Serena Ventures Participates In $10M Seed Funding for Teal Health

• Women’s health startup Teal Health has developed an at-home self-collect cervical cancer screening kit.
• The seed funding round was led by Emerson Collective and Forerunner.
• 79% of Serena Ventures’ investment portfolio supports underrepresented founders.

Tennis star Serena Williams has lent support to women’s health startup Teal Health. Founded in 2020 by Kara Egan (CEO) and Dr. Avnesh Thakor Teal Health has developed an at-home self-collect cervical cancer screening kit which is currently under FDA review.

Teal Health’s foundation was motivated by Dr. Avnesh’s observations during his medical experiences about insufficient innovation around cervical cancer screenings. The company’s CEO, Kara brings to the table two decades of experience in finance, health, and technology.

Having raised $10 million in seed funding, Teal Health plans to launch its device in the near future. Teal Health seed funding round was led by Emerson Collective and Forerunner. It saw participation from Labcorp and existing investors and Metrodora Serena Ventures—Serena’s VC firm.

“This investment allows us to bring Teal Health’s vision to life, getting our transformational screening solution into the hands of women. We’re here to create a new path forward, enabling women to take control of their health with confidence and ease. We’re deeply grateful to our investors,” Kara said in the news release.

This is not Serena’ first investment in the healthcare space. Her funding firm, Serena Ventures, which has an investment portfolio of 79% underrepresented founders, has backed the HUED healthcare startup.

“For Serena, who has personally talked about the issues she has had as a Black woman navigating the healthcare system, obviously, there was a mutual sense of understanding,” Founder Kimberly Wilson told Ebony Magazine.

HUED aims to affect 500,000 Black and Latinx patients by 2025.