Midi Health is developing a telehealth platform to deliver insurance-covered midlife care for women going through hormone changes. While 77M women are in perimenopause or menopause, <20% of US OB/GYNs have received menopause training. To mitigate this shortage of skilled clinicians and backlog of patients seeking care, Midi is creating protocols - which are developed leveraging the expertise of the nation’s top menopause experts - that trained nurse practitioners can deliver in a low-cost setting. In addition to this access to care, patients can receive personalized care plans, lifestyle coaching, and appropriate prescription medications and/or supplements.
CEO: Joanna Strober
Headquarters: Los Gatos, CA
Year Founded: 2021
Year Avestria First Invested: 2021 (Fund I)
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May 22, 2024: Joanna Strober is used to being a mom and an entrepreneur - and talking about balancing those dual roles. In fact, in 2009, and she and Sharon Meers - Midi’s Chief Operating Officer - published a book called Getting to 50/50: How Working Couples Can Have It All By Sharing It All. At the time, she was founder and CEO of a company called Kurbo. Now, as founder and CEO of Midi, Joanna joined the Mighty as a Mother podcast to talk about Midi, perimenopause and menopause, and motherhood as well.
May 16, 2024: Menopause is estimated to be a $120B opportunity, and it takes the stage at the Menopause 2.0 global conference. This virtual event focuses on the social, economic, professional, and physical aspects and effects of menopause. Midi’s Chief Medical Officer, Kathleen Jordan MD, NCMP is a speaker on the “Demystifying and Embracing Menopause with Knowledge and Solutions” panel.
May 14, 2024: Joanna Strober was the guest on the Hit Like a Girl podcast to talk about women’s midlife health: perimenopause and beyond. Women’s estrogen starts decreasing around the age 35 - and they can experience trouble sleeping, anxiety, hot flashes, painful sex, and more as a result. But as Joanna explains, doctors may believe that these symptoms are simply not a big deal since they aren’t fatal. And, even if the doctors do want to help, they might not have the knowledge about perimenopause, menopause, and estrogen and other potential treatments to be an effective resource. Midi Health fills those gaps for women in midlife - and for the providers that are part of Midi; each one has to take a Midi University training program around menopause. Midi currently has over 100 providers, and, in this interview, Joanna covers the company’s future expansion plans, its journey so far, and the education and the treatment that it is providing to women.
May 14, 2024: “I didn’t even know the word ‘perimenopause’ when I was deep in it and dealing with the symptoms.” In this article in Bizwomen, Joanna Strober tells the story of Midi - including how she herself didn’t know about perimenopause - in her own words. Midi, as a result, offers expert care for women in midlife and connects them to the healthcare providers, resources, and solutions that they need, so they, unlike Joanna, will know what perimenopause is, what symptoms it may bring, and how they can best address it.
May 6, 2024: Midi’s Medical Director, Dr. Lauren Streicher, was featured on PBS NewsHour to talk about hormone therapy. In the past, hormone therapy’s risks were seen to outweigh its benefits, but a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association challenged that assumption and found that hormone therapy’s benefits can actually outweigh its risk for women in early menopause. Dr. Streicher explains more in this segment.
May 6, 2024: The Top 50 in Digital Health award from Rock Health recognizes “exceptional digital health leaders who are making healthcare massively better for all”. Joanna Strober is one of the honorees recognized this year - not only due to her work leading Midi Health but also for her expertise across digital health and women in business in general. She and the other recipients - all of whom were the result of public nominations and recognition by Rock Health’s selection committee - will be honored in a special dinner event in the fall.
April 30, 2024: “People keep on asking, you know, when are you leaving perimenopause and menopause?” Joanna Strober is quoted as saying. “But perimenopause and menopause is a big market.” The quotation sums up one of Midi’s popular services: perimenopause and menopause care. However, this article notes that Midi’s goal is not just to offer an insurance-covered telehealth solution for women in perimenopause and menopause but to offer an insurance-covered telehealth solution for women in midlife in general. Perimenopause, menopause, and midlife health are all often-overlooked when it comes to women’s healthcare, and, through its raise of over $100M to date, Midi has shown that those solutions are not only needed but valued highly as well.
