In healthcare investing, the most transformative opportunities often hide in plain sight. While billions chase AI diagnostics and precision medicine platforms, Daye is building one where the data has been missing: gynecological and menstrual health. In November 2025, IMPETUS invested in Daye’s clinical platform.
This wasn’t just another femtech check. Women’s health still receives less than 1% of global venture capital. This was a bet on a founder who understands that the biggest barriers to women’s health aren’t just medical. They’re behavioural, cultural, and structural – and they’re hiding in plain sight.
The Gender Health Gap No One Talks About
The statistics are staggering:
- 99.8% of cervical cancers are preventable, yet 40% of women in the UK and US, and 65% of women in Bulgaria remain unscreened
- Women spend an average of 7–12 years seeking a diagnosis for conditions like endometriosis and PCOS, despite them affecting more patients than asthma and diabetes do
- Until the 1990s, women were largely excluded from clinical trials, meaning we still don’t fully understand how most drugs work in the female physiology
- Only <2.5% of EU and UK research budgets are invested in women’s health research
This isn’t a niche problem. 80% of sexually active people will have HPV at some point in their lives, putting them at risk of cervical cancer – one of the deadliest female cancers. According to McKinsey, women’s health represents a $1 trillion+ global market opportunity, driven by the fact that women account for over 50% of healthcare spending worldwide. Yet companies addressing women’s health receive less than 1% of global venture capital, creating one of the largest and most persistent funding mismatches in healthcare innovation.
The Tampon That Does More Than Absorb
Founded in 2017 by Bulgarian entrepreneur Valentina Milanova, Daye started with a deceptively simple question: What if the tampon could do more than absorb menstrual blood?
The answer has evolved into a comprehensive gynaecological health platform that combines:
1. Pain Management Innovation
Daye’s CBD-infused tampons are medical-grade menstrual products. Clinical and real-world data generated using Daye’s tampons has been published in the Journal of Endometriosis and Uterine Disorders. In the UK, the product is prescribable by GPs and has supported over 100,000 patients to date as part of routine care.
Alongside the product, Daye operates its Period & Pelvic Pain Clinic, which addresses the other half of the problem: understanding why someone is in pain and what to do next. The clinic combines diagnostics, longitudinal symptom tracking, and clinician review to identify the true drivers of pelvic pain and build personalised care plans. Together, the tampon and the clinic move care beyond trial-and-error, pairing evidence-led intervention with structured clinical decision-making.
2. At–Home Diagnostics
The Diagnostic Tampons test for HPV, STIs, and vaginal infections – replacing the uncomfortable speculum exam. Daye’s clinical trials published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology and BMC Women’s Health show that the tampon achieves diagnostic accuracy on par with clinician–collected samples, with higher patient acceptability. TIME magazine named it one of the 200 best inventions of 2024.
From Bootstraped to $20M+ Raised
What impressed us about Daye wasn’t just the technology – it was the execution. Valentina started the company at 22, bootstrapping it in evenings and weekends before attracting over $20 million in venture capital from international investors including Salica, SimplyHealth, MassMutual Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Kindred Capital and Anne Wojcicki (founder of 23andMe).
The bold decision of the team to build their own ISO–certified manufacturing facility in Bulgaria, really sets Daye apart. In an industry dominated by a single global manufacturer of tampon production lines, Daye developed proprietary machines and achieved ISO 13485, GMP and ISO 7 certification (the standards required for surgical implants like heart stents).
“When you put something inside your body, it shouldn’t be manufactured to the same standards as a kitchen sponge.” – Valentina Milanova
This commitment to quality extends throughout their operations. Every tampon undergoes individual metal detection, gamma–ray sanitisation, continuous batch testing, and biocompatibility analysis.
Our Investment Journey with Daye
At IMPETUS, we look for founder–led companies solving real problems with scalable solutions. Daye checks every box. Valentina Milanova embodies what we look for in founders. Daye combines a mission-critical problem with deep execution: regulated manufacturing discipline, clinically validated diagnostics, and a product wedge that people already know how to use.
“If you want to increase screening uptake, detect disease earlier, and close stubborn gender health gaps, you need tools that fit into women’s lives – not the other way around.” – Valentina Milanova
The Road Ahead
The funding Daye has raised – including our investment – will accelerate its expansion across the US and UK and support the transition from individual medical devices to a fully integrated diagnostic platform for gynaecological health. Working with public health systems and private healthcare partners, Daye is building the infrastructure to deliver earlier diagnosis, personalised care pathways, and longitudinal data in areas of women’s health that have been historically under-researched and under-served.
The goal is not incremental improvement, but a structural shift in how gynaecological care is accessed, measured, and delivered at scale.
At IMPETUS, we identify exceptional founders in Emerging Europe who are building category–defining companies. From Shelly Group, which became CEE’s first traded unicorn (90x return in less than a decade), to GlycanAge, pioneering preventative healthcare through glycobiology, we focus on companies that don’t just follow trends but create new markets.
Daye fits perfectly into this thesis. Valentina and her team aren’t just building products – they’re building a movement. One where prevention replaces reaction, where diagnosis takes hours instead of years, and where comfort and dignity are design principles, not afterthoughts. The next decade of healthcare winners won’t just own a test – they’ll own distribution, reimbursement logic, and the longitudinal dataset that turns testing into outcomes.
Valentina has a line I keep coming back to:
“I believe that gynaecological health is the single most important challenge we have to solve in our lifetime.”
I couldn’t agree more. We’re proud to support that mission.
