Hale Secures €350,000 Pre-Seed Funding to Redefine Women's Pain Management
Berlin-based startup Hale, focusing on women's pelvic pain management, has announced a successful €350,000 pre-seed funding round. The fundraising, led by Vento (the Italian chapter of Exor Ventures), paves the way for Hale to revolutionize patient care in Italy and throughout Europe, starting with a supportive home-care management app.
Other major Italian investors have contributed alongside Exor Ventures, including B Heroes, Delirus Capital, StartupGym, Moonstone Fund, and a group of private investors such as Luca Foschini (founder of Evidation Health), Francesco Zaccariello (founder of eFarma), Alice Ravizza (medical device expert), and Veronica Diquattro (Global Markets at DAZN, formerly Google and Spotify).
Hale is focusing on a problem that is common but often ignored: pelvic pain in women. One in four women experiences this issue regularly, often due to conditions like endometriosis, vulvodynia, or a tense pelvic floor. These conditions aren't well understood and there's no guaranteed cure, which can significantly impact a woman's life. The pain can cause difficulties in work, during sexual activity, and in everyday routines, affecting their physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
Many patients don't receive the proper support they need due to several structural issues. These include a lack of sufficient research into these conditions, a shortage of specialists, limited options for diagnosis and treatment, and out-of-pocket costs for patients. The founders of Hale, who are also patients, know from personal experience how debilitating the pain can be and how challenging it is to access the right support.
Co-founder Vittoria Brolis explains: "It took us years to get the right diagnosis, and along the way, we tried treatments and procedures that didn't work. We put together a team of experts in gynaecology, physiotherapy, urology, and psychotherapy. With their help, we've reached a point of balance.”
Hale’s mission is to reinvent the support system and create the first online clinic for women's invisible pain. They plan to do this using solid scientific research, patients’ data, and working together with the healthcare system. Founded by Gaia Salizzoni and Vittoria Brolis in late 2022, the startup has already grown its team, bringing on board Giulia Romagnosi as the Communication & Marketing Lead and Fabrizio Spadaro as the Tech Lead.
Their first product is an app that allows patients to receive a personalized home-care assistance plan, connect with a private community, and monitor their well-being on a daily basis. Soon, it will be possible to receive data-driven personalized advice, request consultations with experts, and share information with the patient's medical team. Hale complements traditional therapies by improving patient adherence, adding much-needed psycho-sexual support, and providing relevant insights to patients and medical teams.
“Healthcare systems need to maximize resources, address their inefficiencies, and personalize health pathways” explains co-founder Gaia Salizzoni. "Technology will play a crucial role in decentralizing care through home assistance, patient involvement, and remote monitoring.”
With this funding, Hale takes the first step towards reducing the gender gap in pain research. "Being digital primarily means using data to understand our own context. When it comes to women's health, any new data is essential to move one step forward" adds Gaia.
About Hale
Hale is the platform that assists genito-pelvic pain patients to improve their quality of life, contributing to bridging the gender pain gap in research. Available in the Italian market, and from 2024 in the rest of Europe, Hale operates via monthly subscription, but will soon be offered through clinics and in company corporate health plans. Founded in 2022 by Gaia Salizzoni and Vittoria Brolis, Hale is headquartered in Berlin.
For more information about the project, visit: https://www.halecommunity.com/