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Digital health app expands service for female employees
Digital health platform Peppy has launched an expansion of its women’s digital health service to mirror the service the company already offers for men.
Peppy is a digital health app that works with organisations across the private and public sectors to give their employees access to remote, specialist support, including in some of the most underserved areas of health.
The service connects employees to medical experts, offering video call appointments, wellbeing programmes and live events and is usually provided by the employer to help their staff remain healthy and solve specific health issues such as fertility, early parenthood and menopause.
Following Series A funding round, Peppy secured £6.6m. It now provides digital health support for over 250 employers including Santander, BNP Paribas, Cap Gemini and Novartis, and via PMI providers Vitality and AXA Health. Overall it supports over a million employees across its existing services, including menopause, fertility, pregnancy, new parenthood and men’s health.
The launch of further support for female employees is in direct response to current clients asking for a fuller health service for women.
The new service expands on the existing provision to now encompass more areas, including gynaecology, contraception, common conditions such as endometriosis, breast care, UTIs, PMS, sex, nutrition, exercise, mental health, addiction and relationships.
Human-led, digital health enables employers to support all their employees equally and consistently, with expert personalised support, and has enabled Peppy to support so many in a relatively short space of time.
“Technology has really helped democratise this type of human-led support, making it much easier for more employers to offer it, which is important as all female employees should be able to access the support they need, when they need it,” says Dr Mridula Pore, founder and CEO of Peppy .
The company believes that broadening the range of support available is not just about reducing the negatives for employers, such as lessening the impact of staff absences. By offering a holistic women’s health service, employers are making a positive statement that they want to attract, retain and engage with female employees and that they recognise there are many factors that can impair a woman’s ability to bring her best self into the workplace.
The founder emphasises that: “Standard healthcare ignores the physical and emotional issues that many women experience. From our research, we found 85 per cent of women experiencing at least four conditions during their working life that are currently underserved by standard healthcare services. Ultimately, this impacts their wellbeing as well as their employers’ bottom line.
“The female body goes through several specific phases and stages, but we recognise that support is not only needed at these physiological change points in a women’s life,” she adds.
“Support could be required at any time during an employee’s working life and therefore having workplace support available that is easily accessible, devoid of any wait time is what’s really needed and this speaks volumes about how much an employer values its staff.”
“We all understand that the NHS has been under huge pressure, particularly over the past two years, but this means that so many women cannot currently access the services and support that they require, and in some cases, desperately need. That is why we are launching this expansion to help female employees and in turn, improve outcomes for employers too, by improving retention, engagement and attraction of women in the workplace.”
For more information, visit peppy.health.
The Femtech World Awards is proud to reveal the shortlist for Research Project of the Year as part of the third annual global celebration of innovation, impact and leadership across women’s health.
From fertility science and perimenopause research to regional ecosystem analysis, the shortlisted projects reflect the breadth and growing influence of femtech research worldwide.
The category is sponsored by OncoGenomX, with the winner to be selected by a representative from the organisation.
OncoGenomX is dedicated to offering solutions and providing comprehensive support services that empower Drug Developers, Clinical Researchers, Oncologists,NextGenSeq Diagnostics Laboratories, NextGenSeq Service Organisations, Cancer Diagnostics and Therapeutics Companies to achieve their ambitious goals
The shortlisted entries for Research Project of the Year are:
Women’s health remains significantly underserved in South-East Asia, with persistent gaps in access, awareness, and quality of care carrying substantial social and economic costs.
This report examines the femtech landscape in Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, highlighting market trends, emerging technologies including artificial intelligence, and the evolving support ecosystem.
It identifies key challenges facing femtech founders, including limited access to finance, low awareness and persistent stigma, marketing constraints linked to content moderation, and gaps in tailored ecosystem support.
Led by Stephanie Willson, MD, of the IVI RMA Global Research Alliance, the study explored whether embryos that show certain chromosome abnormalities during genetic testing may still have the potential to result in a healthy pregnancy and live birth.
