Women’s Health Fund IV
Portfolia Women’s Health Fund IV is investing in innovations at the intersection of science, technology, and female biology. From fertility and menopause to cardiovascular health, diagnostics, mental health, and longevity, this fund backs category-defining solutions addressing the full spectrum of women’s health needs.
An Unprecedented Market. An Unmatched Opportunity.
The women’s health market is a $1 trillion+ global opportunity—yet remains dramatically underfunded. From fertility to menopause to mental health, women deserve innovation. Shape the next era of care in fertility, diagnostics, menopause, mental health, longevity—and beyond.
-
FemTech Fund I, vintage 2018, is currently achieving a Projected Multiple (TVPI) of 2.43X and a Projected IRR of 19.06%
FemTech Fund II, vintage 2020, is currently achieving a Projected Multiple (TVPI) of 2.49X and a Projected IRR of 25.92%
-
Portfolia is the recognized leader in the women's health sector and the most active investor globally in women’s health with 44 women’s health companies in its portfolio and has invested in 66 healthcare companies across all Portfolia funds.
From seed investments in early-stage, pre-revenue moonshot companies like Lighthouse Therapeutics and YourChoice, to fast scaling brand name companies like Madison Reed and Apollo Neuro, and unicorns Everly Health and Maven Clinic.
The current portfolio of women’s health companies is strong, innovative, and scaling. Building on history, reputation and momentum, Portfolia commands a robust pipeline with unique deal flow and singular expertise in the marketplace, translating into growing opportunities in women's health and longevity, across all stages.
Portfolia investments include:
Maven Clinic – $1.7B global virtual clinic for women
Everly Health – $3B+ diagnostics-driven care through at-home lab tests
Mirvie – RNA platform for early detection of preeclampsia
Lighthouse Pharma – Breakthrough solutions for Dementia/Alzheimers
Frontier Bio – Developing lab-grown human tissue
Mercy Bioanalytics – Blood test for early detection of ovarian cancer
Bone Health – The first FDA approved solution for osteopenia
YourChoice – First non-hormonal male birth control pill
Hera Biotech – Non-invasive diagnostic for endometriosis and cervical cancer
Gameto – Breakthrough cell engineering targeting infertility and menopause
-
Women’s Health Fund Portfolia Partners are selected to join a fund because of their expertise and investment history in the relevant space, deep networks of co-investors and entrepreneurs, and their ability to add value to portfolio companies over the life of the investment. Fund Partners are best-in-class investors, with an average of 15+ years of investing experience.
Women’s Health IV Fund Partners:
Trish Costello - Managing Director
Nola Elizabeth Masterson, MSc. (FemTech I, II & III)
Faz K. Bashi, MD (FemTech I, II & III)
Jennifer Fried, M.B.A (FemTech I, II & III)
Sonia Arrison (Active Aging I, II)
Delphine O’Rourke, JD (FemTech III)
Lauri Kien Kotcher (FemTech II & III)
Fund Partners are geographically located in every major innovation hub in the US. In addition, 95% of Lead Partners are women and 44% are BIPOC or first-generation immigrants.
-
Portfolia Women’s Health Fund IV is the next evolution in its proven, category-defining investment strategy backing high-growth, high-impact innovations that are transforming the health and wellness of women across every stage of life.
Building on five successful prior funds in FemTech and Active Aging, Fund IV will invest in the most promising early to growth-stage companies at the intersection of science, technology, and female biology.
Women make up half the population, control 80% of healthcare decisions, and account for over $15 trillion in global spending power, yet only 2% of venture funding in healthcare goes toward solutions built for their unique needs. Portfolia is here to change that.
-
Over 2,000 limited partners who are founders, visionaries and influencers from the US and globally
Portfolia has vast and deep networks within venture capital and the entrepreneurial ecosystem that enable co-investment opportunities with the most successful venture capital funds in the world, including Sequoia, Oak, Index, Icon, Lower Case, Baseline, True Ventures, Ulu Ventures, ReThink Impact, Mac Ventures, Radicle Impact, Uncorked VC, Aspect, and Kapor Capital, as well as noted angel groups and funds such as Stanford Angels, Life Science Angels, Astia Angels, Golden Seeds, Pipeline, Sand Hill Angels, and NextAct Fund.
-
Portfolia provides the back office, structure and limited partner support so the world's top VCs can focus on investing.
