The founder of $1.7 billion startup Maven says women’s health is still undervalued

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- Early innings. "The market's down on digital health right now," says Kate Ryder, the founder and CEO of Maven, the women's and family health platform. You wouldn't know that to look at her company, which yesterday announced a $125 million Series F round led by StepStone Group that values the business at $1.7 billion.

Maven first became a unicorn in 2021—the first in the women's health category—and last raised $90 million in late 2022, with more than $425 million raised in total over the past decade. Returning investors in this fundraise included Lux Capital, General Catalyst, and Sequoia. Investor interest in the startup, Ryder says, ties back to a theme: While digital health may be seen as saturated, women's and family health has more room to grow.

"Women's and family health is such a unique category because there's been so little built," she says. "No one was doing anything in menopause before, no one was doing anything in postpartum care, no one was doing anything in miscarriage or surrogacy or even elements of fertility and pre-conception care."

Maven offers care through its virtual clinic, mainly through selling to employers and health plans. Its more than 2,000 customers include Amazon, AT&T, and Microsoft.

With this capital, Ryder plans to invest in Maven's fertility benefits administration platform.

A decade since its founding, Maven's IPO is eagerly anticipated—especially by others in the digital and women's health spaces who are eager for an example to point to beyond current comparisons in the public markets.

"Going public doesn't look fun right now," Ryder says. "An IPO is something we anticipate in the future, but we're not filing anytime soon. We're really excited to stay private a little bit longer and take risk in building all these products."

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com

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