Close the Gap: How Founders are Advancing Women's Health
We don’t need more awareness of the gender health gap — we need solutions.
This Upstream side event brings together founders, investors, and clinicians already building them. From underdiagnosed conditions to overlooked life stages, this is a space to explore how women’s healthcare is becoming more accurate, more equitable, and more accessible — in practice, not just in theory.
The session opens with a 45-minute panel discussion, followed by topic-focused roundtables where participants can go deeper on the gaps that matter most to them.
Designed for a cross-sector audience — from investors and corporates to clinicians and researchers — the format is built for real exchange, not just listening.
Format & Schedule — Wednesday, May 20
09:30 – 09:45
Welcome + Breakfast
09:45 – 10:30
Panel: Real Solutions for the Women’s Health Gap
10:30 – 11:15
Topic Roundtables
11:15 – 11:30
Closing + Networking
Breakfast will be served as a buffet during the session.
If you have any dietary requirements, please indicate them when registering. We will submit all requirements 1.5 weeks prior to the event. If you register closer to the date, please email [email protected].
Speakers
Laura Okafor
Founder & CEO, Perry
Perimenopause Platform
Laura built Perry into a perimenopause platform with over 150,000 users, addressing a stage of women’s health that has long been overlooked — both in healthcare systems and medical education. With most doctors receiving fewer than two hours of menopause training, Perry is working to close the knowledge gap for both women and the clinicians who support them.
Bart van Diepenbeek
Co-Founder & CEO, Saturn Pelvic Health
Personalised Pelvic Care Solutions
Bart co-founded Saturn Pelvic Health to address one of the most underdiagnosed and undertreated conditions in women’s health: pelvic organ prolapse. Affecting up to half of women over 40, it remains largely invisible in care pathways. Through innovations like Flexsupp — a personalised, adjustable pessary developed with clinical partners — Saturn is bringing more effective, accessible solutions to women. Bart brings a strong background in scaling companies and translating innovation into real-world impact in healthcare.
Karen Berg
Investor in Health Innovation, Healthy Capital
Karen brings an investor’s perspective to the question of how we close the women’s health gap at scale. Where capital flows, solutions follow — and her presence on the panel reflects a key part of the conversation: building the future of women’s health requires not only innovation, but investment behind it.
Roundtables
Following the panel, entrepreneurs will host topic-specific discussions, each anchored in the gap they are actively working to close. Participants can join the conversations most relevant to them — creating space for direct exchange between those building, funding, and shaping the future of women’s health.
Who should join
Investors (VC, corporate venture, impact)
Corporates in health, insurance, and pharma
Clinicians and academic researchers
Founders and operators in FemTech and women’s health
Organizers
3mbrace Health
3mbrace Health supports women’s health across key life stages — menstruation, motherhood, and menopause — with a focus on the workplace. Through expert-led sessions, digital support, and employer programs, they help organizations translate women’s health into better wellbeing, retention, and performance.
Sibyl
Sibyl is building a personalized support platform for people navigating pregnancy loss — combining emotional support, trusted information, and space to reflect, in their own time and on their own terms. Built from lived experience and shaped with clinical guidance, Sibyl uses thoughtful AI to make care more accessible, continuous, and deeply human.
Organized in partnership with Rabobank and FemTechNL
This event is part of Upstream Festival week.
Upstream (May 21) brings together startups, investors, and industry leaders to connect around funding, partnerships, and growth — with a strong focus on health & wellbeing among other key sectors.
We have a 15% discount available for our community:
Code: 15%3MBRACE
Register for Upstream here.