Jenny Button first thought of Emm during the Covid-19 lockdown. She used an Oura ring and a Whoop tracker and got information about her body, but there was no device that might provide data on one of the most significant elements – reproductive and menstrual health.
“It seemed crazy to me because these are things that every woman wants to be able to trace and understand better,” she told TechCrunch. She thought, “Why not create a wearable device that can tell someone more about their reproductive health?” She wrote a letter to one of Dyson’s engineers, got in touch, and began testing the idea.
“Five years later, after thousands of designs and iterations and extensive user testing, we have unveiled the world’s first smart menstrual cup,” Button said.
The British company has also raised a $9 million (£6.8 million) seed round, led by Lunar Ventures, because it prepares to officially launch its product next 12 months.
The product works like a regular menstrual cup – designed to store menstrual blood, not absorb it. But Emm’s medical-grade silicone is “equipped with ultra-thin, advanced sensor technology.” This sensor collects data that can help users understand patterns in their cycles. Button hopes it might probably “transform the research, diagnosis and treatment of menstrual and reproductive diseases.”
She’s not the only one who thinks this manner. Other women’s health founders told The Guardian a few months ago that menstrual blood represents an “overlooked opportunity for women’s health” which will provide information not available in health studies based on circulating blood.
For example, it might probably help diagnose painful and often misdiagnosed conditions corresponding to endometriosis.
Techcrunch event
San Francisco
|
October 13-15, 2026
“One in 10 women today suffer from endometriosis“This is a condition that, like many other reproductive health conditions, takes an average of 7 to 10 years to diagnose,” Button said.
This delay “is largely due to a lack of meaningful data and poor characterization of menstrual health in clinical settings,” Button says. “Until now, there have been no reliable tools to accurately and objectively track this aspect of health.”
She added that apart from endometriosis one in three women experiences “serious reproductive health problems” throughout their lives.
Data collected from the Emm app is encrypted and stored securely with two-factor authentication. “They are also always anonymous or pseudonymized,” meaning personal identifiers are removed or replaced with codes, “and will only be accessed by people in Emm who really need it,” she said.
Button used the word “strategic” to describe her funding round and said she reached out to her anchor investor through her network. Others in the round included Alumni Ventures (which backed Oura), Labcorp Venture Fund and Blue Lion Global. The money shall be used to launch the product in the UK next 12 months, she said, adding that the waiting list has already exceeded 30,000 and pre-orders will start soon.
The capital may also be used for research and development. Button hopes to enter the US market in early 2027.
“Menstrual health is just a starting point for Emm,” Button said. “I believe that ultimately we will have a profound impact on women’s health more broadly,” she continued, adding that she hopes to one day expand the product, perhaps to include diagnostics, other digital care tools, or even therapy.
“Our mission is to accelerate diagnosis, equip people with the data to empower them to advocate for themselves, and ultimately help them take control of their bodies and their health journey,” she said.