­ƒôà FitX Programming Updates

Sign-up is LIVE for FitXpo: Forging the Future of Wellness on February 19th and 26th!

We are less than two weeks away from the start of FitXpo and sign-ups are now live on the FitX CampusGroups Homepage! FitX is excited to bring to Ross our first-ever multi-day event which will convene executives and entrepreneurs around the most top-of-mind health & wellness topics, including the future of wellness post-COVID and the industry’s role in increasing access to wellness. 

We’re kicking off FitXpo with a keynote by Joe Vennare from Fitt.Co and have interactive sessions planned with Harpreet Rai, CEO of Oura (a Michigan alum!), founders of Exer AI and Fabriq, product growth Director at Headspace, and an Investing Panel with Bridge Builders Collaborative, KB Partners, and Will Ventures. Whether you’re interested in entrepreneurship, marketing, finance, social impact, product management, or are just a health & wellness junkie - FitXpo will have you covered with some of the most innovative companies in the space. 

The full FitXpo schedule is below and live on CampusGroups. Register today!

Event: Creating Equity In Wellness

Join FitX, AABA, BBSA, Out for Business, MBW, and Women Who Launch THIS THURSDAY for a 2-hour event with Dive In Well, the preeminent organization creating equity within the wellness industry. The event is February 11th from 5-7 PM EST. Register here. Regardless of if you want to work in Tech, Consulting, a Fortune 100 company, or start your own business - this session will help you understand how oppressive practices show up in business and learn how to dismantle them when you build, shape, and lead businesses in the future. The keynote speaker and lead facilitator, Maryam Ajayi, has led sessions for Headspace, Nike, General Assembly, Lululemon, and countless others. She brings 10+ years of experience in business growth strategy and strategic partnerships across a multitude of industries ranging from politics to tech.

­ƒæÅFitX Feature - Mia Farnham ‘22, Intern at Femtech Focus

What is Femtech?

Femtech is an industry dedicated towards offering innovative healthcare solutions, products, tools specifically for womxn's health (expands to transgender women and non-binary individuals). It's wild that this is considered an "emerging market" since the industry's purpose is to fill in healthcare gaps that womxn have been encountering since the beginning of time. Healthcare issues like menopause, fertility, sexual wellness, oncology, uterine health, post and prenatal health are prioritized across the space since little to no innovation has been made across the industry either because of taboos associated with womxn inquiring about them or simply a lack of education around their healthcare needs. Frost and Sullivan predicted the market size for femtech to reach $50B by 2025, but I actually think that number will be astronomically higher since 50% of the global population falls within the total addressable market! 

What was your journey to Femtech Focus?

My journey started a while back, I graduated from Cornell in 2016 from the school of Industrial and Labor Relations and focused on labor economics and the way women are disproportionately affected in the workplace compared to male counterparts. Fast forward to my four years spent at Deloitte in their M&A consulting group focused mostly on Consumer Products and Healthcare transactions, and I witnessed this gap of products and solutions tailored specifically for women's health within trillion dollar industries which made no sense to me. Knowing that I always had an interest in women's health issues I came into Ross knowing that this was a space I wanted to learn more about and network across to get more experience. I created an investment thesis on my own that evaluated the intersection between the wearables space and femtech and passed it along to honestly anyone in the femtech space that I thought would have some great insights. Femtech Focus has been a leader in the space for a while since it runs the #1 podcast about all things interesting in the industry and I got some time with their Executive Director and Co-Founder (Brittany Barreto)  just to pick her brain. A week after our initial convo, Brittany mentioned how she was starting an Angel Network and eventual $25M VC fund dedicated towards femtech investments and asked if I wanted to join her team to get it up and running! 

What is Femtech Focus and what makes it a unique company in the healthcare space?

Femtech Focus is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded to empower, equip, and bring together healthcare professionals, life-science entrepreneurs, and forward-thinking investors to revolutionize womxn’s health and wellness. It's an integrated platform that includes the #1 femtech podcast, an enthusiastic virtual network, marquee industry events for founders and VCs and now and an investment arm that I spend the bulk of my day developing. It's truly the best way for people to become educated on growth in the space and illustrate just how much innovation opportunity exists across womxn's healthcare. The team works towards illustrating why it's so difficult for women to seek out help for every day healthcare needs, for example, Facebook allows ads for male libido-enhancing products but not a link to a Q&A article with a doctor explaining menopause because the word vagina is oftentimes censored. 

What are some of your day to day responsibilities and projects?

Right now a lot of my day to day responsibilities include market research and building up our repository of materials that we can pass onto potential angels who are interested in joining the fund. Last week I spent my time looking up every femtech exit that has ever occured, recorded how many years to exit each company took, what the exit value was and the investors who helped fund the company's success.  We learned that the average time to exit was 9.9 years with an average exit value of $474M which will be a pretty exciting stat to share with interested investors! Coming from a more traditional corporate job, it's definitely interesting to see how much more unstructured and ad hoc this role is. I'm definitely trying to become more comfortable with chaos. 

