Nonprofit firm Women’s Health Access Matters (WHAM) has launched the Innovator’s Circle, a new investor network designed to catalyze early-stage funding for women’s health companies.
The initiative brings together a consortium of venture funds to address what WHAM calls one of healthcare’s most overlooked and underfunded sectors.
“The Innovator’s Circle is more than a network—it’s a platform to accelerate groundbreaking ideas into market-ready solutions,” said Carolee Lee, CEO and Founder of WHAM. “By aligning early-stage investors with later-stage capital partners, we’re unlocking exponential opportunity for returns—and real health impact.”
Carolee Lee, founder and CEO of WHAM, and Naseem Sayani, Operating Advisor at How Women Invest and Advisor at Tower Capital [Image courtesy of WHAM]
The founding members of the Innovator’s Circle include a range of healthcare and impact investors, such as Amboy Street Ventures, Avestria, March of Dimes, Seae Ventures, and the AHA Go Red for Women Venture Fund, among others. Naseem Sayani, a longtime advisor and investor in women’s health, will serve as the Circle’s director.
“This is the pipeline engine,” said Sayani. “The Innovator’s Circle brings together the investors best positioned to recognize early innovation and builds the bridge to capital scale.”
WHAM said the network aims to help reverse a longstanding funding imbalance in health innovation. Although women make up half of the global population and drive a majority of healthcare spending and decisions, companies focused on women’s health receive just 2% of healthcare venture capital funding.
The Innovator’s Circle is the latest in a series of initiatives launched by WHAM to create a more coordinated innovation pipeline for conditions that disproportionately or uniquely affect women. Other efforts include the WHAM Research Collaborative, the WHAM Investment Collaborative, and the forthcoming WHAM Life Sciences Collaborative.
According to the organization, the Innovator’s Circle will work closely with WHAM’s broader investment community to strengthen early-to-late stage capital pathways and surface breakthrough solutions in areas such as cardiovascular disease, neuroscience and autoimmune disorders.
WHAM said its collaboratives aim to integrate scientific research, capital allocation, and product development to improve health outcomes for women across their lifespan. The nonprofit describes its model as a fully integrated innovation ecosystem for women’s health.
