The market has been tumbling since the beginning of 2022.
But Alicia Jackson, the CEO of Evernow, said she didn’t notice those macroeconomic trends impacting her business until April, right after the startup raised $28.5 million in Series A funding.
Before April, Jackson said Evernow had been focusing on creating a great platform for the patients it serves. The startup offers virtual care management — including medication delivery — for people experiencing perimenopause and menopause.
But Jackson said a shift in investor sentiment that the market downturn prompted has now led Evernow to prioritize cutting its cash burn, extending its runway, and building a path to profitability.
“The conversation in the company switched to, not only how do we accelerate that buildout of a decade-plus relationship with our customer, but how do we get super efficient in serving that customer in a way that makes sense from a unit-economics point of view,” she said.
NEA led the startup’s $28.5 million Series A in April. 8VC, Refactor Capital, and Coelius Capital also participated, along with a group of angel investors dubbed the “First Circle,” including the actors Gwyneth Paltrow, Drew Barrymore, and Cameron Diaz; the former soccer player Abby Wambach; and Sheila Marcelo, a cofounder and the CEO of Care.com.
Jackson said Evernow picked angel investors who have used their platforms to speak out about various issues in women’s health. Several of the women are also entrepreneurs, most notably Paltrow, who runs Goop, a controversial multimillion-dollar wellness company.
Jackson said their ideas for Evernow have been “invaluable.”
“You’ll see more and more on them around elevating the conversation about women’s health for women 40-plus, including perimenopause and menopause,” she said.
Evernow provided Insider with the presentation the company used to raise $28.5 million in Series A funding. The startup removed sensitive financial information from the deck before sharing it with Insider.
Evernow’s research findings can be found here.
Some research suggests the estrogen patch may be more effective than the pill at maintaining premenopausal levels of hormones like testosterone. The estrogen pill has also been associated with a higher risk of blood clots.
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