April 30, 2024: Fresh off the heels of Midi’s recent raise, Joanna Strober sat down with TechCrunch’s Found podcast to discuss the company, its general focus, and menopause specifically. Citing her own perimenopause experience, Joanna noted that she actually wanted to start the company before it was officially founded - but had to wait until the U.S government changed its rules on telehealth and where people could access healthcare. Once those changes were made, during and inspired by the pandemic, Midi was able to bring care to women: a novel option for women who had to find in-person care beforehand.
April 24, 2024: Midi was featured in the DealBook section of The New York Times. Its feature, called “A Big Bet on Menopause Care” was the first to break the news of Midi’s Series B round but also covers the menopause market generally - and why VCs, business and philanthropic organizations, and others are making a “big bet” on menopause care and supporting companies like Midi. (Once you click the link, scroll down to reach Midi’s story.)
April 24, 2024: Midi is the fastest-growing virtual care clinic for women navigating perimenopause and menopause, and its latest round only underscored that fast growth - as well as its ability to fill a gap in the market. Its $60M Series B fundraising round will help the company expand insurance coverage, hire and train 150 clinicians by the end of the year, diversify the services that it offers, scale to care for at least a million women by 2029, and amplify the conversation around women’s health general. The company has now raised $100 million to date; its latest round was led by Emerson Collective and its current investors include GV (Google Ventures), SemperVirens, Felicis, Icon Ventures, Steel Sky Ventures and Avestria, among others.
April 23, 2024: Women focused on menopause meet in this podcast episode. Joanna Strober is the guest on the “Not Your Mother’s Menopause with Dr. Fiona Lovely” podcast. While the episode primarily focused on Midi and menopause, Joanna Strober and Dr. Fiona Lovely also talk about the benefits of telehealth services, patient advocacy, and the silos of the health system that can prevent patients from getting the holistic healthcare that they need.
April 19, 2024: Although Joanna Strober is now most widely known as the CEO and Co-Founder of Midi Health, she has held multiple roles in the past, including as a lawyer. This episode of “What’s Your Story? with Colin Bakker” chronicles her journey - from lawyer to women’s midlife health company CEO - and the lessons she learned, including those around navigating the B2B market, being an entrepreneur who is mission-driven, using AI, and advocating for women’s health in general.
April 17, 2024: Over the past few months, the Biden administration has launched various actions to improve research, development, and funding for women’s health: one of which is a $100 million funding initiative. However, in this article, three women’s health entrepreneurs - including Joanna Strober - argue that funding innovation in women’s health is not enough. They believe that improving women’s health also requires looking at why some women don’t have access to quality healthcare, investing in female leaders, especially those in healthcare, and understanding women’s role as the prominent care-takers in their family. Weighing these factors, among others, they conclude, will improve the lives of women everywhere.
April 15, 2024: Joanna Strober sat down with Forbes for an article about the founding of Midi, the importance of insurance-covered care, and the effect of menopause on women’s productivity in and outside the workplace. Menopause symptoms can prevent a woman from performing her best - and, in this article, Joanna cites how women don’t apply for raises or even think about leaving the workforce because of their symptoms. But finding effective menopause care can also take women out of the workplace as they have to make and attend appointments and try to find a treatment for their symptoms. Midi offers women that medical lifeline, and, as Joanna says in the article, “If you know [menopause symptoms] can be fixed, you’re less likely to feel derailed by [them].”
April 1, 2024: Joanna Strober was the guest on “A Certain Age with Katie Fogarty” podcast to talk about how and why doctors who understand midlife care should be easier to find than they are now - and should be affordable to boot. “A Certain Age” focuses on how women can be fit and fulfilled, healthy and happy in midlife, and Joanna Strober explains how Midi can fill that requirement: helping women find doctors who understand the unique challenges of midlife health, making those visits affordable, and helping women thrive, health-wise.
April 1, 2024: In this episode of “The Heart of Healthcare with Halle Tecco and Steve Kraus”, Joanna Strober takes the stage to talk about women’s midlife health. She shares insights not only from the angle of an entrepreneur but also as a former investor. This 30-minute episode also covers why women don’t contact their OB/GYNs regularly after childbirth, what entrepreneurs should expect from their investment partners, and what traits are needed to help women succeed, regardless of their current title.
