Actress Emma Watson has made a previously undisclosed investment into the women’s health company Hertility, bringing its total funding to more than $14 million, the company told TechCrunch in an interview on Monday.
Watson is known for her interest in the environment and supporting women-led initiatives. She is a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador and helped launch the HeforShe campaign, which promotes gender equality.
Dr Helen O’Neill, the CEO and co-founder of Hertility, said she met Watson through one of her investors who felt that the actress’s stance on women’s rights would make her a natural fit as an investor.
“Hertility was founded by women and focuses on women’s health — an area that historically hasn’t received enough attention or funding,” O’Neill told TechCrunch. “By investing in a female-founded company that aims to revolutionize women’s healthcare, Watson contributes to empowering women in both business and health.”
O’Neill co-founded the company alongside ovarian biologist Dr. Natalie Getreu and her twin sister, corporate lawyer Deidre O’Neill, to help innovate in tools used to research women’s reproductive health. The result was Hertility, which seeks to provide more personalized testing and services, including diagnostic testing, egg freezing, and telemedicine, to women through their reproductive journeys. The company is based in the U.K., where Helen says women are not getting the care they deserve.
“Over 600,000 women in the UK are waiting for a gynecology appointment,” she said, for example.
There are massive waiting times for healthcare services in the U.K., leaving many people to seek out private medicine as a result. In addition, there is already a massive gap in the women’s health market in the U.K., according to a recent Deloitte study. It found that out-of-pocket health costs for women with jobs are $15 billion greater than that for their male counterparts, and suggested that this could be a “pink tax” that women pay since many seek out treatments that are not historically readily available. The study found specifically that women are spending 250% more than men on reproductive health, but even the average man is spending more than £1,000 a year, showing the impact that reproductive health has on overall family planning and spending.
It’s no wonder, then, that there has been a massive push both in the U.S. and the U.K. to make women’s health more accessible and affordable to the average person so that family planning can be less of a shrouded hassle.
In the U.K., other companies in the space include Fertifa, Apricity, and Vira Health. TechCrunch previously reported that a 2023 report by Silicon Valley Bank found a 314% increase in venture dollars flowing to women’s health companies since 2018. Even the British National Health Service is making the case for more innovation, reporting that one pound per woman invested in obstetrics and gynecology could generate £319 million for the economy.
O’Neill didn’t particularly want to be a founder but “being a scientist means you have endless curiosity and a desire to solve some of life’s biggest questions,” she said. Her background is in reproductive and molecular genetics and she received a Masters in Prenatal Genetics and Fetal Medicine, as well as a PhD in Stem Cell Biology from the University of College London.
She said there is an overlap between being a researcher and a founder: she is seeking out hypotheses and funding to try and find solutions. There are barriers when it comes to academic research and finding funding for projects can take time.
O’Neill isn’t the only researcher who has taken the founder route. TechCrunch previously wrote about the academics who are turning to entrepreneurship to better fund their findings and share their research. “Becoming a founder meant the scale of my research could be propelled to a new level and reach the hands of those who need it much faster,” she said.
The company, which launched in 2019, counts Local Globe and the Sequoia Scout Fund among its other investors. The company’s last official round was community-led and closed last summer with more than 1,000 individual investors, O’Neill said, raising around $7.5 million. Next, Hertility has its eyes on expansion. It’s partnered with beauty brands like Cult Beauty and provides education sessions to companies like Channel 4 and Edelman. The goal is to get women in the driver’s seat, O’Neill said.
“It’s all about getting as many women as possible talking about their hormones and fertility and meeting them where they’re at to change behavior globally.”