The London-based health tech firm will use the funds to expand SheMed’s UK operations and scale its medical and technology teams.
London-based health tech company SheMed has raised $50 million (£37.3 million) in Series A funding. The firm has said that it is not disclosing its investors for this round.
The funding will be used to expand SheMed’s UK operations, scale its medical and technology teams, strengthen clinical infrastructure and enhance its data-driven capabilities. The investment will also support new research and patient-experience initiatives designed to improve access to care for women across the country.
Founded in April last year by sisters Olivia and Chloe Ferro, SheMed has grown rapidly to address the gap in women’s healthcare: access to customised, trustworthy and sustainable solutions.
Its programme integrates medical oversight, wellness tracking and 24/7 support through an all-in-one digital platform, which ensures every woman receives tailored individual care while providing a platform that is redefining the healthcare space.
SheMed is best known for its GLP-1 and weight-management platform, which blends medical expertise, data insights and support to help women achieve health results. The company claims more than 60,000 members and is one of the fastest-growing GLP-1 programmes in the country.
Market need
There is a clear market need for the platform. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has had to take repeated action against rogue advertising of prescription-only weight loss medicines. As Rachael Joy, the firm’s chief clinical officer, pointed out in Healthcare Today recently, GLP-1 treatment is a “welcome shortcut for overweight Brits, but it also increases the risk of health complications by allowing medications to be taken by the wrong cohort”.
Relying exclusively on body mass index (BMI) and a short questionnaire fails to identify pre-existing health issues that would contraindicate GLP-1 treatment, she wrote.
Joy cited a SheMed study of 16,000 women who took the company’s mandatory blood test before enrolling in their medically supervised weight-loss programme, nearly 500 had underlying conditions that would disqualify them from GLP-1 use or that needed to be addressed before beginning a GLP-1 regimen, and 99% showed some abnormality of which participants were not previously aware.
The SheMed programme includes a follow-up programme with suggested blood tests at six and twelve months to identify adverse reactions; weekly weigh-in calls, monthly questionnaires and check-ins to track participants’ progress and safety; and live check-ins and refill questionnaires to continue receiving GLP-1 medications.
Later this month, SheMed says that it will publish results from the first female-focused GLP-1 clinical study. The findings should provide insights into how GLP-1 medications affect women’s hormonal and metabolic responses.