March 19, 2024: If a woman is experiencing brain fog, is she experiencing a symptom of menopause or a symptom of a cognitive impairment? Midi’s latest partnership, with Neurotrack, helps women answer that question. Nearly three-fourths of women experience midlife brain fog, and, now, Midi Health clinicians can send Neurotrack’s quick cognitive screening to patients to provide answers - such as whether they might have early dementia or whether they are just experiencing “Menopause Brain” - to provide reassurance, and to help the patient receive the best and most appropriate care.
March 14, 2024: Midi is the first and only perimenopause and menopause care provider to partner with Cleo, which provides family and caregiving support. Cleo, which works with employers, will work with the employees to evaluate and provide services for them and will refer them to Midi for menopause, perimenopause, or midlife health needs when appropriate. Cleo’s services currently reaches about 3.5 million people worldwide.
March 11, 2024: Joanna Strober is the guest on A Seat at the Table podcast; this episode specifically focuses on menopause and the workplace. Missed work, which can include cut hours, due to menopause can cost $1.8B a year, and Midi Health is working with employers and benefits platforms so that those experiencing menopause - or even perimenopause - can receive care and support through their workplace.
February 18, 2024: An estimated 47 million women in the United States are experiencing the effects of perimenopause and menopause, and the global menopause market is now estimated to be around $18 billion. This article features Midi as one of the startups tackling menopause so that women are no longer “suffering in silence” as Joanna Strober puts it. Jennifer Jolly, the author of this article, shares her own experience with Midi as well as three other virtual care clinics focused on menopause and noted that Midi was her favorite out of the four because it works with many major insurance providers, is personalized, and connects patients with healthcare providers who sit with the patient, listen, address concerns, and offer various options.
February 12, 2024: Joanna Strober is the guest o this episode of “Passionate Pioneers with Mike Biselli” and talks about reshaping women’s health through virtual menopause care. One of Midi’s values is to meet women where they are: the care Midi provides is virtual, it is covered by insurance, it focuses on overlooked symptoms of perimenopause and menopause, and it puts the women front and center. As Joanna explains in this podcast episode, the goal of Midi is thus to be a a 20-year partner for women, not just through perimenopause and menopause but for all of her midlife health.
January 23, 2024: “Yes We Can” is a reoccurring series, presented by Cloudflare’s Co-Founder, President, and COO Michelle Zatlyn, and hosting female technology leaders. In the latest episode, Joanna Strober joins Michelle Zatlyn to talk about Midi specifically but also about Joanna’s version of an entrepreneur generally. This interview covers Kurbo, Joanna’s first startup, Kurbo’s s sale to Weight Watches, her role as an investor, and her passion for digital health: one that led her to founding Midi in 2021.
January 19, 2024: This exclusive, published by Business Insider, details Midi is in talks to raise a $60 million in its Series B funding round, fewer than six months after the company announced its closure of a $25M Series A round. This quick turnaround shows not only the potential interest in and perceived bankability of the menopause market but also Midi’s specific value in offering a variety of experts and treatment options for the variety of health conditions that women over 40 may face. Note: membership required for viewing.
January 16, 2024: Midi’s latest partnership is with Ambience Healthcare, which provides AI technology targeted at technicians. Ambience’s tools aim to reduce inefficiencies and alleviate clinician burnout. Through this partnership, Midi’s clinicians specifically have been able to save more than three hours a day on documentation: a time-saving measure that allows those some clinicians to see three additional patients per day and reduce onboarding time by 50%. Midi has also been able to triple the number of clinicians in its network.
December 22, 2023: After many tech companies experienced layoffs in the past calendar year, holiday parties can seem insensitive or simply unappealing. Midi Health is a tech company that is continuing to grow, but, in this article about holiday parties, Joanna Strober still emphasizes that an in-office holiday party might not be on the top of the Midi team’s wish list: instead, they would likely prefer to travel, enjoy some time off, and spend time with their families. Note: membership required for viewing.
December 18, 2023: In this Business Insider article, venture capitalists name 25 different healthcare startups that they believe will take off in 2024. Midi Health made the list for its approach not only to menopause but also to women’s midlife health in general; plus, it offers a range of solutions, including hormonal and non-hormonal, for its members’ unique needs and preferences. Note: membership required for viewing.
