FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WHAM LAUNCHES HIGH-IMPACT INVESTMENT COLLABORATIVE

Leaders at Top Organizations Unite to Fast-Track Innovation and Investment in Women’s Health

GREENWICH, Conn. (Dec 03, 2024) — A first-of-its-kind collaboration of multibillion-dollar funds is coming together to launch the WHAM Investment Collaborative. This unprecedented partnership is designed to accelerate innovation and unlock the vast, underexplored opportunities within the women’s health market—one of the most underfunded yet transformative sectors in healthcare.

“This is a largely untapped market with tremendous potential for return,” said Carolee Lee, CEO and Founder of WHAM. “By accelerating innovation in women’s health, we can unlock significant economic and health benefits—not just for women, but for everyone. The WHAM Investment Collaborative goes beyond closing the funding gap; it’s about driving solutions that will transform healthcare.”

Investment Collaborative Founding Members:

• Insight Partners, represented by Alexandra Lundin
• L Catterton, represented by Erin Lambroza
• Lightstone Ventures
• Northpond Ventures, represented by Sharon Kedar
• RA Capital Management
• UPMC Enterprises, represented by Anna Mamo

“This is a historic milestone,” said Jessica Federer, Strategic Advisor of The WHAM Investment Collaborative. “These funds are trailblazers, and this generation, and future generations, will benefit from their combined expertise.”

Despite women making up half of the global population and driving much of the economy, women-founded companies receive just 2% of venture capital funding. The WHAM Investment Collaborative aims to change that by uniting venture capital, corporate VC, family offices, and other financial leaders to ignite a seismic shift in investment toward women’s health innovation.

A Collective Force to Tap into Untapped Potential

The WHAM Investment Collaborative will grow quickly to include a consortium of esteemed leaders dedicated to increased investment in women’s health research and innovation. Backed by multibillion-dollar funds, this serves as a powerful platform to amplify voices, bridge information gaps, and champion innovative funding mechanisms that expand resources for women’s health globally.

Unlocking the Economic Opportunity of Women’s Health

The WHAM Investment Collaborative represents a turning point for women’s health investments, bringing together top-tier financial leaders to address one of the most underserved sectors in healthcare. Women’s health presents a vast opportunity for innovation, with the potential to drive improved health outcomes and generate high economic returns.

The Collaborative is integral to WHAM’s 3Not30 Initiative, a bold commitment to catalyzing investment in sex-based research and innovation over the next three years. Its key objectives include:

• Doubling Venture Capital Investment in Women-Owned Companies: The initiative aims to increase venture capital funding for women-founded startups from 2% to 4% by 2026, spurring innovation in areas like diagnostics, treatments, and prevention for women’s health.
• Strengthening Investor Relationships and Awareness: Through proactive engagement and education, the Collaborative will enhance investor awareness and improve due diligence processes, accelerating the lab-to-marketplace pipeline for women’s health innovations.
• Publishing Influential Reports and Indices: WHAM will release an annual WHAM Investment Report, through the groundbreaking partnership with the KPMG Foundation and KPMG LLP, providing a comprehensive “State of the Industry” by synthesizing global funding data.

About WHAM (Women’s Health Access Matters)

WHAM, Women’s Health Access Matters, was founded by Carolee Lee, as a non-profit 501c3.  WHAM has established itself as a neutral convener, connecting leaders across sectors to advance healthcare innovations and reshape the women’s health landscape. WHAM’s initiatives, from laboratory research to real-world implementation, are designed to create sustainable impact and improve health outcomes for all. The WHAM Investment Collaborative, alongside WHAM’s renowned Research Collaborative and the soon-to-launch Life Sciences Collaborative, is focused on accelerating the development and adoption of groundbreaking healthcare solutions.

Stay updated on WHAM’s initiatives by signing up for the newsletter and following us on LinkedIn and Instagram. Learn more at www.thewhamreport.org and www.whamnow.org

Media and Organization Contact:
Marianne Foss-Skiftesvik
(203) 434-2383
marianne@whamnow.org