Astarte Ventures, Investing in FemTech before FemTech was a Thing - Episode 137

In today’s episode, I interview Tracy Warren the Managing Partner of Astarte Ventures. Astarte Ventures was formed by Tracy and her business partner, Tammi Jantzen. The fund ran from 2013 to 2017 and was the first early-stage investment fund dedicated to enhancing the health and well-being of women and children. Tracy and Tammi could not successfully fundraise the fund because in 2013 the bias of thinking women were a niche market and could not produce large returns was rampant. Tracy and Tammi took things into their own hands and made 8 investments themselves without raising a large fund with outside investors. Their investments include Maternal Medical which just closed a $10M series A, Madorra which has raised over $4M to date, Astarte Medical which Tracy and Tammi now operate as CEO and CFO, Alydia health which was acquired by Merck for $240M and initiated the organon spin-off, and Maven clinic which was just value at over $1B and hasn’t even exited yet. Needless to say, the returns on the fund will be very promising and the data that comes from their portfolio’s success will be extremely valuable for the 6 other femtech funds in operation today to prove to investors that funding women’s health is not only impactful but financially smart. Enjoy the episode!