December 5, 2023: Silicon Valley Bank (SVB)’s inaugural “Innovation in Women’s Health 2023” puts the spotlight on women’s health: on both its need for funding and R&D and on the founders and companies heading innovations in the space. Midi was featured as one of the largest women’s health-focused deals in 2023, as a company serving women in mid-to-later life, as a notable deal in menopause healthtech, and as a portfolio company of GV (Google Ventures). Antiva Bioscienes, AOA, Axena Health, Madorra, and Mae - five other Avestria portfolio companies - were also mentioned throughout the report.
November 24, 2023: In this interview, Gwyneth Paltrow talked about how she herself is in the middle of perimenopause. She shares not only the treatments that she is pursuing for her symptoms but also the decreasing stigma and increasing education around perimenopause and menopause, In the process, she gave a shoutout to several women’s health startups addressing women’s midlife health, including Evernow, Stripes, and Midi Health.
November 19, 2023: In this segment on offering menopause care, anchor and reporter Scott McGrew interviewed Joanna Strober about how menopause care could be the next women-centric employee benefit. In this segment, she talked about serving the needs of mid-life women in the workforce to address their symptoms and maintain their productivity - and pointed out the double standard. Menopause might be a part of natural aging process but erectile dysfunction can be too and plenty of companies offer treatments for ED. In fact, there is five times more research into erectile dysfunction - which affects 19% of men - than there is into premenstrual syndrome - which affects 90% of women, even before they hit midlife.
November 14, 2023: Joanna Strober is one of the 12 leaders selected to be an Emerson Collective Dial Fellow. The Dial Fellowship is a program that targets “remarkable leaders” and provides them with “new tools to build their movements”. You can hear Joanna Strober talking about her “movement” - the need for healthcare focused in mid-life women, especially around menopause - in this corresponding five minute video.
November 9, 2023: About 4% of workplaces offer menopause benefits to their workforce. However, a survey of HR professionals showed their willingness to offer a menopause benefit in the next five years. For those professionals and the companies they represent, this article offers five tips, including Joanna Strober’s suggestion that employers work with women’s groups or employee resource groups to help break down the stigma around menopause in the workplace and educate women on treatment options.
November 9, 2023: From Oprah to Michelle Obama to Drew Barrymore, celebrities are starting to talk about menopause and, in the process, erase some of the confusion and stigmas around it. Joanna Strober, who is quoted in this article, only agrees that talking about menopause is a benefit: it can allow women to hear of treatments they didn’t know were available for menopause symptoms that they didn’t even know were treatable. Having these conversations, like the ones that celebrities, menopause experts, and entrepreneurs are doing, can help women, especially in mid-life, understand their health journey.
November 7, 2023: As of 2021, 25% of women were over 40 - and yet healthcare for this women has been severely lacking: one in six women, for example, are unaware of any symptoms linked to perimenopause. Midi Health aims to serve this historically overlooked group of women. In this interview with The Health Care Blog, Joanna Strober talks about Midi’s mission to help women in their midlife, the lack of care and acknowledgment that mid-life women have received in the past, and how Midi is teaming up with insurance providers and employers to bring Midi’s services to as many women as possible.
November 2, 2023: “You cannot talk about success for women at work without talking about menopause,” says Joanna Strober in this article about menopause in the workplace. According to one survey, 80% of women cited menopause as a workplace challenge and more than half considered making an employment change because of menopause. And yet, women are often lacking education and resources related to menopause and companies don’t always have flexibility and benefits to support female workers in midlife. Midi Health, as well as Maven and Carrot Fertility, is named as one of the companies that can help employers provide those services and resources.
November 1, 2023: Rachel Sanders of Rootine and Joanna Strober of Midi Health sat down in this episode of the Precision Medicine podcast to talk about all things menopause. Although menopause is offically defined as the year that women stop menstruating, the effect of it goes beyond just that year - and can affect not only women’s bodies (such as their now-increased risk of osteoporosis) but their lives (such as the quality of their sleep). Midi offers a variety of services for women approaching and experience menopause; it even train its nurse practitioner network on protocols for menopause-affected hair, skin, weight, and other symptoms to help women, no matter what symptoms or treatment options they’re seeking.
October 30, 2023: By January 2024, Midi will be available to employers in all 50 states. In other words, through their employers, women across the country will be able to access Midi’s perimenopause, menopause, and midlife-focused services through their employers. Each of their visits to Midi will be billed through their health insurance and won’t cost the employers anything additional.
