Ten FemTech startups pitch live at Microsoft Malaysia as 1337 Ventures wraps its most globally diverse INNO4HER 2026 cohort to date
KUALA LUMPUR, 31 March 2026 — Navo Health and MenSC Labs were named the INNO4HER 2026 Champions at the Alpha Startups™ INNO4HER 2026 Demo Day, held at Microsoft Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur office, on 31 March 2026. Bosom took home the Crowd Favourite title, voted by attendees on the day.
The Demo Day marked the end of a three-month intensive hybrid accelerator run by 1337 Ventures and this was its most competitive cohort yet. Ten finalists from five countries pitched live in front of regional venture capitalists, angel investors, and healthcare leaders, competing for recognition in one of Southeast Asia’s most pressing spaces: women’s health.
Two startups rose to the top.
Navo Health (Singapore) was recognised for making fetal heart monitoring easier to interpret a clinical gap with direct consequences for maternal and newborn outcomes. MenSC Labs (Singapore) took a different angle entirely: using menstrual blood as a cost-effective, non-invasive source for stem cell research, an approach that challenges how the field thinks about both waste and resource. The Crowd Favourite, Bosom (Singapore), made its case for coordinated maternal healthcare across pregnancy and postpartum and judging by the room’s vote, that case landed.
All three were assessed by a judging panel comprising Hester Spiegel-vdSteenhoven, Founding and Managing Partner at Epic Angels; Smita Roy, Director of Digital Native Scaling Startups (APJ) at Microsoft; Amelia Ong, CEO at OSK Ventures International Berhad; and Ain Azizah Arifin, Managing Director at Bubbles O2 Sdn Bhd.
The full INNO4HER 2026 finalist lineup: Amiya (Singapore), Bosom (Singapore), Eve Fertility (Hong Kong), FemFast (Poland), Hati Health (Philippines), MenSC Labs (Singapore), Navo Health (Singapore), Shinaraa (Hong Kong), Siikat (Malaysia), and Supple AI (Singapore). Founders came from Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Poland — making this the most geographically diverse INNO4HER batch to date. Their work spanned fertility and reproductive health, maternal care, PCOS management, menstrual stem cell research, fetal monitoring, AI-guided perimenopause support, and sustainable womenswear.
What makes this cohort’s achievements more significant is the context they are building against. OSK Ventures International Berhad’s Female Founders in Southeast Asia’s Early-Stage Private Markets report, published in March 2026, found that female-founded companies in SEA captured only approximately 12% of capital deployed in YTD 2025 – the lowest share recorded in the period analysed. Seed-stage participation for women founders has softened even as overall early-stage deal activity across the region grew. In healthcare, historically one of the stronger sectors for female-founded companies, average deal sizes fell to USD 8 million in YTD 2025, down from a peak of USD 12.7 million in 2023.
Amelia Ong, CEO at OSK Ventures International Berhad, added: “The data from our research tells a story — that female-founded companies in SEA are participating in the recovery but not capturing a proportional share of it. What we saw today at INNO4HER adds an encouraging next chapter to this story. 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.”
Smita Roy, Director of Digital Native Scaling Startups (APJ) at Microsoft, said: “Microsoft for Startups is thrilled to have supported this cohort throughout their journey, and today reinforced why this collaboration matters. The founders in INNO4HER 2026 are building with purpose and precision. We look forward to continuing to support them as they scale — and to seeing what this next chapter of FemTech unlocks for women across the region and beyond.”
“What we witnessed today is proof that women’s health innovation in this region has crossed a threshold,” said Bikesh Lakhmichand, CEO and Founding Partner of 1337 Ventures. “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. INNO4HER exists to give them the platform, the network, and the backing to do exactly that. We are proud of every founder who stood on that stage at demo day, and we are only getting started.”
For more information about Alpha Startups™ INNO4HER, visit https://1337.ventures/inno4her.
