Jenny Button came up with the idea for Emm during the COVID lockdown. While using devices like the Oura ring and Whoop band to learn about her health, she realized there was no technology available to track something crucial—reproductive and menstrual well-being.
“I found it surprising, since these are things every woman wants to monitor and understand better,” she explained to TechCrunch. She wondered: Why not develop a wearable that could provide deeper insights into reproductive health? She reached out to an engineer at Dyson, made a connection, and began experimenting with the concept.
“After five years, countless prototypes, and extensive user trials, we’ve introduced the world’s first smart menstrual cup,” Button announced.
The company, based in the UK, has secured a $9 million (£6.8 million) seed investment, led by Lunar Ventures, as it gets ready to bring its product to market next year.
The device works like a standard menstrual cup—meant to collect menstrual fluid instead of absorbing it. However, Emm’s version is crafted from medical-grade silicone and incorporates ultra-thin, sophisticated sensors. These sensors collect information to help users recognize trends in their cycles. Button envisions this technology could “revolutionize the way menstrual and reproductive health conditions are researched, diagnosed, and treated.”
She’s not alone in her thinking. Other femtech entrepreneurs told The Guardian recently that menstrual blood is an “untapped resource in women’s health” that could reveal insights not possible through tests using blood from the circulatory system.
For example, it could assist in identifying painful and frequently misdiagnosed conditions such as endometriosis.
“Currently, one in ten women are affected by endometriosis,” Button noted. “This is a condition, like many in reproductive health, that typically takes between seven and ten years to be properly diagnosed.”
According to Button, this lengthy process “mainly results from insufficient data and inadequate clinical understanding of menstrual health.” She added, “Until now, there haven’t been reliable tools to objectively and accurately monitor this aspect of health.”
Beyond endometriosis, she pointed out that “one in three women” will face “serious reproductive health challenges” at some point in their lives.
Information collected by the Emm app is encrypted and kept safe, with two-factor authentication in place. “It’s always anonymized or pseudonymized,” meaning any personal details are either removed or replaced with codes, “and only accessible to Emm staff who truly require it,” she explained.
Button described her fundraising as “strategic,” noting she connected with her main investor through her professional network. Other backers include Alumni Ventures (who also supported Oura) and BlueLion Global. The funds will be used to launch the product in the UK next year, and she mentioned that the waitlist has already surpassed 30,000 pre-orders.
Some of the capital will also support research and development. Button aims to enter the U.S. market by early 2027.
“Menstrual health is just the beginning for Emm,” Button said. “Ultimately, I believe we’ll make a significant difference in women’s health overall,” she continued, expressing hopes to eventually broaden the product’s scope to include diagnostics, digital health tools, and even therapeutics.
“Our goal is to speed up diagnoses, empower people with the information they need to advocate for themselves, and ultimately enable them to take charge of their own health and bodies,” she said.