October 18, 2023: Midi Health announced a partnership with the Houston-based Memorial Hermann Health System. Now, patients who are members of the Memorial Hermann Health System can take advantage of Midi and its services, including its network of nurse practitioners, personalized care plans, and other tools for women experiencing perimenopause and menopause. Those patients can access Midi either through Midi’s website directly or through a referral by a Hermann Health provider.
October 12, 2023: Joanna Strober took the stage at Forbes Most Powerful Women (MPW) 2023 conference. She was joined by fellow Founder/CEO, Kate Ryder of Maven Clinic, and by moderator Maria Aspan of Fortune to talk about menopause in the workplace. While the three cover the often-undiscussed effect of menopause on women at work, they also highlight some of the positives: that women are realizing that their menopause-related symptoms can be alleviated, that men are recognizing the challenges that their wives, partners, and sisters go through during menopause, and that celebrities are talking about menopause to mitigate some of the historically stigma around it.
September 27, 2023: Midi announced a $25M Series A fundraising round led by GV (Google Ventures). This funding will help Midi grow its platform and offerings for mid-life women, especially those who are approaching menopause, are experiencing menopause, or are post-menopausal. Investors including Felicis, Semper Virens, Icon, 25M and Operator Collective also participated in the round. (Note: membership required for viewing. Read the corresponding press release here.)
August 15, 2023: In its mid-year 2023 healthcare report, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) named women’s health as the sector to watch, writing “Now more than ever, it is evident that investment into this space can bring impressive returns for multiple players, including investors, providers and payers.” The report also included a market map of women’s health subsectors that have raised the most amount of funds from venture capital investors since 2015, and Midi was included in the “Platform” subsector. Antiva Biosciences, AOA, Axena Health, Curio, and Madorra - five other Avestria portfolio companies - also made the market map across subsectors.
August 4, 2023: Progyny, which specializes in fertility and family-building solutions, announced that its reproductive health network would now include Gennev and Midi: two providers of specialized menopause care. Through Gennev - which specializes in menopause symptom relief - and Midi - which focuses on women in midlife navigating hormonal transitions - employees and their families who are going through perimenopause and menopause can find information, access to care, and personalized services to keep them healthy and productive.
August 2, 2023: Joanna Strober was honored as one of Forbes’ 50 Over 50. The third annual 50 Over 50 list celebrates 200 total women who are 50 years older or more and who are making an impact in one of four categories: lifestyle, impact, innovation, or investment. Joanna was nominated in the “innovation” category for her work with Midi in improving the health and lives of women in midlife and beyond.
July 17, 2023: Midi was one of the telehealth startups mentioned in this article about the role of telehealth startups filling the gaps in menopause care. According to the article, more than a dozen telehealth companies in the last five have started to service women in and approaching menopause; the ones that it mentions are Alloy, Evernow, Interlude, Midi, Ms. Medicine, Odela, Vira Health, and Winona. Midi’s Chief Medical Officer, Kathleen Jordan, and Chief Brand Officer, Jill Herzig were also quoted about how Midi - and others - are helping to address this “black hole” for menopause treatments.
May 31, 2023: Joanna Strober of Midi Health made Slice of Healthcare’s list of “The Top Founders and Leaders Driving Innovation in Women’s Health in 2023”. This list covers the top 50 entrepreneurs and investors in women’s health, across 10 different categories, including diagnostics and testing, maternal health, and general health and wellness. Oriana Papin-Zoghbi of AOA Dx, Shailja Dixit of Curio Digital Therapeutics, and Neil Ray of Raydant Oximetry are three other Avestria portfolio company CEOs that also made the list.
April 19, 2023: 7wireVentures, which invests in early-stage digital health companies, used this report to focus on the ability of digital health companies to meet and transform the care needs of women. The venture fund breaks out the digital health landscape for women into six main categories - Sexual Health & Wellness, Primary & Holistic Care, Maternal Care, Fertility Care, Condition-Specific Care, and Menopausal Care - and highlights some of the companies innovating in those spaces. Midi received a shoutout for its work in supporting women before, during, and after menopause.
April 11, 2023: This People article covers Oprah’s master class on menopause - but also covers Oprah’s experience with perimenopause and menopause herself. Oprah remembers her trouble sleeping, heart palpitations, and depression before she hit menopause. Dr. Kathleen Journal, Midi’s Chief Medical Officer, was also quoted in this article, saying that symptoms like Oprah’s are normal, but menopause still not always diagnosed or treated correctly, if at all.
