Women’s health innovations receive £1.3m funding

Women’s health innovations have received a £1.3 million boost from SBRI Healthcare in partnership with the Health Innovation Network.

Funded by the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC), 14 winners of the ‘Competition 25: Women’s Health’, will run for six months to demonstrate whether the innovations are technically and commercially feasible.

Dr Sue Mann, national clinical director for women’s health at NHS England, said: “It’s fantastic to see new technologies evolving that could make a real difference to improving women’s health, from those experiencing gynaecological and fertility problems to supportive aids during childbirth.

“Innovations such as these can play more and more of a part in improving care for women.”

The winning projects are:

• BirthGlide Limited– awarded £99,836 – Developing a revolutionary device to prevent difficult birth in the pushing stage of labour and reduce the use of traumatic procedures such as forceps, vacuum or emergency C-sections.
• DDM Health Limited– awarded £78,063 – Supporting women with long-term and chronic health conditions with an adaptive, personalised digital health tool to self-manage and improve health outcomes.
• ScreenIn3D Limited– awarded £99,655 – An organ-on-a-chip platform to model personalised embryo implantation and improve subfertility associated with chronic gynaecological disease.
• Peripear Ltd– awarded £90,779 – The Peripear Medical Device: An innovative, low-cost solution to reduce perineal injury during vaginal childbirth.
• The Essential Baby Company– awarded £77,098 – haPPIE SHE Cares project supports black and ethnically minoritised women during the perinatal period by combining culturally sensitive digital tools with community services.
• Neotherix Limited– awarded £99,981 – Co-designing improved treatment for recto-vaginal fistula; investigating the needs of women and assessing the feasibility of a novel, cost-effective device.
• Queen Mary University/ Samphire Neuroscience – awarded £88,811 – Validation of a non-invasive brain stimulation device (Nettle) to manage symptoms of premenstrual dysphoric disorder.
• Lighthearted AI Health Limited– awarded £99,125 – A portable, rapid, non-contact means of detecting heart valve disease and other cardiac conditions in women.
• Signatur Biosciences Ltd– awarded £96,055 – Revolutionising breast cancer prognosis with “OncoSignatur Breast”: an innovative, cost-effective test for improved, personalised patient pathways.
• Holly Health Ltd– awarded £79,247 – Co-design of a personalised, scalable, wellbeing tool, targeting binge eating challenges in women.
• Unravel Health Limited– awarded £99,725 – Developing a hormone monitor to manage migraines and beyond.
• Liberum Health Ltd– awarded £99,942 – A novel, non-invasive alternative to oral therapies for pelvic pain caused by menstrual pain and/or endometriosis.
• Signal Enhancement Diagnostics Limited– awarded £99,221 – Focuses on global endometriosis diagnosis and treatment with a cost-effective blood-based test that uses biomarkers for diagnosis, disease progression, and management, creating comprehensive care and enabling new therapeutics.
• Spryt Ltd– awarded £100,000 – Increasing cervical screening rates, to the national average, in North Central London.

The competition, which launched in July 2024, was open to single companies and organisations from the private, public, and third sectors, including large corporates, small and medium enterprises, charities, universities and NHS providers.

In February 2025, the Innovate UK Women in Innovation Awards awarded £3.75 million in government funding to 50 women entrepreneurs solving “a range of pressing societal, environmental and economic challenges” through innovation.

Innovate UK reversed its decision to slash 50% of grants for the awards, following a social media campaign sparked by femtech founder Emma Jarvis.