-world impact.
Led by:
Jeanette Numbers is the founder and CEO of Nova Design. She is a design visionary and the driving force behind Nova, a leading East Coast design firm. With a career spanning New York, San Francisco, and Boston, she has transformed global brands through purpose-driven, impactful solutions. Her expertise in strategic thinking and a balanced approach to digital and physical product design has led to the successful launch of 100s of products and services, contributing to $100M+ in combined value creation. In addition to her leadership at Nova, Jeanette is deeply engaged in mentoring and education. She serves as an Adjunct Professor at RISD, a Guest Lecturer at MIT and Brown University, and a Leadership Mentor for NEMIC MedTech Ventures. She also serves on the IDSA Board of Directors, reflecting her commitment to fostering innovation within the design community.
Chandlyr Jackson is the UX Lead at Nova, with over 10 years of experience designing systems and strategies for embedded devices, connected ecosystems, mobile apps, and dashboard visualizations. She tackles intricate challenges across diverse and underserved industries, with a primary focus on women's health and wellness, life sciences and consumer technology, working closely with clients to develop products that keep the user at the heart of the process. She holds a BS in Industrial Design from Wentworth Institute of Technology.
Nova stands at the forefront of design, engineering, and research, forging partnerships with a diverse array of clients to shape the future of digital and physical experiences. Their work transcends conventional boundaries, driven by a commitment to user-centric innovation and manufacturability. They bring visions to life for both groundbreaking startups and industry giants, specializing in transformative solutions in health, wellness, medical devices, and consumer products. Their deep expertise in wearable technology and medtech has positioned them as trusted innovators who seamlessly blend clinical requirements with human-centered design, creating intuitive devices that improve patient outcomes while enhancing the healthcare experience. With a wealth of resources, they guide projects from inception to realization, adapting to your unique aspirations and paving the way for a better tomorrow.
Join us for these free, hands-on sessions led by industry leaders and expert service providers. This event is designed to equip founders with the practical knowledge, insights, and connections they need to thrive in the FemTech space.