April 5, 2023: Jill Herzig, Midi’s Co-Founder and Chief Brand Officer, wrote this menopause cheat-sheet for “Oprah Daily” as part of Oprah’s focus on menopause. In it, Jill covers the ten things that she wished that she knew about menopause, starting with perimenopause: the period leading up to menopause. She offers advice, medications (hormonal and non-hormonal), and the need to keep talking about menopause and keep sharing tips, tricks, and experiences so that women remain educated and empowered while also feeling like they’re not alone.
April 5, 2023: “You cannot outrun, you cannot out-earn, you cannot out-exercise, you cannot outfox the big M,” Oprah says in the teaser video leading up to this interview. She sits down with Drew Barrymore, Maria Shriver, Sharon Malone, MD, and Heather Hirsch, MD - who is a Midi Medical Advisory Board member - to talk about all things menopause and answer questions from audience members. As Oprah says, “One of our missions is to help women build the life you want”, and this interview is just one of the various resources that Oprah and her team have compiled as part of “The Life You Want: Menopause” class. Note: membership required for viewing.
March 29, 2023: One of Operator Collective’s portfolio companies is Midi Health, which it spotlighted in this interview video between Joanna Strober and Pam Kostka, Operator Collective’s Operating Partner. They focus on why there are gaps in care for midlife women, what those gaps are - especially around perimenopause, menopause, and post-menopause - and how Midi is the only virtual care platform for women 40-65.
March 21, 2023: Joanna Strober co-wrote this article for Bloomberg about the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapse - and the misconception that only entrepreneurs who were tech bros had their money in the SVB. This article, - which was also co-written by Joanna’s mother-in-law, Myra Strober, and daughter, Sarah Strober - changes the narrative, telling the stories of female entrepreneurs, women’s health entrepreneurs, and other SVB customers who may not get the same media attention as “tech bros”. Note: membership required for viewing. (Listen to the corresponding interview here.)
March 6, 2023: Joanna Strober was one of the speakers at the American Telemedicine Association (ATA)’s Annual Conference & Expo, taking part ina special series called “ATA2023 Executive Deep-dive: Creating a Culture of Change: Unlocking Strategies for Successful Omnichannel Care Delivery”. This deep-dive brought together senior level executives from companies, health systems, payers, and more to cover what a company needs to be successful, how to evolve and deploy technology appropriately, and how to consider a business from multiple angles, including consumers (patients or members), healthcare providers and clinicians delivering care, and payers.
February 14, 2023: Lifepoint Health® and Midi announce a collaboration to improve care for women. Lifepoint’s healthcare delivery network will allow Midi’s virtual care clinic to reach women looking for specialized care who have been unable to find it. Together, these two companies help improve the accessibility and level of care that patients will receive while mitigating some of the burden placed on women’s health providers who may not have the time, knowledge, or resources to treat women in perimenopause, menopause, and post-menopause.
February 9, 2023: Although every menstruating women experiences menopause, the investment in this sector has been lacking, due to the taboo around talking about menopause socially - and the one about seeing it as a valuable investment financially. This article highlights how menopause is as an estimated $600B spending opportunity, what benefits venture capitalists can see if they invest in menopause specifically and women’s health generally, and what investors and entrepreneurs are already addressing menopause, like Joanna Strober with Midi Health.
February 1, 2023: Midi Health was featured in, and worked behind the scenes to help bring together, this cover story from The New York Time Magazine about menopause: why health professionals are unprepared to treat it, what treatment options have and haven’t been prescribed, and why women have suffered silently for years. A follow-up interview with reporter Susan Dominus was also featured in The New York Times’ The Morning Newsletter, and Susan listed Midi Health as a resource in a thread on Twitter following the publication of the article and the responses that she received for more resources for menopausal women.
December 12, 2022: Midi’s Chief Technology Officer Jaikumar Ramanathan sat down with Stage 4 Solutions to talk about his career path. Though now working at women’s midlife health company, his background has always been in technology: from learning BASIC in high school to choosing Stanford University for his master’s degree to being an early employee at firms like Twitter and LinkedIn to finding a place at Midi Health. Now, Jaikumar offers three pieces of advice to young professionals: become a self-learner, find a group of supportive, like-minded peers, and discover what makes you happy - and see whether you can find a role that helps you find and channel that happiness.