Portfolia's 46 partners across 14 funds lead the industry's best practice, and provide an expert investing network across industry
Portfolia's 2,000 limited partner executive, across 48 states and 20 countries, provide unparalleled knowledge, networks, and expertise.
PORTFOLIA COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Portfolia provides the back office, structure and limited partner support so the world's top VCs can focus on investing, across 14 funds and 14 special purpose vehicle investments.
Portfolia Partners: Its 46 partners across 14 funds lead the venture capital industry's best practice, and provide an expert investing network across industry.
Portfolia Members: Portfolia's 2,000 limited partner executives, across 48 states and 20 countries, provide unparalleled knowledge, networks, and expertise.
Portfolia Model: Portfolia’s proven model — activating the world’s best women venture capitalists in a special partnership to unleash the capital of sophisticated women and minority limited partners, to back the companies we want in the world for returns and impact — shows that exceptional returns can come from radically different models of investing.
Portfolia Investing Experience: Portfolia is based on the knowledge that bringing sophisticated women to the investing table, as members in a transparent and educational investing experience, makes our investing better, our companies stronger and builds a emerging investing ecosystem for the future.
OUR FIRST INVESTMENT
From egg freezing and IVF, to ovarian disease and menopause. Gameto is a first-of-its-kind biotechnology company on a mission to address significant unmet needs for women and families throughout their reproductive years — and beyond. Transforming reproductive health using modern science Gameto’s groundbreaking cell engineering platform has the potential to solve many of the problems at the heart of the global infertility crisis. The first application of our technology, Fertilo, aims to improve the current IVF and egg freezing landscape using engineered ovarian support cells.
Gameto is making significant strides in women's health technology, particularly in fertility treatments.
Gameto recently closed a $33 million Series B funding round, bringing their total capital raised to $73 million.
Gameto's lead program, Fertilo, utilizes cell engineering to develop an in vitro maturation (IVM) solution aimed at making the IVF and egg-freezing process faster, safer, and more effective.
Fertilo, received tentative approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to proceed to Phase 3 trials, this marks a significant step towards potential commercialization in the US.
Fertilo is already being used clinically in Australia and Latin America.
Portfolia Member Investor?
Portfolia Member Investors can directly access the
investment documents via the Member Access portal:
FUND PERFORMANCE
Portfolia is the most active investor in women's health in the US, with 60+ investments in fast-growth women’s health companies, from seed stage to pre-IPO. Investments include early-stage companies like Bone Health (osteopenia) and Your Choice (the first male birth control pill) to fast scaling brand-name companies, like unicorns Everly Health and Maven Clinic. The Portfolia Women’s Health Fund IV builds on Portfolia’s global brand in women's health, optimizing returns and enhancing the health and wellness of women globally.
This success is not tied to a single outlier but reflects our ability to identify untapped talent, underrepresented founders, and overlooked markets, creating real, sustainable value. These performance metrics speak to the power of investing in companies driving both exceptional financial results and meaningful impact.
WOMEN’S HEALTH FUND I, II, & III PORTFOLIO
This remarkable success stems not from a single company but reflects the strength and execution of a well-founded thesis. The Rising America Fund III plans to continue supporting top early and growth-stage companies by investing in a sector and stage-agnostic manner.
Company Highlights
MAVEN
-
Access to care, the largest virtual clinic for women and families.
EVERLY HEALTH
-
Diagnostics-driven care through at-home lab tests.
SIREN
-
Smart socks to detect and prevent diabetic foot ulcers.
FRONTIER BIO
-
Develops lab-grown human tissues.
OSTEOBOOST
-
Reduces bone loss in postmenopausal women with osteopenia.
YOURCHOICE
-
First non-hormonal male birth control pill.
HERA BIOTECH
-
Non-invasive Dx solutions for endometriosis and cervical cancer.
MERCY BIOANALYTICS
-
Blood test for early detection of ovarian cancer.
MIRVIE
-
RNA platform for early detection of preeclampsia.
GAMETO
-
Breakthrough cell engineering targeting infertility and menopause.
THE PARTNERS
Led by Experts in Women’s Health and Venture Capital. Backed by decades of experience, our fund advisors source and vet opportunities with scientific rigor and strategic vision. Portfolia Partners are selected to join a fund because of their expertise and investment history in the relevant space, deep networks of co-investors and entrepreneurs, and their ability to add value to portfolio companies over the life of the investment. Fund Partners are best-in-class investors, with an average of 15+ years of investing experience.
