This Femtech Startup Is Fixing Postpartum Care

One in five new mothers in the U.S. experiences a postpartum mood disorder. Up to 10% develop thyroid dysfunction. Women with gestational diabetes face a 50% chance of developing Type 2 diabetes within five years. And those with hypertension during pregnancy are seven times more likely to face heart disease, the leading cause of women’s death.

Yet after childbirth, standard lab testing all but disappears, despite the fact that the first 40 days postpartum will shape the next 40 years of a woman’s health, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Trellis Health aims to change that with the first at-home postpartum lab test, launching today. The $239 kit tests more than 30 biomarkers, including hormone, thyroid, nutrient, inflammation, and metabolic levels—all from the privacy of home, with results delivered in three to four days.

It’s a product designed not just for medical accuracy, but for the lived reality of new moms—filling a critical postpartum care gap in the U.S. healthcare system.

Postpartum Lab Test Built For The Realities of Motherhood

From IVF Mom To Femtech Founder

Estelle Giraud, CEO and co-founder of Trellis Health, didn’t set out to become a femtech founder. She holds a PhD in population genetics, spent years in academic research, and helped build Illumina’s U.S. precision medicine business into a $400 million division. But it was her IVF pregnancy—and a brush with postpartum preeclampsia—that inspired her to innovate in the women’s health sector.

“I’m a healthcare optimist,” she said. “The future is hyper-personalized, digital-first, and it’s not that far away. But no one was building the infrastructure to get us there.” That realization led to the creation of Trellis Health, a women’s health startup focused on giving patients control over their data and care.

Its platform serves as an operating system for family health, integrating hospital and provider records into a unified timeline and offering “care in your pocket” through asynchronous chat with certified nurse-midwives.

How Trellis Health’s At-Home Postpartum Lab Test Works

The company’s new lab test builds on that platform with a physical product designed for ease, comfort, and access. The test uses a Tasso device—a painless, stick-on patch that draws blood in 10 minutes from a woman’s upper arm. There’s no need for a clinic visit, no fear of needles, and no childcare coordination required.

“We built this for exhausted new moms,” Giraud explained. “She shouldn’t have to juggle naps, car seats, and 12 vials of blood to get care.”

The test screens for more than 30 biomarkers tied to maternal health, including anemia, thyroid and hormone function, vitamin D, and signs of inflammation. Results are returned in three to four days, empowering women to walk into their six-week postpartum visit with real data—and fundamental questions to ask.

Why Postpartum Diagnostics Matter

During pregnancy, women are tested for dozens of conditions at regular intervals. But once the baby arrives, those metrics disappear—despite clear risks to maternal health. “We test hundreds of biomarkers during pregnancy. Then we test nothing. That’s a healthcare failure,” said Giraud.

Conditions like postpartum anemia, undiagnosed thyroid disorders, and vitamin deficiencies can mimic or exacerbate postpartum depression, fatigue, anxiety, and long-term metabolic disease. But because they’re rarely measured, they often go untreated.

“I had gestational diabetes and this is easier than my CGM [Continuous Glucose Monitoring]—the whole process was simple and so straightforward,” said Amara Bell, a Trellis Health customer and postpartum labs beta tester. “This was my second pregnancy, and it’s been game-changing for me to have everything in one place and not have to log into multiple portals and screenshot things to take to my different providers.”

Trellis Health aims to change that—not just by offering an affordable test, but by reshaping how postpartum care is delivered and who controls the data.

Funding Femtech: Overcoming Bias In Venture Capital For Women

The Market Isn’t Niche—It Impacts All Of Humanity

Despite the clear need, raising capital for a femtech startup remains a challenge. Giraud was often told pregnancy was “too niche”—a “life stage” unlikely to lead to a scalable business.

Her response? “Everyone is here because someone was pregnant. That’s not a niche.”

Trellis Health’s mission is bigger than postpartum: It’s about building a consumer healthcare platform that supports people through all life stages, starting with one of the most overlooked.

Venture Capital For Female Founders Still Lags Behind

Venture Capital For Female Founders Still Lags Behind
Women startup CEOs receive just 14% of venture capital and often face questions about risk and responsibility—focused on prevention—while men are asked about scale and growth, a more promotion-oriented framing. This dynamic, documented by researcher Dana Kanze, shapes who gets funded—and how much. “Male founders expect funding. Female founders expect skepticism,” Giraud said. “We need to flip that script.”

She succeeded by telling a confident, data-driven story—and by seeking out investors who already understood the market. Today, 80% of Trellis Health’s cap table is women, including solo GPs and mothers who have lived through the postpartum experience themselves. “Representation matters,” said Giraud. “These women didn’t need convincing—just data.”

“After the birth of my daughter, I struggled to get answers about my own health in the postpartum period,” said Genevieve LeMarchal, General Partner at Suncoast Ventures. “Trellis is addressing exactly what I wish had existed—accessible, clinically relevant testing designed for new mothers. It’s a smart and highly needed innovation that has the potential to transform postpartum care at scale for mothers.”

Importantly, men are also on the cap table. Research indicates a concerning paradox: Even though female investors are more inclined to support female founders, startups that received their initial funding exclusively from women VCs were only half as likely to secure follow-on funding. This disparity is often attributed to attribution bias, as subsequent investors may assume that gender, rather than merit, drove the initial funding decisions.

### Consumer-Led Healthcare Innovation Gains Momentum

Trellis Health is directly targeting women by offering a lab kit priced at $239, which is eligible for HSA/FSA reimbursement. Instead of relying on a large advertising budget, the company is leveraging the power of word-of-mouth marketing. According to Giraud, women seek a sense of community and trust peer recommendations more than institutional endorsements.

Early traction for Trellis Health is being driven by community networks, pregnancy forums, and postpartum support groups. With the support of a medical advisory board, the company is using trusted information and user experience to build momentum through non-traditional marketing strategies.

## Bridging the Postpartum Health Gap with Data and Trust

Despite controlling 80% of healthcare spending, women’s postpartum needs are often overlooked. Trellis Health is not just addressing a gap in the market; it is reshaping the landscape of care. Giraud believes that the current environment presents a unique opportunity for women to drive change through their spending habits.

Trellis Health is envisioning a future where at-home diagnostics, consumer healthcare platforms, and women’s health innovation become standard practices rather than exceptions. The introduction of their postpartum lab test signifies a shift towards prioritizing postpartum care and acknowledges that women are at the forefront of driving this change, rather than institutions.