December 4, 2022: “Yes, We Can” is a recurring series that profiles female technology leaders, and the latest episode features Joanna Strober. Joanna is not new to entrepreneurship; she founded Kurbo Health, made venture capital and private equity investments, and even wrote a book about helping mothers thrive in the workplace after having children. In this 30-minute episode with host Michelle Zayltn, though, she focuses on her latest company, Midi Health, and how it is the only virtual care platform for women over 40 that is covered by insurance.
December 1, 2022: Joanna Strober was recognized by Women of Wearables as one of its 200 Trailblazing Leaders in Women’s Health and Femtech. Women of Wearables’ list is composed of “innovators, investors, researchers, entrepreneurs, and advocates who have made their mark in this space in 2022, making it more accessible, inclusive, and ultimately visible” and also includes Avestria co-founder and managing partner, Linda Greub, and Avestria portfolio company AOA Dx.’s co-founder and CEO, Oriana Papin-Zoghbi.
November 29, 2022: In the past few weeks, Michelle Obama has become candid with her own challenges with menopause. Several startups, though, have already seen the opportunity in helping women address these challenges. This article mentions Midi Health, Eleketra Health, and Prospect Farms as well as people like Serena Williams and Brooke Shields, who, like the former First Lady, are also bringing menopause into the spotlight.
November 28, 2022: The USCF Rosenman Institute ADAPT cohort is a group of health technology companies that aim to improve health at the community and/or population level. Every fall, the companies selected have the chance to win $100K in non-dilutive funding and match with ADAPT partners, which include Blue Shield of California, Cigna Healthcare, Evernorth Health Services, OptumLabs, and UnitedHealth Group. This year, the chosen companies, including Midi, also will join the first ever ADAPT Academy to learn about conducting successful pilot studies.
November 21, 2022: When Joanna was 47 and started having trouble sleeping, her doctors recommended that she take potentially-addictive sleeping pills, see a psychiatrist, or just “live with it”. Joanna wasn’t experiencing menopause - but perimenopause: a condition leading up to menopause that many women don’t know exist. In this article, Joanna explains how her personal experiences inspired her to found Midi for women in perimenopause, menopause, and post-menopause so that these women can receive education and care rather than having just to “live with” their symptoms. Note: membership required for viewing.
November 17, 2022: In this episode of the “Health by Heather Hirsch” podcast, host Heather Hirsch was joined by Joanna Strober to talk about all things menopause, including Midi’s goal to have its care covered by insurance. Heather Hirsch herself is not only the founder of the menopause clinic at Brigham and Women’s Hospital but also now the Chief of Clinical Quality at Midi.
November 16, 2022: Joanna Strober was a guest on this episode of “Creating Healthcare: A Podcast Series with Dr. Zeev Neuwirth”. Around 60M women in the U.S.A are in the menopausal age range, and yet, there is still not care that allows them to live their lives uninhibited. In fact, according to one survey, nearly 60% of women have to take time off of work because of their menopause symptoms. In this episode, Dr. Neuwirth and Joanna talk about Joanna’s personal experience as a women in that age range and her subsequent inspiration for Midi, Midi’s care model, and the ways that it can help menopausal women treat their symptoms and improve their quality of life.
October 27, 2022: Midi Health has officially announced its seed raise of $14M that supports its virtual care platform for women in midlife. This Forbes article explains how each member of Midi’s all-female founding team had their own experience with menopause - and their lack of success when it came to finding care - and how they were subsequently inspired to start Midi for women like them. Midi’s funding also comes from female-led investors, including Felicis, SemperVirens, Emerson Collective, and Avestria.
October 17, 2022: Midi was highlighted in this Business Insider article about 35 of the most promising femtech startups, according to VCs for its focus on women’s midlife health, especially perimenopause, menopause, and post-menopause. Avestria portfolio companies AOA Dx, Curio, Mae, and Raydiant Oximetry were also included in this article. Note: membership required for viewing.
July 6, 2022: Despite the ubiquity of menopause, it is often a period of women’s life that is filled with questions, changes, and unanswered questions. This article answers nine questions about menopause, including what causes it, what symptoms women should look for, and how they can find support through resources and services like the ones Midi offers.
