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Proactive For Her, a women-focused healthcare startup, on Wednesday said it raised $5.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Vertex Ventures SEA and India and existing investor Nexus Venture Partners.

The startup said it will use the funds to expand its digital product offering, launch its offline flagship clinic in Bengaluru, and grow its online customer base.

Proactive For Her was founded by IIT-Bombay alumna Achitha Jacob in 2020, and focuses on providing judgement-free, progressive, body-positive, queer affirmative, and trauma-informed healthcare services and consultations.

At present, the startup offers menstrual health, sexual health, skin and hair care, and PCOS services online, via teleconsultation, as well as offline, via its clinic – the first of which it is launching in Bengaluru.

“The stigma attached to women’s menstrual, sexual, and reproductive health issues, coupled with lack of access to non-judgemental support, have long prevented many women from addressing their healthcare needs,” said Achitha, in a press statement.

“At Proactive For Her, we believe all women should have access to the best medical experts, who have a patient-centric, liberal, and empathetic approach to women’s health issues,” she added.

The startup has an in-house team of doctors, therapists, and nutritionists, engaged with over 5,000 women, so far, and hopes to service over a lakh more over the next year.

“We believe Proactive For Her is poised to change the way women access healthcare in India,” said Kanika Mayar, Senior Executive Director at Vertex Ventures SEA, adding, “Women are susceptible to diverse and complex health issues, starting from puberty, and there is a large unmet need in many areas where patients lack information and which require a more liberal, personalised, and empathetic approach to diagnosis and treatment.”

The startup raised $1.2 million in seed funding from Nexus Venture Partners and Enzia Ventures. In partnership with over 25 of India’s biggest companies, it has organised webinars around feminine health concerns and offered 1:1 coaching programmes to female employees.

Proactive For Her has three key products — teleconsultations, diagnostics, and long-term programmes. Consultations start for as low as Rs 500, which helps set the startup apart from other market offerings.