WoW Woman in Health Tech I Cheryl Sew Hoy, CEO and Founder of Tiny Health
Cheryl Sew Hoy is CEO and Founder of Tiny Health, a gut microbiome startup that focuses on expecting parents and their babies.
Cheryl is an accomplished CEO and serial entrepreneur who co-founded multiple companies including the non-profit #MovingForward as well as a successful consumer software startup that was acquired by Walmart Labs in 2013. In 2014, she was head-hunted by the White House team and the Prime Minister of Malaysia to become CEO of MaGIC, a $30M-funded agency to spur the innovation ecosystem in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.
Cheryl has extensive expertise in building consumer brands and has experience fundraising a total of $21M. She is an angel investor and advisor to many startups. Cheryl earned her master’s degree in Engineering Management and Data Mining and her bachelor’s degree in Operations Research & Industrial Engineering from Cornell University, NY, both on full scholarships.
Tiny Health is the first science-based platform that aims to prevent gut imbalances in babies in the critical first 1,000 days that may lead to eczema, allergies, asthma, obesity, and other chronic diseases later in life. Tiny Health’s Gut Health Test is the first-ever at-home gut microbiome test to use shotgun metagenomics sequencing that’s tailored specifically for those trying to conceive, expecting moms and babies 0-3 years of age. The report provides visibility into maternal and infant gut development and generates insights and actionable recommendations.
Tell us a bit about your background and your projects so far.
I am currently the CEO and founder of Tiny Health, an early-stage gut health platform offering at-home microbiome testing for moms and babies aimed at improving their lifelong health and reducing the risk of chronic conditions.
I had started multiple funded ventures prior to this; one that was acquired by Walmart Labs and a non-profit movement called #MovingForward. I was also the founding CEO of MaGIC, a $30M-funded agency to spur the innovation ecosystem in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.
How did you get into this industry? Has it been an easy industry to get into or have you had many challenges?
Tiny Health, the company I started, was born out of my own experiences giving birth to my children, having had a C-section with my first child and a vaginal birth at home with my second child. My interest and journey in microbiome research started when I was researching the effects of a C-section with my firstborn.
I learned that a baby gets seeded with microbes from the mom’s gut and vaginal tract via vaginal birth, and these pioneering microbes that dominate in the baby’s gut lay the foundation for long-term health and may determine whether or not they develop chronic conditions in childhood as well as later in life. But there was no stool test on the market for infants and young children. All the tests were using adult reference ranges and couldn’t provide accurate results for children.
I conceptualized the idea for Tiny Health 1 month after giving birth to my second baby because I wanted to create gut tests tailored specifically for pregnant moms and infants.
I did not have a background in microbiology, but I was reading a lot of papers that top microbiome research institutes were publishing. When the idea for Tiny Health came about, I reached out to many of the top researchers in the field to get their feedback. I eventually recruited some of the most well-respected researchers to our Scientific Advisory board: Dr. Noel Mueller from John Hopkins (he authored this review paper that really influenced me and was part of the groundbreaking vaginal seeding paper) and Dr. Meghan Azad (who is a pioneer in breastmilk bacteria and infant allergy research).
I even took an online course on microbiome sequencing to make sure that I’m picking the best technology for Tiny Health, that I’m building a product that is respected by the academic community, and to make sure that the data can be used for future microbiome research for discovery. Because of the careful steps I took to establish myself in the gut microbiome field, I was able to speak intelligently about it with industry folks and win the trust of investors.
How long did it take you to be where you are now? What was the biggest obstacle? What are the challenges of being in the industry you are in?
Because we were building a mom-and-baby gut test from the ground up, there was a lot of science involved. My first 5 hires were scientists. We spent one year collecting research data from a study I self-funded with nine mom and baby pairs - we collected the vaginal and stool samples from the moms during pregnancy and then from their babies from birth until 2 years old. With this data, we had enough proof that we were building something valuable and actionable, and we raised our $4.5M seed round with it.
And then we spent another year in R&D creating the reference ranges for our reports as well as the key insights and microbiome biomarkers for chronic conditions. We finally launched our gut tests in April 2022.
Good things take time. The biggest obstacle was the speed at which it took us to launch the product - we wanted to really honor the science; to state where we were confident about the science and not to overstate where research is still emerging and there are limited data. And now we’re on a great growth trajectory and have built a product that our community trusts. The strong demand from parents gives us a strong signal that we’re fulfilling a big market need that is currently not filled by anyone else in the market.
What are your most significant achievements to date?