-
Ms. Costello is a Silicon Valley-based entrepreneur and investor. She is the Founder and CEO of Portfolia Inc. and Managing Director of Portfolia Funds. She was recognized by Springboard Enterprises and the New York Stock Exchange as the Springboard Investor of the Year in 2022. She was named in the 2020 Inaugural Top 100 Most Innovative Women Leaders by Entrepreneur Magazine, and Portfolia was recognized as one of the ten most innovative FinTech Companies in 2020 by Inc Magazine. She is recognized internationally for her pioneering work in educating and preparing venture capital investment partners, through the prestigious Kauffman Fellows Program.
-
Associate Director - FemTech I, II & III
Nola is a biotech industry leader and forward thinker with more than 45 years of business experience in the life sciences industry and in venture capital investment. She founded Science Futures, Inc. in 1982 and as an analyst and consultant communicated the power that was to be found in the new field of biotechnology. Masterson was the first biotech Analyst on Wall Street working for Drexel Burnham Lambert and Merrill Lynch.
Ms. Masterson worked with prominent venture funds. She has served as a Consultant at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Oak Investments and IVP to create companies such as IDEC, Resound, and lnSite Vision. Ms. Masterson serves as Managing Director of Science Futures Management Company, LLC and also works as an advisor, board member and investor. She has served as a Special advisor to the Board of Directors at Nativis, Inc, and is a current investor.
-
Associate Director - FemTech I, II & III
Faz has a research background in Immunology and Virology from UCSF. He is an active member of Life Science Angels in Silicon Valley and an Emeritus Board Member of the Angel Capital Association (ACA) where he continues to Chair the ACA's Life Sciences Syndication group. He is active with UCSF's Entrepreneurship Startup 101 and Lean Launchpad, and serves on the external advisory board member for UCSF's Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) and Johns Hopkins' Center for BioEngineering and Design (CBID). He mentors women entrepreneur leaders for both csweetener.org and the Springboard Enterprises (www.sb.co) Life Sciences Council.
-
Associate Director - FemTech I, II & III
Jennifer is the CEO and Co-Founder of ExplORer Surgical, which she co-founded as an MBA student at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, with head-and-neck surgeon & OR efficiency researcher Dr. Alex Langerman.
At Booth, Jennifer received her degree with honors in Finance and Entrepreneurship. Previously, Jennifer was a Vice President at Park Lane Ventures, a healthcare-focused venture capital fund spun out of Essex Woodlands. For over two years, she was the only non-managing director as part of a four-person investor team led by three of the most experienced healthcare venture capitalists in the industry, each of whom have been practicing early stage venture capital investing for over two decades.
-
Associate Director – Active Aging I, II
Sonia Arrison is an entrepreneur, investor, and best-selling author. She is founder of 100 Plus Capital, Chair of the Alliance for Longevity Initiatives, and advisor to Felicis Ventures where she focuses on the convergence of biology and technology.
Previously, she was co-founder of Unsugarcoat Media (acquired by Medium), board member at the Thiel Foundation, an associate founder of Singularity University, a director and Senior Fellow in Tech Studies at the Pacific Research Institute, board member at Woodland School, and a weekly columnist at TechNewsWorld.
Sonia has always been interested in exponentially growing technologies and their impact on society. Her most recent book, 100 Plus: How the Coming Age of Longevity Will Change Everything, From Careers and Relationships to Family and Faith, addresses the social, economic, and cultural impacts of radical human longevity. It gained national best-seller status and still keeps Sonia busy speaking all over the world.
Sonia is currently a Board Member at the Foresight Institute and The Alliance for Longevity Initiatives. She is a Senior Fellow at the Fraser Institute in Vancouver, British Columbia, author of two previous books (Western Visions and Digital Dialog), and author of many papers on technology and public policy.
-
Associate Director – FemTech III
Delphine O’Rourke is a trailblazing healthcare lawyer and strategist dedicated to advancing women’s health innovation.
With over 20 years of legal leadership—from in-house counsel at a major health system to founding her own firms—she combines deep regulatory expertise with business acumen and investment insight. Her current roles include VC investing, board leadership, teaching, and global advocacy for women’s health.