The research analysed more than 7,600 frozen embryo transfers and found that some embryos previously considered unlikely to succeed were still capable of leading to successful pregnancies, although at lower rates than embryos without abnormalities.
The findings could help fertility clinics and patients make more informed decisions during IVF treatment, particularly in cases where there are limited embryos available.
Rather than automatically discarding these embryos, the research supports a more evidence-based and personalised approach to fertility care.
For many women, perimenopause can feel confusing and unpredictable, with limited research explaining what is happening in their bodies.
Natural Cycles set out to change that by leading one of the largest studies ever conducted on menstrual and ovulatory patterns, uncovering new insights into how ovulation behaves as women approach menopause.
Conducted in collaboration with researchers from George Washington University, Seattle Clinical Research Center, Gennev and the University of California San Diego, the study analysed nearly one million menstrual cycles from more than 197,000 women aged 18–52 across more than 140 countries.
The scale of this dataset made it possible to explore menstrual patterns and ovulation in far greater detail than has traditionally been possible in women’s health research.
The Femtech World Awards celebrates the innovators, researchers and organisations driving meaningful progress in women’s health.
What happens next
Winners across all categories will be revealed during the virtual ceremony on June 19, with winners receiving a trophy and an interview with a Femtech World journalist.
Women over 40 are seeking raves for mental and physical wellbeing, with a study suggesting the benefits go beyond nightlife.
The findings challenge the idea that nightlife and electronic dance music events are mainly for younger people.
Published in Psychology of Music, the study focused on the common misconception that nightlife is only for younger audiences.
Researchers surveyed 136 female clubbers aged 40 to 65 about their experiences at electronic dance music events.
The study, carried out at the University of Leeds in England, found women reported mental and physical wellbeing benefits from attending these events.
Seeing favourite DJs was the most common motivation, but many women also described dancing as a way to relieve stress and find emotional support.
The research found that 65.9 per cent of participants described attending a rave as “spiritual”, while 62.9 per cent said it offered an escape from everyday life.
A further 58.3 per cent said they felt like a different version of themselves in a club environment.
Nine in ten participants said they felt at home at electronic dance music events, with many pointing to a shared passion for music and the sense of community around it.
The study also suggested physical fitness played a role, with some women saying they had made clubbing part of their regular exercise routine.
However, the findings also highlighted challenges for older women in nightlife spaces.
One fifth of participants said they felt visibly out of place because of their age.
Nearly half reported unwanted physical contact, leading some to seek out different venues or attend only with friends.
Osteoporosis may raise the risk of death in postmenopausal women by up to 47 per cent, a new study suggests.
The findings point to an inverse relationship between femoral bone mineral density and mortality risk, especially within certain ranges.
Femoral bone mineral density is the amount of mineral in the thigh bone, which is often measured to assess bone strength and osteoporosis risk.
Dr Monica Christmas is associate medical director for The Menopause Society.
She said: “Osteoporosis often remains a silent threat after menopause, despite its profound effect on women’s lives—from loss of height, poor balance, and reduced mobility to disfigurement, pain, and even premature death.
“Early screening and preventive measures, including a calcium-rich diet (preferably from food sources), regular weight-bearing exercise, and hormone therapy when appropriate, can significantly improve bone health and reduce risks not only of fractures but also cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, and dementia.
“It’s time we bring this conversation to the forefront.”
In the study involving nearly 3,000 postmenopausal women, bone mineral density at four femoral sites was assessed using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, a scan commonly used to measure bone strength and fracture risk.
The analysis found that mortality risk was significantly higher when femoral bone mineral density reached the osteoporotic threshold or when osteoporotic fractures were present.
After full adjustment, osteoporosis was associated with a 47 per cent increased risk of mortality.
A stronger inverse association between increased bone mineral density and mortality risk was seen within specific ranges, suggesting bone mineral density could serve as a prognostic marker of wider health.
The relationship appeared especially notable within the range of 0.46 to 0.71 g/cm² for total femur bone mineral density.
Previous research has shown that postmenopausal women face a significantly higher risk of death within one year of hip or vertebral fractures.
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