From your perspective, what is the future of Femtech as it pertains to health care?

I look forward to femtech not being considered a "niche" industry but rather considered as valuable as any other area of general healthcare. I think this push for tangible D&I initiatives across Fortune 500 companies will highlight how important investments in support resources and tools specifically for womxn's health will be if more female leaders are expected to take C-Suite spots in the coming years. Companies spending money on comprehensive maternity policies only scratches the surface of a womxn's healthcare needs. Things like menopause, bone health, uterine/pelvic health, female oncology need to be given the proper attention they deserve so womxn are able to have accessible and comfortable solutions to major health issues they will 100% encounter as their healthcare journey progresses. With femtech investments in the VC space increasing every year, I think that really innovative companies in the space will finally get their time in the spotlight and provide solutions to womxn who have felt their health needs have been historically overlooked and pushed to the side.

If you are interested in learning more or chatting with Mia, she has graciously offered to connect with any FitX members. You can shoot her an email here

ÔÅ® Industry Highlights

Apple’s Fitness+ unveils new outdoor walking experiences:

Rewind a few months ago: Apple entered the connected fitness space with the launch of their new offering Fitness+, which offers studio-style workouts (think: rowing, dance, cycling, yoga) to users’ smart device. Now Apple has announced their new feature, Time to Walk, which uses celebrities to narrate audio-guided walks. This feature could not have come at a better time since many people have turned to walking for both exercise and mental benefits during the pandemic. Now you can walk alongside inspiring and influential people like Ibram X. Kendi and Dolly Parton during your walking study breaks!

Hurdle raises millions to support diverse populations’ mental health needs:

When Kevin Dedner, founder and CEO of Hurdle, was struggling with depression, he noticed his biggest challenge was finding a therapist who could actually understand and connect with his life as an African-American. This experience led him to develop Hurdle, a mental health platform focused on providing culturally sensitive mental health services for People of Color. Hurdle’s services include self-care digital apps, wellness workshops, and teletherapy. Last week, Hurdle closed $5M in Series A funding and hopes to use this funding to address the depression spiking in Black and minority communities caused by the events of last year.

Mindbody is the latest fitness technology company to adapt to a post-pandemic world:

Mindbody is the leading technology platform for the wellness industry that allows clients to sign up and pay for studio classes. Now Mindbody has introduced Mindbody Flex, which gives members access to a wide variety of livestream fitness classes for $39 or $59 a month depending on the membership option. Unsurprisingly, Mindbody has seen a 400% increase in virtual class bookings since March. Mindbody Flex allows them to capitalize on this trend, and allows them to compete directly with companies like ClassPass.

­ƒÄÖ Listen In: New Podcasts To Check Out (on your Winter Walks?)

FitX is beyond stoked to host Headspace Director of Product Growth Keya Patel at our upcoming FitXPo. Get to know more about Headspace and their founding in this How I Built This Interview With CEO and Co-Founders Andi Puddicombe and Rich Pierson. 

­ƒôê Financial Highlights 

• Ryan Seacrest joins Jay-Z, Novak Djokovic, and Pitbull as an investor in CLIMBR, an at-home vertical climbing machines

• Cutback Coach, a new app that helps alcohol consumers develop a healthier approach to drinking, has raised $3.1M in seed funding

• The Honest Company, a natural baby and beauty products company founded by actress Jessica Alba, is preparing to conduct an IPO at a valuation of $2B.

• Aavia, a hormone health app, is the latest FemTech company to raise millions in a seed funding round 

• Cricket protein maker Entomo Farms has raised $2.9M in a funding round to support their development of insect-based protein. 

­ƒÆ╗ Job Postings 

Full-Time

Product Manager @ Whoop

Sr. Product Manager @ Thrive Market

Strategic Partner Manager, FitBit

Intern

MBA Intern @ Oxeon Venture Studio

­ƒÿ£FitX Fun Facts

We just watched a 43 year old Tom Brady win another Super Bowl after 21 seasons in the NFL. Brady owes much of his longevity to the “TB12 Method”, which relies heavily on pliability and recovery. You can be part of the TB12 Method as well if you think you can handle restrictions and rules like no gluten, dairy corn, soy, MSG, coffee, alcohol, GMOs, sugar, trans fats, overly processed foods and more. Some fruits, vegetables, and oils are also off-limits. While Tom Brady’s diet is strict, it’s full of nutrients and designed to help him minimize foods that he believes cause inflammation. We admire our fellow Wolverine but we’ll pass on no coffee and no alcohol.

Feedback, thoughts, or partnership ideas for us? Send a note to Sonja.