-
Associate Director - FemTech II & III
Lauri's career has been focused on her passion for building consumer brands that people fall in love with and driving outsized growth, from a variety of vantage points as a C-suite executive, board member and investor and at levels of scale from startup to multi billion dollar revenue companies.
Lauri Kien Kotcher was most recently the CEO of hello products, a naturally friendly™ personal care company that has become recognized as an industry game-changer since Lauri joined in 2015. Hello was the only CPG company named as one of the Inc. Best Workplaces in 2019 and was acquired by Colgate in 2020.
Lauri's prior roles include being a Senior Advisor on the LCatterton Operating Partner team, 10 years as a senior line marketer including serving as CMO of Godiva and Head of Global Brands at Pfizer Consumer Healthcare. Prior to that, Lauri was a partner at McKinsey and Company and a co-leader of the consumer/consumer healthcare sector across her 15 year tenure.
INVESTMENT DETAILS
Women’s Health Fund companies span across the US, from pre-seed to pre-IPO investment stage, with seed and series A representing the majority of its investments.
The portfolio has a balanced multi-industry focus. Healthcare represents its strongest focus, but with signficant investments in fintech, media, edtech, consumer, beauty and enterprise.
Investments in women’s health is a $1 trillion opportunity.
2024 is on pace to become a top three funding year for the women's health sector.
$435M Investments in non-fertility startups in 2023
This single quarter record shows a heartening shift in the long-held misconception that fertility and pregnancy are the sole focus of women’s health.
76% Of women’s health companies have a female founder
Women’s Health In The News
A WOMEN’S HEALTH FUND SUCCESS STORY
Maven is dedicated to closing gaps in care for women and families, prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion. They offer culturally competent care with specialists representing diverse backgrounds and speaking over 35 languages. They also actively invest in community-based organizations led by women working to improve health outcomes in their communities.
Maven Clinic becomes the first U.S. 'unicorn' dedicated to women's and family health, and Kate and Maven are just hitting their stride.
Maven Clinic is the largest virtual clinic dedicated to women's and family health.
Maven Clinic becomes the first U.S. 'unicorn' dedicated to women's and family health.
Maven partners with 2,000+ employers and health plans in 175+ countries to improve outcomes and promote benefits equity.
Founded by Kate Ryder in 2014, Maven has raised over $425M and is valued at $1.7 Billion following its Series F round in 2024.
An Unprecedented Market.
An Unmatched Opportunity.
This is the fourth fund in Portfolia’s successful Women’s Health Series. With three previous funds already deployed, Portfolia has become the most active investor in women’s health globally.
This next chapter builds on that momentum—offering early-stage access to the companies defining the future of care, aging, and wellness.
INVESTING THESIS:
A $1 TRILLION INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY
Traditionally, women’s health investment and research has been woefully underfunded. This is rapidly changing, and Portfolia is leading the way. Less than 2% of federal medical research had been invested in women’s health and until quite recently, women were systematically left out of research protocols. Today an additional $1 Billion has been committed to women’s health research opening up new innovations and opportunities for investment.
Venture capitalists are the ones that ‘greenlight’ and fund the latest healthcare technologies post research, but because women make up only 2% of VC investing partners, women’s health investments were rarely understood or appreciated for potential returns or impact. Portfolia has changed this dynamic, aggregating tens of millions of dollars of women’s investment capital and focusing our dollars and expertise in the growth and success of these companies.
The result is outsized financial returns for women and better health and wellness for ourselves, our children, and generations to come. Investing is where change happens.
Our Focus Areas
Portfolia goes beyond, the obvious investments in menstrual care, fertility solutions and pregnancy care have received the most significant investments, into all facets of women's health and wellness at every stage of life. Portfolia will consider companies in the following areas, but not limited to:
Women-specific Conditions: Contraception, Fertility, Maternal Health, Menopause, Gynecology & Women’s Oncology
Conditions that Affect Women Differently: Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Alzheimer’s Disease
Conditions that Affect Women Disproportionally: Autoimmune Disease, Osteoporosis, Anxiety and Depression, Lung Cancer, Eating Disorders
Conditions Characterized by Gender-based Discrepancies in care: Pain Management, Behavioral Health, Addiction
Racial disparities and inequities in women's health: Conditions that affect women of color differently, access to care, quality of care, lack of culturally competent care providers, systemic racism
Women’s Health Fund Previous Investments
