FemTech startup OCON Healthcare completes funding, appoints Anula Jayasuriya as Chairwoman
OCON Healthcare, a women's health company which develops, manufactures and commercializes innovative 3D intrauterine devices based on its patented IUB (Intra-Uterine Ball) platform, announced it has completed a USA-focused funding round led by Rhia Ventures, to bring its IUB Ballerine contraceptive and IUB SEAD point-of-care therapy for Abnormal Uterine Bleeding (AUB), to the US market, and to expand Phase II clinical trials for the IUB SEAD.
OCON also appointed California-based Dr. Anula Jayasuriya as Chairwoman. Anula is an accomplished private equity and VC leader with over 30 years of business, scientific and medical expertise.
"I'm excited to be appointed chairwoman of the OCON board. I am passionate about advancing women's health and I'm very much looking forward to be working with the excellent team led by the dynamic CEO Keren Leshem, and a board of directors comprising of leading Israeli and US investors and industry leaders. The health of women has been under innovated and under invested and is ripe for disruption. OCON is a company spearheading this challenge and transforming the health of women worldwide," she said.
The 2020 investment round included new and existing investors such as Rhia Ventures, Pontifax VC and US based fund Astia Angels, as well as grants from the Israeli Innovation Authority. OCON expects another funding round in 2021.
Stasia Obremskey, Managing Director, Rhia Ventures: "We are excited about the transformative potential of the IUB platform to improve women's quality of life. We need more and better options for contraception, AUB and a host of other women's health issues that OCON's novel intrauterine drug delivery platform can help address."
Keren Leshem, CEO, OCON Healthcare: "We are fortunate to have Rhia Ventures' support and Dr. Jayasuriya's leadership to spearhead the next chapter of our journey in creating a series of category-defining products and introduce safer, non-invasive medical solutions for women."
OCON's flagship product, the IUB Ballerine, is commercially available in 30 countries with over 100,000 women using it to date. IUB Ballerine's unique shape reduces irritation to the endometrium with fewer malpositions and perforations, which are significant drawbacks associated with current T-shaped IUDs.
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