We are pleased to announce our investment in Peppy Health’s $45m Series B financing. The Company is the UK’s leading provider of gender-based health services in the workplace, including fertility, baby and menopause support services. Peppy will use the capital to consolidate their leading position in the UK and to expand into the US market.

Supporting women at work

Despite the recent economic slowdown, unemployment is at record lows and competition for talent is fierce. Large employers recognise the importance of attracting and retaining talent – especially among women. Many large companies have made ambitious commitments to increasing gender diversity across their workforce. But few employers have addressed the underlying issues that impact talent retention.

The two key moments when women are likely to alter their career paths are when they start a family or go through menopause. Nearly 20% of women leave employment in the five years after having their first child. 50% of women reduce their working hours because of menopause symptoms.

Traditional healthcare / payer systems have done a poor job of addressing a number of areas of women’s health, particularly around menopause and reproductive health. Most employees do not feel comfortable talking about these issues with colleagues and can feel isolated and frustrated at work, causing them to become disengaged or even quit.

Peppy’s services are designed to address the gaps in existing healthcare offerings and support employees at key life stages to make sure they are healthy and happy. Peppy users have access to a large library of specialist high-quality content and can speak to nurses via mobile chat and video conference about common issues they are facing. All consultations take place with a real person who is a qualified nurse and an expert in one of Peppy’s focus areas. User consultations are private and employers only receive aggregated and anonymised data on the uptake of the service and feedback provided.

Rapid growth

We first met the Peppy team in 2020, when they were providing text-based support for menopause and fertility to a handful of corporate customers in the UK. In the last two years the Company has seen phenomenal growth. Peppy now works with over 200 companies and over 1 million employees have access to the platform.

Their clients are some of the largest employers in the UK including Tesco, Santander, and AstraZeneca. They have built on initial baby and menopause offerings to launch propositions in fertility, men’s health and other women’s health services. They have secured distribution partnerships with several of the leading UK health insurers and benefit brokers and established their position as the clear market leader in the UK. Peppy has also signed contracts with their first US customers and is making inroads into a massive market.

The three founders Mridula Pore, Max Landry and Evan Harris make a formidable team and they have started building a world-class management team around them. We are excited to support them as they build the leading provider of gender-based employee benefits globally.