June 14, 2022: A recent Headspace report found that 30% of employees feels like work harms their mental health. This Fast Company article offers tools that companies, no matter their size, can offer to their employees to help promote mental wellness. Platforms like Maven Clinic (for fertility and family planning support), Cleo (for parenting and caregiving support) and Midi Health (for menopause and midlife care) ae also included in this list because they address issues, such as fertility and menopause, that can have a detrimental effect on women’s mental health.
June 1, 2022: Prior to founding and leading Midi, Joanna Strober co-authored a book titled “Getting to 50/50: How Working Parents Can Have It All.” As a working mother and a high-powered executive, she was quoted in this press release for the launch of Laddrr: a platform to help ten million moms across the globe advance their careers. She lauded Laddrr’s holistic focus on supporting women throughout their entire parenthood journey in order to keep women from falling off the corporate ladder and to allow them to continue advancing their careers.
May 23, 2022: This article, from Shondaland’s Women’s Health series, chronicles the different changes - and subsequent steps and check-ins - that women should take in order to keep themselves healthy throughout their lives. One of the health changes included in this article is hormonal health, and includes quotations and tips from Dr. Kathleen Jordan, the Chief Clinical Officer at Midi Health.
May 10, 2022: When Joanna Strober first appeared on the “Subscription Stories” podcast, she was its very first guest and was talking about her company, Kurbo. Now, although she’s talking about Midi, her latest company, in this episode, the theme remains the same: that of forever transactions in healthcare or, in other words, of attracting, engaging, and retaining customers by making them a promise to solve an ongoing problem or achieving an ongoing goal, as Midi is trying to do with women at midlife.
May 2, 2022: In this Medium blog post, Joanna Strober, CEO and Co-Founder of Midi Health, wrote about why she started Midi Health. Her own health experiences changed when she hit 45 years old and she hit perimenopause - but didn’t even know what perimenopause was. Currently, 80% of women with menopause transition-related symptoms will have their daily life affected, 75% of women who seek out care for menopause issues don’t get any effective treatment, and women with untreated menopause symptoms cost cost payers $2,000 more per year per woman. Her personal experiences and the opportunity to provide education and care to a population that has typically lacked it motivated her to found Midi: a company meant to serve the personalized needs of women from 40 to 65.
May 2, 2022: Midi was selected as a finalist in the American Telemedicine Association (ATA)’s 2022 Telehealth Innovators Challenge. The nine finalists were chosen for their innovative, digital health solutions to help improve access to care and health outcomes. Finalists were chosen prior to the ATA 2022 Annual Conference & Expo and had a chance to pitch onstage during the three-day event, which is the world’s largest telehealth innovation event.
April 5, 2022: This three-minute video gives an overview of hormone-based changes and Midi’s solution. In midlife, women may start to experience changes, such as brain fog and sleeplessness, that are due to their changes in hormones. Midi’s offerings, which include lifestyle changes, prescriptions, and supplements, can help reduce these adverse physical and mental effects of these hormone-based changes.
March 16, 2022: As part of the HR Transform 2022 Innovative Showcase, Joanna Strober gave this eight-minute pitch on Midi: the problem it is solving and the solutions that it is offering. Since HR Transform is targeted towards people leaders, Midi’s pitch also included the benefits that employers would see if they started offering Midi, including an engaged and present workforce of midlife women without lost costs or productivity.
June 17, 2021: As the number of women aged 55-64 in the workplace continues to increase, the impact of menopause in the workplace will grow as well. Globally, menopause-related productivity losses can amount to more than $150 billion a year, and this article covers how some companies are beginning to talk about menopause, what policies are in place, and how women can advocate for themselves.
October 26, 2020: According to data from PitchBook, only 5% of femtech startups address menopause, and those companies have collectively received only $254M in funding since 2009. As a result of this gap in funding, efforts to educate women about menopause - as well as research, understand, and support innovation in menopause - have lagged, despite the fact that an estimated 1.1B women around the world will be postmenopausal by 2025.
July 31, 2020: One of Midi’s goals is to help menopausal women who are experiencing key stressors, including brain fog, metabolic changes, and hot flashes. The global hot flashes market was $10.26B in 2019 and is expected to reach almost $19B by 2027: a growth that represents - among other factors - the increasing number of women reaching menopause, healthcare costs associated with hot flashes, and the demand for women’s health products and treatments.