In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Sioned Fôn Jones co-founder of BoobyBiome and award-winning scientist with a PhD in Biophysics. Alongside co-founders Dr Lydia Mapstone and Dr Tara O'Driscoll, Sioned is doing something truly rare: building a science-led company in a space that barely existed before they arrived.

We get into the breast milk microbiome, the staggering research gap (we know more about tomatoes, coffee and wine than breast milk), and why that gap is not accidental. It sits at the intersection of women's health and infant health, two of the most historically underfunded areas in science, and BoobyBiome is determined to change that.

The episode covers the origin story of both products: the live microbiome drop developed to give every baby a foundational microbiome regardless of how they are fed, and the preservation device born out of a serendipitous discovery about oxygen's impact on stored breast milk. Sioned walks us through the full funding journey, from a £750k pre-seed in 2022 led by VenRex, to a £2.5M seed in 2025 led by Empirical Ventures, alongside six Innovate UK grants totalling £2.6M after five failed applications first.

We also explore the very real challenge of not fitting neatly into any investor category: too consumer for deep tech VCs, too science-heavy for consumer VCs, and not quite femtech enough for women's health funds. Sioned shares how they navigated that, built conviction without a launched product, and used community, surveys, waitlists and strategic board members to prove product-market fit.

This is a brilliant episode for any founder who is having to educate the market as much as build for it.

Topics covered: The science of the breast milk microbiome and why it has been so overlooked How BoobyBiome's two products came to exist and why both matter Fundraising at the intersection of biotech and consumer Winning Innovate UK grants and what that took Building a board and advisory network from day one Community-led development without lived experience as founders Navigating partnerships with potential competitors Keeping focus when progress feels invisible

Get involved with BoobyBiome: BoobyBiome are actively looking for mothers to join their beta testing and pilot launch for the preservation device, as well as ongoing breast milk donations to support their research. Find out how to donate breast milk and join the study here.

Connect with Sioned: LinkedIn BoobyBiome info@boobybiome.com

Our podcast sponsor is Progyny Global. A company that provides best-in-class fertility, pregnancy, postpartum and menopause benefits for the modern global workforce. Progyny Global offers an inclusive platform that connects employees with top experts, clinics, and treatments around the world. To learn more visit: https://progynyglobal.com/#contact or to get in touch with our team directly via email (Sasha.tory@progynyglobal.com)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Meenakshi Jhala is an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow, Co-Founder of Tiny Ventures, and Chief of Staff at Synthax. Her mission is to have a global positive impact on human life — operating across clinical medicine, research, and investment.

In this episode we cover:

• Meenakshi's journey from medical school to the intersection of medicine, research, and VC
• How working with Millbleep and publishing research in BMJ Innovations opened her eyes to health tech
• Her time as a venture analyst at RISE, a digital health VC fund
• Why she believes doctors make great investors — and what skills from medicine transfer directly to the world of startups and VC
• The founding story of Tiny Ventures and its unique competition format: teams of four conducting live due diligence in front of senior VC judges
• The real challenges of building community from scratch — venues, judges, and juggling an obs & gynae rotation
• How to pitch partnerships when you don't have capital, and the value of bringing talent and senior VCs into the same room
• Her role at Synthax, building a voice-first operating system for specialty clinics in the US
• Identity and conviction as a founder — why believing in yourself isn't a soft skill
• The importance of operating as your future self, not your present self

Connect with Meenakshi: LinkedIn

Links mentioned: Tiny Ventures | Synthax

Our podcast sponsor is Progyny Global. A company that provides best-in-class fertility, pregnancy, postpartum and menopause benefits for the modern global workforce. Progyny Global offers an inclusive platform that connects employees with top experts, clinics, and treatments around the world. To learn more visit: https://progynyglobal.com/#contact or to get in touch with our team directly via email (Sasha.tory@progynyglobal.com)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr Chrysi Sergaki is the founder and CEO of XX Innovation, a not-for-profit organisation driving systems change in women's health. With seven years at the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), she brings deep experience across policy, regulation, research, innovation and investment — and a rare ability to align the full range of stakeholders needed to drive real change. Her pivot to XX Innovation came after writing a landmark paper on the untapped potential of vaginal microbiome diagnostics, which opened her eyes to just how fragmented the women's health ecosystem truly is.

The real meaning of ecosystem — why the term is routinely misused to mean just startups and investors, and why that framing is part of the problem.

Fragmentation across the full pathway — from regulation and NHS access through to investment incentives and patient involvement, and why each breakdown point needs its own solution.

Regulation is not the enemy — why the fear of the regulatory process is a perception problem, not a reality, and why it is never too early for founders to engage with the MHRA.

Misaligned investment incentives — why the lack of a clear return pathway pushes companies toward wellness when the real need is diagnostics and therapeutics.

The knowledge gap — how little we still understand about female physiology, and why that blocks meaningful progress across the whole system.

Advice for founders — decide who you are, engage the regulator early, think about your clinical validation, and always centre the patient.

Accountability in action — why enthusiasm without follow-through is noise, and how to test partners early with small concrete actions.

• 🌐 XX Innovation website
• 💼 Dr Chrysi on LinkedIn
• 💼 XX Innovation on LinkedIn
• 📸 XX Innovation on Instagram

Our podcast sponsor is Progyny Global. A company that provides best-in-class fertility, pregnancy, postpartum and menopause benefits for the modern global workforce. Progyny Global offers an inclusive platform that connects employees with top experts, clinics, and treatments around the world. To learn more visit: https://progynyglobal.com/#contact or to get in touch with our team directly via email (Sasha.tory@progynyglobal.com)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.