Women and families have long been underserved by traditional health care. This is changing, thanks to Maven and the incredible team building a tech-driven platform, purpose-built to help women and families on their health journey regardless of location, income level or pathway to parenthood.
As a new mother with two daughters, I am proud to announce GC is the lead investor in Maven’s $90M series E funding round. Since 2014, founder and CEO Kate Ryder and the Maven team have been building the only end-to-end global reproductive health and family care platform that integrates support across the entire family journey, from fertility and family building through maternity, parenting, pediatrics, and menopause.
Combining integrated benefit coverage and continuous virtual care delivery, Maven partners with employers and health plans to deliver inclusive family benefit design, promote health equity and reduce costs of care—which are critical elements of General Catalyst’s Health Assurance mission.
Maven Clinic’s holistic approach understands the needs of those who have been marginalized in health care, like women, LGBTQ couples, and men with fertility issues. For example, fertility benefits are often only accessible based on a diagnosis of “infertility”—generally defined as the inability to conceive after 12 months of unprotected intercourse. This stipulation makes it challenging for LGBTQ couples to receive benefits. Notably, male-related factors contribute to approximately one-third of fertility issues, yet men rarely get tested. Within the health care landscape, women’s and family health has been historically sidelined—medical gaslighting, or dismissing symptoms as mental illness, is a common experience. The structural inefficiencies and implicit biases in health care are highlighted by the fact that women are more likely to be misdiagnosed compared to men, potentially delaying proper treatment by up to 10 years. One explanation is that medical research involving womens’ bodies has been significantly hindered—it wasn’t until 1993, when Congress passed the NIH Revitalization Act, that women and ethnic/racial minorities were required to be included in clinical research and cost was not an acceptable reason for their exclusion. In 2015, this momentum was furthered when the NIH introduced a policy that made it obligatory for researchers to take sex into account as a biological variable.
Despite these policy-based strides toward equality in clinical research which aimed to improve health outcomes, it remains clear that modern medicine has been designed for and centered on the male body. Kate Ryder decided to take action and address these frustrating disparities in health care by founding a reimagined care model centered on women’s and family health. In the years since then, Maven Clinic, led by Ryder as CEO, has emerged as the largest virtual women’s and family health clinic and provided category-defining care to its members across 175 countries.
A Reimagined Virtual End-to-End Platform
With its resounding equitable health care mission, the spectrum of services that Maven Clinic’s 24/7 virtual care platform delivers to this underserved population is categorically unmatched. Its novel global end-to-end platform meets 15 million covered lives at every stage of their health care journey—it offers compassionate and integrated support for fertility treatment, family building, pregnancy, parenting, pediatics and, most recently, menopause. Clients have demonstrated their approval of this end-to-end platform since 95% of new clients will purchase two or more Maven programs. This reimagined care model has substantially improved clinical outcomes. For example, 25% of fertility members have had a successful pregnancy without assisted reproductive technology. Moreover, with Maven Clinic’s support, its members have benefited from an up to 28% reduction in NICU admissions. Maven Clinic’s partnerships with employers and health plans, such as half of the Fortune 15, has propelled its equitable health mission even further. Its category-defining patient-centric approach has delivered inclusive family benefit design, bent the cost curve, transformed talent retention, and improved clinical outcomes. Before Maven Clinic, women’s and family health was secondary to men’s health—with Maven Clinic, women now have unrivaled access to redesigned quality care.
The Future of Equitable Women’s and Family Health
On the horizon, Maven Clinic has plans to evolve equitable women’s and family health to even greater heights. Ryder drove the impactful milestones highlighted above and the company’s growth will be further cultivated with the addition of three executives as independent board members. Jennifer Schneider, M.D, M.S., CEO of Homeward and former President of Livongo Health; Yvette Bright, former Chief Operating Officer of Independence Blue Cross and board member of Cityblock; and Chris Klomp, technology entrepreneur and former CEO and Chairman of Collective Medical will join Ryder at the helm of this innovative virtual clinic. Investing in platform personalization will be a priority to ensure that its diverse members’ journeys are attended to uniquely, facilitating improved health outcomes. Additionally, future steps involve integrating with the global healthcare ecosystem to broaden patient access and extending support across all family and reproductive health stages.
We are grateful to be on this journey with Maven Clinic to advance women’s and family health care outcomes.