I consider developing the first-ever in the world at-home test for infants and parents to be my biggest achievement to date. The test has already helped thousands of parents to get to the root cause of their children’s food allergies, colics, and sleep issues and improve their symptoms. We’re proud to see a great demand for the product from parents. Since we launched 7 months ago, we’re growing 45% month-over-month.
As for my other projects, I am proud to have helped put Malaysia and its startups on the world map through my leadership at the Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC). In my time at MaGIC, I launched programs such as the Malaysia Accelerator Program (MAP), bringing together startups across ASEAN, 500 Startups' Distro Dojo, the MaGIC Academy, and inked a partnership with Stanford University and Techstars to bridge entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia to the Silicon Valley startup ecosystem.
I am also the co-founder of the #movingforward campaign which encourages VCs to commit to a diverse, inclusive, and harassment-free workplace. In 2017, I was listed as one of Time's Persons of the Year as a "Silence breaker".
I have been included on various lists recognizing my achievements by publications and universities, including:
Top 50 Generation T List 2017, Tatler
LinkedIn Influencer (only 4 from SEA)
Rice Bowl Awards: Social Media Influencer 2016
Top 40 Under 40 2015, Prestige
Golden Globe Tiger Awards 2015 in Women Leadership
Top 10 Most Impactful Young Leaders Award 2015, UCSI
Great Women of Our Time 2014, Women's Weekly
Top 44 Female Founders Every Entrepreneur Should Know 2012, Mashable
Top 10 Women in Digital Award 2012, L'Oreal
Top 25 Women Driving NY's Tech Scene in 2011, Betabeat NY Observer
Global Ambassador to hike Mt. Kilimanjaro in March 2013
What are the projects you are currently working on?
Most of my time and resources are currently devoted to Tiny Health - the startup is growing very quickly and requires a lot of attention. We just came out publicly with a product launch and a $4.5M seed round announcement. The funding will be deployed towards R&D (we have a lot of microbiologists and scientists on our team) and product development, with 20% on growth and marketing.
Tiny’s team envisions creating a network of education and support for parents while also participating in research that further defines what roles the microbiome plays in infant health and development.
On November 1st, we just launched our first Research Edition gut test which is an IRB-approved study to investigate childhood allergies. We hope to be able to dedicate more funds towards clinical studies in the future because we want to invest in building a platform that can create better diagnosis, insights, and potentially microbiome therapeutics in the future.
Is the #WomenInTech movement important to you and if yes, why?
Yes, it’s already 2022 and we’re still at only 2% of women getting VC funding. There’s definitely an imbalance that we need to address, especially since there are statistics that back up women-founded companies producing more revenue.
With Tiny Health, I hope that I’m part of the pack that raises the statistics from 2% to 5% and eventually 20% and beyond.
What will be the key trends in your industry in the next five years and where do you see them heading?
Gut health and especially in pregnancy and infancy will be much more prominent and perhaps even routine in the doctor’s office, given how impactful it is for overall health.
As at-home testing and telemedicine become more mainstream, we think that there will be a shift to focusing on specialized chronic conditions being treated through these vehicles, rather than an in-person doctor’s visit.
Genomic sequencing costs are expected to rapidly go down in the next couple of years, and this would make a significant impact on more research and clinical studies coming out in the gut microbiome field, and consumer testing becoming more affordable and approachable.
What is the most important piece of advice you could give to anyone who wants to start a career in this industry?
First, arm yourself with the right advisors who are on top of their game in the field. They’ll introduce you to the right people, the right labs, partners and materials to get educated on. Secondly, spend time being an expert in that industry - I read hundreds of papers, took university online courses, and ran my own study. Thirdly, build a strong team to fill in the gaps - my first hires were all scientists to complement my skills while I led product and marketing.
Who are three inspirational women in your respective industry you admire?
Ara Katz, Founder of Seed (who’s managed to create a respectable DTC company that truly brings together the best microbiologists in the industry)
Mathilde Collin, Founder of Front (I’m a huge fan of her leadership and an avid user of the software)
Dr. Maria Gloria Dominquez-Bello, Professor at Rutgers University (she pioneered the vaginal seeding protocol and focuses on the microbiome development from birth) .
Join us on November 16 for our FemTech Untapped event “Innovations in gut and metabolic health” where Cheryl will be one of the speakers.
This interview was conducted by Marija Butkovic, Digital Marketing and PR strategist, founder, and CEO of Women of Wearables. She regularly writes and speaks on topics of wearable tech, fashion tech, IoT, entrepreneurship, and diversity. Follow Marija on Twitter @MarijaButkovic and read her stories for Forbes here.