Northwell Holdings and Aegis Ventures Sign Strategic Collaboration Agreement to Launch Upliv, a Comprehensive Digital Health Company for Menopause
Upliv to be the first company in a portfolio of digital health benefits designed to support women during their working life
Northwell Holdings and Aegis Ventures inked an agreement today for the formation of Upliv, a women’s virtual care start-up that aims to raise the bar for clinical menopause support. Upliv will partner with employers to offer virtual telemedicine services and whole-person care to employees experiencing perimenopause and menopause symptoms. Initially, Upliv will offer services to select nurses through a pilot program at Northwell Health, followed by an expected enterprise-wide rollout in the first quarter of 2023.
Upliv is the joint creation of Aegis Ventures and Northwell Holdings, the for-profit investment arm of Northwell Health. In April 2022, Aegis Ventures announced the intention to invest at least $100 million in seed-stage funds towards the development of joint ventures with Northwell Health. The projected seed funding for Upliv through the end of 2023 is $8.4 million. Allison Schoeneck is Upliv’s Chief Executive Officer.
“Many women going through menopause are not getting the care they deserve. The symptoms of perimenopause and menopause can range from moderate to debilitating,” said Schoeneck. “Too often, those symptoms are dismissed. Menopause can disrupt our daily lives and has serious implications for our health. Through Upliv, we are providing evidence-based treatments and whole-person support to help women manage their health.”
In a survey of 900 Northwell Health employees, a majority of respondents reported experiencing moderate to severe symptoms, including hot flashes, weight gain, sleep issues, fatigue, brain fog, and muscle aches.
“Today there are safe, effective, and science-backed medications and non-pharmacologic treatments to manage the symptoms of menopause. However, many women still struggle to access this care,” said Dr. Stacey E. Rosen, Senior Vice President of the Katz Institute for Women’s Health at Northwell Health. “By leveraging virtual care solutions, we can create access to specialized medical professionals, so women can receive the necessary support to explore treatment options.”
Care offered by Upliv is informed by the North American Menopause Society (NAMS) guidelines. Patients will receive medical and wellness services from an interdisciplinary team of doctors, nurse practitioners, and wellness coaches trained in accordance with the National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coaches (NBC-HWC). Upliv’s services will be supported by a Clinical Advisory Board with expertise in women’s health issues, including bone health, cognitive health, urogynecology, and cardiology:
Upliv will be offered as an employee benefit at zero cost to employees. For employers, menopause can result in significant medical expenses and employment-related costs. One in four women experiencing symptoms of menopause explores retiring early. Healthcare expenses related to just hot flashes and night sweats can cost $2,000 per person, per year.
“Making this important healthcare benefit available to our team members throughout their experience with menopause supports our belief in addressing unmet needs and providing access to evidenced-based care,” said Gregg Nevola, Vice President and Chief of Total Well-Being at Northwell Health.”
Upliv is the first offering in a portfolio of virtual care companies that Northwell Health and Aegis Ventures are developing to address gaps in care and promote equity in women’s health, which are expected to launch over the course of 2023.
Upliv is a women’s health tech start-up that aims to raise the bar for clinical menopause support by providing virtual telemedicine services and whole-person care to address the specific needs of women in mid-life. With our clinical experts and coaches, community-based platform, and holistic healthcare recommendations, we aim to empower women to lead healthier, more joyful lives. We focus on educating patients and equipping them with the knowledge to make clinician-guided decisions about their treatment. We work with qualified professional partners for all services requiring licensed providers. We hope to enable women to devote more time and energy to who and what they love. For more information about Upliv, visit our website uplivhealth.com and follow us on LinkedIn.
Aegis Ventures is a next-generation startup studio that partners with entrepreneurs and industry leaders to originate, launch, and scale transformative companies. Our platform brings together market-shaping ideas, permanent growth capital, and ambitious individuals driven to solve major societal problems. We aim to build companies with the capacity for vast impact, with an initial focus on artificial intelligence and digital health. Within these verticals, Aegis seeks to create companies that leverage technology to better optimize tradeoffs between quality, access, and cost, focusing on innovations that promote seamless continuity of care, patient empowerment, and better-informed clinical decision-making. To learn more about Aegis, visit our website aegisventures.com and follow us on LinkedIn.
Northwell Holdings (“Holdings”), a fully owned, for-profit subsidiary of Northwell Health, creates value for the health system by investing in early-stage companies, establishing commercial joint ventures, cultivating internally-developed ideas and bringing them to market, and advancing data partnerships that drive innovation in patient care, health diagnostics, and deep technology. We invest in companies that are aligned with Northwell’s mission, promote better health outcomes, improve patient experience, and increase efficiencies in care delivery and services. Through strategic partnerships, Holdings leverages the health system’s robust enterprise data assets to develop AI-enabled solutions that address healthcare inequities. We combine Northwell Health’s clinical and healthcare business expertise and entrepreneurial spirit to bring concepts to life. Northwell Health is New York’s largest healthcare system. To learn more, visit us here and follow us on LinkedIn.
Press Contact:
Jill O’Brien
Upliv and Aegis Ventures
[email protected]
Sandy Dell
Northwell Holdings
212-582-1185
[email protected]
Miriam Sholder
Northwell Health
516-427-3762
[email protected]
