Births Can Be Better

We’re putting the spotlight on brilliant new ideas which can genuinely change people’s lives for the better. A unique founder journey which some of you may relate to. Picture this; a clever innovation born from over a decade of frontline midwifery experience in NHS and Private Practice combined with world leading HealthTech smarts. After dreaming up their brand narrative and delivering their brand identity, our very own Melissa Fretwell caught a moment with the brains behind FemTech brand PeriPear.

Co-founders Nina Van Schaick and Eviatar Natan are hard to keep up with, from field trips to the Vagina Museum to pitching to Angel Investors around the globe,  they’re a high octane blend of wisdom, wit and grit. They apparently need very little shut eye to thrive, which is slightly annoying for any of us who need a minimum of seven hours a night. They answered our top five questions, and no subject matter was off the table. Buckle up and tuck in. 

PeriPear is building the future of birth. Every year 110 million women give birth vaginally, 90% will sustain perineal injuries leading to short and long term implications with enormous healthcare costs estimated at $2.7B in direct costs to the US Healthcare system alone. Peripear’s first product will transform natural birth with safe, wearable, technology that will prevent injuries, pain, and complications in vaginal births. 

As Nina points out; “despite women driving 70% of healthcare decisions, only 1-2% of health-tech funding goes to women’s health. Very little innovation has happened in this fundamental part of the health service since the 19th century. Now is the time to correct the course.”  

We have just arrived back from the US and met amazing people and drank mostly terrible coffee. We attended the opening week of our TMCi accelerator programme (one of only six uk companies chosen). We validated our US go-to-market plan, made some excellent connections and started to explore the fund landscape over there. Clinicians we met were genuinely excited by what we are building. We have a mentor, a Go-To-Market Consultant with 25 years of experience across the whole spectrum of medtech at our disposal. The whole process feels like an absolute slingshot. A clinician told us “thank goodness, I’ve been waiting for someone to build this!”. 

Treat your co-founder relationship like the fragile, wonderful thing that it is. Establish communication tools early, that goes for culture too - don’t let it build itself. Brand might not seem like a priority but working with Melissa early on enabled us to focus on what we were building across the business and we definitely emerged from our sessions with a stronger vision and culture brief. 

“Equitable, evidence based and respectful maternity care for everyone.”

What’s always fired us up at White Camino is how PeriPear has a clear role to make the world a better place by supporting mums-to-be at birth, their families and midwives. It is at the core of the business not an afterthought. Along the way, they educate and normalise important conversations about vaginal births and the perineum. Naturally, mum-efficient in everything they do.  

Start-up life really is building the plane while you’re flying it. To make the journey a little less turbulent, PeriPear are always on the look out for collaborators and allies across industries and borders. We’ll leave you with this shout out from Evi: 

“We are building the future of birth. If you are a passionate engineer, clinician or fund professional who wants in, we want to hear from you!” 

Email Co-Founder and CEO if this is you: eviatar@peri-pear.com for help telling your brand story, drop Melissa a line here: melissa.fretwell@whitecamino.com .