New women's health and beauty biz led by Houston entrepreneur emerges from stealth with $35M in funding

beauty tech

The new startup has acquired Birchbox and plans to relaunch the beauty subscription service with its patented health customization. Photo via birchbox.com

A Houston health tech entrepreneur who's started six businesses in his career has announced his latest endeavor.

Dr. Kimon Angelides, founder of Houston health tech startups Livongo Health and Vivante Health, launched FemTec Health, a tech-enabled women's health sciences and beauty company focused on transforming the total healthcare experience for women. The company is emerging from stealth mode this week with already 10 million members, two clinical trials in progress, and a team of over 150.

FemTec Health is building the data analytics platform to support products and services for women in every life stage. The patent-pending BiomeAI™engine uses AI and deep machine learning to translate consumer, genetic, microbiome, and biometric data into the delivery of holistic healthcare personalized for every woman, according to a news release from the company.

"Our platform can be implemented across all areas including specialty care, wellness and prevention, reproductive care, sexual wellness, mental health, chronic care, and beyond," Angelides says in the release. "It is driven by state-of-the-art genomics and digital technologies that empower women to take control of their health at every stage of their life journey, based on their individual health profiles."

Angelides serves as the new company's chairman and interim CEO. Photo via LinkedIn

FemTec has already raised more than $35 million in funding from a myriad of investors, capital, and shareholders, including Longmont Capital, Ithaca LifeSciences, Unilever Ventures, Estee Lauder, Shiseido, e.Ventures, Viking Global, and Trinity Capital.

The company, which has been in the works since May of 2020, has assembled an all-star team of experts, including Dr. Kimberly Capone, chief scientific officer (formerly with Johnson & Johnson), and Dr. Laura Clapper, COO (formerly Cigna, CVS-Aetna).

"Women's health has been under-researched and underrepresented for too long," says Capone in the release. "As a woman and a scientist, I have often been the sounding board for friends and family on their wellness journey – offering advice and feedback on skincare, vaginal care, probiotics and supplements that can help with issues in skin and vaginal health, PMS and menopause. What I hear consistently is that women do not know where to go, or what products to choose that may help."

This is exactly the need the technology will help to solve.

"This is where FemTec Health's unified and coordinated platform comes in — we provide personalized services and science-based products that are meaningful and effective for women at all stages of their lives. I believe the future is female and FemTec Health will help get us there," Capone continues.

FemTec Health's business and growth model is to expand via acquisitions — and the company has several under its belt already, including beauty subscription box Birchbox, universal beauty store Mira Beauty, and beauty industry social marketing platform Liquid Grids, which has over 1.5 million members, according to the release.

"Our first acquisitions within women's health and beauty are key to our mission to revolutionize the women's healthcare and beauty industry," says Angelides, who is the company's executive chairman and interim CEO. "Women deserve a comprehensive, all encompassing model designed specifically for them. The starting point is to really understand a woman's healthcare needs and then apply smart technology like AI and predictive analytics to translate the data into actionable outcomes."

In the near future, the company plans on re-launching Birchbox, using the BiomeAI™ platform to give subscribers curated personalized skin and healthcare products. Birchbox was sold to private equity firm, Viking Global — one of FemTec's investors, in 2018.

"I have always believed in the power of women as a community, and I believe this is a natural step in the evolution of Birchbox," says Katia Beauchamp, founder of Birchbox, in the release. "Eleven years ago, we were compelled by an ability to build deep customer relationships month after month. FemTec's vision for the future of women's healthcare was inspirational to me and I could see the opportunity for the thousands of women in the Birchbox community to extend beyond consumer beauty products to a more holistic health and wellness offering."

According to the release, more strategic partnerships with health and wellness companies will be announced soon.

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Houston startup raises $2.4M for sleep apnea technology

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Houston-based Bairitone Health has closed an oversubscribed seed round and achieved a regulatory milestone, the company tells InnovationMap.

The healthtech startup, which is developing solutions and technology for untreated obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), raised $2.4 million, says CEO and co-founder Meagan Pitcher, exceeding its $2 million goal.

New York-based Golden Seeds, which invests in female entrepreneurs, led the round. Houston-based South Loop Ventures also participated, as well as MALIAM, Impact Invest Her and additional angel, venture, syndicate and family office investors. The company previously raised a pre-seed round of $435,000 in 2024.

