FemTech founder wins innovation award to test if smartphones can improve pregnancy outcomes

Dr Frances Conti-Ramsden, an NHS obstetrician and data scientist, has received backing from Innovate UK to use everyday smartphone technology to improve heart health for women in pregnancy and beyond, as well as to reduce inequality in maternity services globally.

Cardiovascular disease is recognised as the leading cause of death in women, and hypertensive disorders like pre-eclampsia affect one in ten UK pregnancies. Only 30% of pre-eclampsia are currently predicted with existing screening methods, and women from ethnic backgrounds are known to be at the highest risk. In America, more than a third of counties are ‘maternity deserts’ with clinics not easily accessible, and in other countries there are no facilities at all.

From September 2026, Fran and co-founders at Megi Health will run a single-centre feasibility cohort study called SMART-PE (Smartphone Monitoring And Risk Triage for Pregnancy outcomes), delivered with patient charity Action on Pre-eclampsia. It will follow 100 to 150 pregnant women to assess whether smartphone-based vital signs and data capture is feasible and how such readings relate to standard cuff blood pressure measurements.

The study will prove whether pregnant women and birthing people can monitor cardiovascular health more equitably using the technology in smartphones women already have. It will build on Megi’s digital cardiovascular platform, which is DTAC-compliant, ISO 13485-accredited, GDPR-compliant and CE-marked as a Class I Software as a Medical Device, and already used by more than 5,000 people worldwide with 50.3% one-year retention (Jelić et al., 2024).

“Too often I see women go from a normal pregnancy to an emergency, because we catch blood pressure problems when a crisis is already developing. This award lets us find out if smartphones can help us monitor women and detect problems earlier.” - Dr Frances Conti-Ramsden, Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer at Megi Health

As winners of the Women in Innovation Awards 2025/26, Megi’s all female team benefits from a £75,000 investment in SMART-PE and 12 months of business support to work on reducing the volume of maternal and newborn illness with affordable technology available to all women.

Find out more about Megi Health on their website.