This month, we’re putting the spotlight on a brilliant mind in Femtech: Aspivix CTO and co-founder, Julien Finci. Julien is the creator of carevix®, a suction powered device for cervical procedures, replacing the archaic and painful tenaculum. Last week, we discussed the brainwave behind the device. This time, we’re delving into the fundraising process, a challenging phase for any startup, let alone a budding women’s health venture.
What was your experience of pitching the device to investors?
We started our journey in 2015, and the first fundraising rounds in 2018. Aspivix was founded by three males, and I felt very aware that we were pitching about a ‘female’ concern to a predominantly male investor audience.
Even though women comprise half the population, we were often told we are in a ‘niche’ market. So it was not simply a matter of pitching the product, but also educating investors and convincing them more broadly that they should invest in women’s health.
That’s mind-blowing, but it’s a common experience among Femtech founders. How did you adapt your pitch to overcome this problem?
carevix® has multiple applications, in IVF or hysteroscopy procedures, for instance. But we focused on contraception as we felt this would more easily resonate with a broadly male audience.
In our pitch, we tell the story of a young woman, Emma, experiencing an unplanned pregnancy. Why? To highlight that, even though the Intrauterine Contraceptive Device (IUD) is one of the safest, most economic and most effective contraception methods (an IUD is effective in more than 99% of cases), up to a third of women are discouraged from using IUDs. The pain and trauma of insertion with a tenaculum deters wider adoption.
Watch how carevix® supports IVF treatment here.
That makes a lot of sense. We can all picture a young person in that scenario. As an engineer-turned-entrepreneur, what other skills have you had to learn in addition to pitching?
As an entrepreneur, you have to get involved in everything, at least to start with, including regulatory and quality compliance, clinical research, training physicians, recruitment, logistics and distribution, and last but not least sales.
We also wanted to make sure the device is properly supported with clinical research, and this is another time-consuming and complex activity, from finding participants, to ensuring all the right documents have been filled out, and compensating hospitals for the additional support.
Do you feel Switzerland is an especially favourable environment for women’s health startups?
Absolutely. We have received funding from multiple funds dedicated to start-ups. A notable one is Innosuisse, the Swiss Innovation Agency. We were also fortunate enough to receive funding through Horizon 2020 and Eureka, which was the European Union’s research and innovation funding program.
A big recent moment for us is our partnership with Bayer Healthcare, who will be helping to further scale the use of carevix® across Switzerland and Israel.
What’s next for Aspivix?
Our mission continues to motivate and drive us. We’re developing new generations of the device with greater functionality. The suction head only comes in one size for now, but we’d like to offer clinicians more choice.
We’re also working on improving the sustainability profile of the device, so that only the invasive element is single use, and the rest is fully sustainable.
We’re delighted to be growing our team too, nurturing creative minds and young entrepreneurs. We currently have three students working with us, and I’m excited to see how they will solve some of the problems we present to them.
Finally, I love this tribute you posted to your family on LinkedIn. What is it like to run Aspivix with a family member?
It’s wonderful, I feel very lucky! I’m also working at the intersection of several worlds, so I get the best of each of them. I’ve been able to combine all the things I enjoy and build my own job, while also making an impact to the lives of others.
It’s been an inspiration speaking with you, Julien. Thank you for your time, and bon courage!
Stay informed about the Aspivix journey by following Julien on LinkedIn.
Read the last edition of Pour femme, Saying goodbye to the tenaculum, here.
