OVUM

The reality check: Women face more barriers to starting and scaling a business than men do—everything from being taken seriously to securing funding. Only 15% of businesses in the UK are owned or led by women (DBT Survey), and in 2023, female-founded startups received just 1.8% of VC funding (Pitchbook). Even in FemTech, a sector where 70% of companies are founded by women, male founders have out-raised their female peers over the last five years. Let that sink in. Yet the data is clear: if women started and scaled businesses at the same rate as men, an estimated £250 billion in new value could be added to the UK economy. Not only that, but for every dollar of funding, female-founded businesses generate 78 cents—compared to just 31 cents for their male counterparts. At OVUM, we’re proud to be female-founded (shout out to our founder, Jenny Wordsworth!)—and one of our many goals is to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs (we’ll drop the word female because ideally the entrepreneurs of tomorrow will just be just that, entrepreneurs). In the meantime, Emmie Faust and Female Founders Rise founder have just launched “You’ve Got What It Takes,” a new initiative to support women entrepreneurs. Let’s spread the word and show support—repost to help make a difference!

Thrilled to be part of Birmingham Tech Week’s Future is FemTech panel! 🌟 Our CMO, Rhiannon Davis joined an incredible lineup, including Michelle Gomes (Daye), Monica Karpinski, and Tosin Sotubo-Ajayi (Flo Health Inc.), to dive into conversations about innovation, challenging taboos, and fostering community in FemTech. A big thank you to EAST VILLAGE. for organising such a meaningful event!

Lighting up the streets of London Female founders are celebrated throughout London and Birmingham But we want to take this campaign nationwide Raising awareness of female entrepreneurship and getting the conversation out there 👌 So much opportunity for growth for the economy, for women, for society if we can enable equality in entrepreneurship. 🙌🙌 Please share this, repost it, spread the word PS love seeing all the allies getting involved in supporting ‘You Got What it Takes’ Find out more Female Founders Rise Follow Emmie Faust for more YeahNice. For incredible creative

This week, we’re breaking the usual updates to acknowledge a topic that is often shrouded in silence—pregnancy and baby loss. Baby Loss Awareness Week runs every October, and now is in its 22nd year of highlighting this often-silent journey of those who have experienced pregnancy and baby loss. 1 in 8 known pregnancies end in miscarriage according to the NHS (this is thought to be much higher). Many more happen before people even know they are pregnant. These losses are deeply personal, often hidden, but the emotional impact is profound and lasting. 🖤 1 in 8 known pregnancies ends in loss (NHS) 🖤 Every day in the UK, 15 babies are stillborn or die shortly after birth (Sands UK) 🖤 1 in 100 women experience recurrent miscarriages—three or more consecutive losses (Tommy's) Behind these numbers are individuals and families navigating grief, often in isolation, due to the stigma and silence that still surround this issue. It’s essential that we continue to talk about baby loss openly, creating safe spaces for those affected to share their stories and access the support they need. By acknowledging the pain and the reality of these experiences, we can help to normalise the conversation, break the stigma, and foster a more supportive and compassionate community. Get Involved ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/eT5pu-5z

It’s a lifetime goal for a challenger start up to be on a big billboard one day. Especially one in an underfunded sector faced with a myriad of obstacles. Rather than wait around for this to happen we mocked up loads of billboard scenarios for when this day would finally arrive. Fortunately for us, it happened sooner rather than later, as Morgan Stanley and Nasdaq decided to splash Jenny Wordsworth on a billboard in Times Square! We won't do them a disservice by sharing our rather less glossy mockups in the same post, but we wanted to say thanks so much to Morgan Stanley for leading the way in inclusive funding. We still can’t quite believe it and this is just the beginning! Let us know if you managed to catch it in person!

📣 BIG News 📣 OVUM has been selected to join the 2024 cohort of the Morgan Stanley Inclusive Ventures Lab! With their support, we'll be diving into a tailored curriculum, receiving invaluable mentorship, and building powerful networks to scale our mission of helping the TTC community. This means more power to the people on their fertility journeys, backed by the latest science. It’s a true honour to be part of a program that’s actively working to create a fairer, more inclusive investment space, opening the door for underrepresented founders. The cherry on top, we get to work with some incredible companies like HANX and Juniver! Stay tuned for what's next – big things are coming! Jenny Wordsworth

As of last week our Supplement is now stocked in 183 Sainsbury's Stores across the country alongside our Pregnancy Tests (which are in 345 stores) 🎉🎉🎉 We can’t even begin to describe what this means to us and the fertility community who we are here to serve. Fertility starts with the egg, which is why we started with our Time to Conceive® Supplement which includes our patented MicroActive® CoQ10. It’s specifically formulated for experiencing difficulty in conceiving, people with recurrent miscarriages, PCOS, irregular ovulation, or endometriosis or those undergoing IVF/ICSI or IUI treatments - essentially to help anyone struggling to conceive whether that’s due to infertility, health issues, because they’re in a same-sex relationship or they’re doing it solo. Everyone deserves the opportunity to have children if that’s what they want, and we’re able to help them with the help of Sainsbury’s. Thanks so much to our fantastic buyers Lucy Vaughan & Juliette Wall for believing in us alongside Clare Downing, Maddy Fox MacKean, Ludivine Doyen, Ben Everitt (BA) and everyone else at Sainsbury’s. We can’t wait to see this partnership flourish!

🚨NEW LISTING ALERT🚨 We started speaking to Planet Organic Ltd back in April about listing our Early Detection Pregnancy Tests and last week they launched into all 9 London Stores. Just like OVUM, Planet Organic are on a mission to make a difference, and we can think of no better place for our fully recyclable tests to be able to be purchased. Since their buyout last year it’s clear to see the Planet Organic team are focusing on sustainable, challenger products, helping brands such as ourselves launch into new markets with the assistance of their incredible buyers like the lovely Lucy Banting helping us to educate their team and customers. Thanks so much to our commercial team for landing this and if you're swinging by a Planet Organic check the tests out and make sure to grab a pack (if you need a test that is)!

Thanks so much for including us in this round up Sabrina Runbeck, MPH, MHS, PA-C. We're proud to be innovators in the FemTech sector alongside so many other incredible companies helping transform the industry!

We're hiring for two incredible roles at OVUM. If you're a self-starter, keen to revolutionise the face (and everything else) of reproduction and fertility and willing to be comfortable with being uncomfortable then we're the company for you. We're hiring - A COO/Head of Ops (DOE) ⚙ - to manage the supply chain, improve processes and manage supplier relationships. - A Head of Sales & Partnerships 👯♀️ - to establish retail revenue and drive retail growth. Attention to detail and problem-solving are key to both roles. Link to Head of Sales & Partnerships role is in the comments... Please apply or share with anyone you think may be a good fit! ✅