Midi is building a digital platform for an often overlooked area of ​​women’s health

When Joanna Strober was about 47, she stopped sleeping. Although sleep loss is a common symptom of perimenopause, she had to go to multiple health care providers, including driving 45 minutes from San Francisco to pay $750 out of pocket, to get that diagnosis and proper treatment.

“That feeling of wow, I’ve really suffered unnecessarily this past year has really stuck with me,” Strober said on a recent episode of JS’s Found podcast. “I started talking to all my friends and trying to understand what was going on with them. What became clear is that perimenopause and menopause are so important. It hits women like a ton of bricks. There are many different symptoms and very few health care providers trained to care for this population.”

That realization inspired Strober to launch Midi Health, a telehealth platform designed to serve midlife women by connecting them with healthcare providers trained in symptoms and treatments of perimenopause and menopause.

Despite her “aha” moment, Strober explained why she couldn’t launch the startup right away. She said Midi could not have existed if the U.S. government had not changed the rules around telehealth and where people could access care during the pandemic. Because of the changes surrounding digital health, Strober said the company was able to launch its platform that provides care for women, instead of women having to find in-person care.

“It was a very exciting revelation to understand that this long-standing problem could finally be addressed using telehealth,” Strober said. “And that’s why I wanted to start this company.”

Midi operates a little differently than many of the other digital health companies that have started in the post-pandemic wave, Strober said. She said Midi was not created as a digital way for users to get one-off care or treatment as quickly as possible, like many other companies from the same era, but rather as a platform through which women build long-term relationships. providers that make them feel seen.

This approach is also why Strober believes Midi has been able to continue to grow and attract VC funds as VCs have become less interested in the category. The company recently raised a $60 million Series B round led by Emerson Collective with participation from Google Ventures, SteelSky Ventures, and Muse Capital, among others. This round brings the company’s total funding to $99 million.

Digital health startups will raise $13.2 billion globally by 2023 CB Insights data. This represents a decline of 48% from 2022, to $25.5 billion, and a decline of 75% from 2021, when a record $52.7 billion was invested.

“I think too few telehealth companies haven’t thought about that long-term customer relationship,” Strober says. “We see ourselves as building a trusted brand in healthcare. Our brand therefore stands for expert care for women. We need to give you that great care so that you come back to us again and again. That’s what women do.”

Midi isn’t Strober’s first digital health startup, and she talked about how her past experiences building Kurbo Health, a startup that focused on childhood obesity before digital health even existed, informed her choices in building Midi influenced. She also talked about how her previous life as a venture capitalist also played a role in how she approached the business.

With this latest round of funding, Midi looks forward to expanding care in areas covered by perimenopause and menopause, including things like sexual wellness, hair and skin care, and access to testosterone.

“People keep asking, you know, when do you leave perimenopause and menopause?” said Strober. “But perimenopause and menopause are a big market. So we’re working a lot to understand what women’s health needs are during this time in their lives and how we can appropriately address those concerns.”