Singapore-based startups Navo Health and MenSC Labs have been named champions of INNO4HER 2026, following a live demo day held at Microsoft Malaysia on March 31.
The event marked the culmination of a three-month hybrid accelerator programme run by 1337 Ventures, bringing together 10 startups from five countries to pitch solutions addressing gaps in women’s health across Southeast Asia and beyond. Bosom, also from Singapore, was voted Crowd Favourite by attendees.
This year’s cohort is the programme’s most competitive yet, with founders presenting to a room of regional venture capitalists, angel investors, and healthcare leaders.
Among the winners, Navo Health stood out for its approach to improving fetal heart monitoring, an area where misinterpretation can have serious consequences for both maternal and newborn outcomes.
MenSC Labs, meanwhile, took a more unconventional route. The startup is developing methods to use menstrual blood as a non-invasive and cost-effective source for stem cell research, challenging long-standing perceptions of biological waste.
Bosom, which secured the audience vote, is building a platform for more coordinated maternal healthcare across pregnancy and postpartum—a model that appears to have resonated strongly with those in attendance.
The full list of finalists included Amiya, Bosom, Eve Fertility, FemFast, Hati Health, MenSC Labs, Navo Health, Shinaraa, Siikat, and Supple AI. Founders hailed from Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Poland, making this the most geographically diverse INNO4HER cohort to date.
Collectively, the startups are working across a wide spectrum of women’s health and wellness from fertility and PCOS management to AI-driven perimenopause support and sustainable womenswear.
The achievements of this year’s cohort come against a challenging funding backdrop.
According to a March 2026 report by OSK Ventures International Berhad, female-founded startups in Southeast Asia accounted for just around 12% of total capital deployed in early-stage private markets in 2025—the lowest share recorded in the period studied.
While overall early-stage deal activity in the region has rebounded, participation from women founders has softened. In healthcare, traditionally one of the stronger sectors for female-led startups, average deal sizes fell to US$8 million in 2025, down from a peak of US$12.7 million in 2023.
Amelia Ong, CEO of OSK Ventures, noted that while recovery is underway, capital has yet to follow proportionally.
“What we saw today at INNO4HER adds an encouraging next chapter to this story,” she said. “The quality of thinking and the founders’ vision in addressing unmet women and family clinical needs were excellent. Capital needs to follow conviction, and this cohort certainly deserves a platform.”
The programme has also received backing from Microsoft through its startup ecosystem initiatives.
Smita Roy, director of digital native scaling startups (APJ) at Microsoft, said the cohort reflects a growing maturity in the region’s FemTech ecosystem.
“The founders in INNO4HER 2026 are building with purpose and precision,” she said. “We look forward to continuing to support them as they scale—and to seeing what this next chapter of FemTech unlocks.”
For Bikesh Lakhmichand, CEO and founding partner of 1337 Ventures, the demo day signals a broader shift.
“These founders didn’t come to build incremental solutions. They came to close real clinical gaps, the kind that have been overlooked for far too long,” he said.
As INNO4HER continues to expand its reach, the programme is positioning itself as a key platform for advancing women’s health innovation in Southeast Asia—at a time when both capital and attention remain unevenly distributed.