Pitcher says the latest funding will go toward Bairitone's clinical site expansion, FDA-facing work and the continued product development of its SOMNAR technology.

"What I’m most excited about is what this lets us do next: expand our clinical testing, work with more patients and physicians, and keep improving based on what we learn," Pitcher said in a LinkedIn post.

SOMNAR is the company's noninvasive diagnostic platform for sleep apnea airway assessment. The platform maps users' anatomy during natural sleep using a facial patch to determine the root cause of airway obstruction. It then offers effective therapies for each patient.

SOMNAR received Breakthrough Device Designation from the Food and Drug Administration in April. It is currently for investigational use only and is still pending FDA clearance. The new designation aims to help speed up development, assessment and review for premarket approval for medical devices, according to the FDA. It will also give Bairitone more opportunities to interact directly with FDA experts to make the approval process more efficient.

Bairitone was founded in 2022 in the Texas Medical Center's Biodesign program by Pitcher, CTO Onur Kilic and chief medical officer Britt Cross. It was a member of Activate Houston's inaugural cohort and has participated in numerous accelerators and incubators.

The company was a finalist for the Houston Innovation Awards in 2025 and 2024.

Houston university to launch master’s in artificial intelligence

AI experts

Houston’s Rice University will welcome students to its new Master of Artificial Intelligence (MAI) program next fall, the college announced last week.

The program, which will begin taking applications this fall, is geared toward students with a computer science background as well as working engineers, scientists and technologists as they pursue careers that create and deploy AI. It will be part of Rice’s Department of Computer Science.

The new graduate degree comes after Rice created its Bachelor of Science in AI program in 2025.

Students enrolled in the 30-credit-hour, non-thesis professional degree program will prepare for prospective jobs as AI architects, applied AI researchers and AI and machine learning engineers, according to a news release.

“AI is rapidly moving from research laboratories into the systems that shape how we work, learn and solve complex problems,” Luay Nakhleh, Dean of the George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing, said in the release. “The MAI will give students the technical depth and practical experience to build these systems responsibly.”

The on-campus degree program will include coursework in AI foundations and traditional, hands-on learning over its three-semester duration. Students will have easy access to faculty and have the opportunity to collaborate in small cohorts. The program includes a required internship before completion.

Chris Jermaine, chair of Rice’s Department of Computer Science, says Houston is well-positioned to connect students with industries where AI is increasingly being used, including health care, energy, aerospace, finance and technology.

“The Master of Artificial Intelligence reflects the graduate education Rice is working to advance: rigorous, forward-looking and connected to the challenges graduates will encounter in their careers,” Jermaine said in the release. “Combining strong academic foundations with practical experience will prepare students to contribute thoughtfully and responsibly as AI continues to evolve.”

Other Texas universities offer similar degrees, like Texas A&M's online Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence, Baylor’s Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence (MSAI+), University of Houston Downtown’s Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence program, and University of Texas at Austin’s online master’s in AI.

MAI works as part of Rice’s Momentous strategic plan that incorporates responsible AI use, according to the university.

Tech giant Meta opens first Texas retail store in Houston's Galleria

Metaverse

Social media giant Meta has arrived in Houston with a new store that allows shoppers to go hands-on with all of its products. The Meta Lab, which offers an immersive retail experience, is now open daily on level two of the Galleria.

Shoppers will find all of Meta’s virtual reality products at the store, including including Meta Glasses, Ray-Ban Meta, Meta Ray-Ban Display, Oakley Meta HSTN, and Oakley Meta Vanguard. People can also try out demos of the company’s virtual reality gaming headsets, the Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest 3S.

Visitors are encouraged to put the devices on in order to experience what it’s like to wear and use them. Those who need prescription lenses for their Meta glasses can order those at the store, too.

It is the ninth Meta Lab to open nationwide and the first in Texas.

Prices start at about $225 for Ray-Ban Meta glasses and go up to $799 for the Meta Ray-Ban Display, which has an in-lens display for updates and other information. Meta Quest runs from $349 to $599.

"Our approach to experiential retail is rooted in culture, creativity, and self-expression, and we're committed to building a space that reflects the Houston community," a spokesperson told the Houston Chronicle. "We look forward to welcoming people into a new experience to get hands-on with our AI glasses and VR products."

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This article first appeared on CultureMap.com.

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