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After battling recurring infections herself, the founder of Australia’s only TGA-approved pessary probiotic designed to support healthy vaginal microbiomes is now preparing to launch the V-Spot in the US next month, as a clinical trial back home explores its benefits for couples affected by genital mycoplasmas.
Founded in 2021 by Catherine Slogrove, Amelia Bio offers a prebiotic pessary that features four active probiotic species – known as lactobacillus strains - designed to support the vaginal microbiome and vaginal health that can provide relief to women experiencing discomfort or infections.
To date, the V-Spot has generated $350,000 in sales across 12 countries, including Australia, the UK and the US over the last six months. In that time, the brand has also become available nationwide in more than 300 pharmacies, IVF clinics and naturopaths.
With surging demand, Slogrove is looking to take the product to the US next month in a bid to reduce wait times and get V-Spot into the hands of more women sooner.
Speaking to Business News Australia, Slogrove explained that 40 per cent of sales are coming from international customers, with the vast majority being women from the US.
“There are women there who need support for their microbiomes and who are searching all over the world to find the things that can help them. The more impact that we can have, the more women that we can help. We can obviously help more people if we move to a bigger market,” Slogrove said.
“To be honest, sometimes you have to take the step – you don't know what it's actually going to be like. We could wait for more stable times, but I think waiting would cost us in the long run and we've got to take the opportunities that present themselves to us.
“We'll initially launch B2C quite quickly to really support our customers and grow our customer base. They’re currently buying from Australia…then it will be looking at tapping into the healthcare industry there. They also suffer from a lack of really high-quality probiotic pessaries in the US. I think that will be really well received by the healthcare industry.”
Amelia Bio came to fruition based on Slogrove’s own experiences with recurrent vaginal infections a decade ago, which she said brought physical discomfort and shame that impacted her daily life. Struck by how little innovation there was in the space, she teamed up with Dr Nada Millen, who has a PhD in pharmaceutical technology, to formulate the probiotic over the last three years.
Oral probiotics can take 30 to 60 days to reach the vagina, with many of the benefits lost after being processed by the gastric system, while the V-Spot – which can only be inserted vaginally - is able to make an impact within five to 10 days.
The V-Spot probiotic suppository is also part of a clinical trial in Australia, where researchers from the University of Western Australia are investigating couples experiencing genital mycoplasmas, which are a group of bacteria - including Mycoplasma genitalium, Mycoplasma hominis, and Ureaplasma urealyticum - that are transmitted through sexual contact, can cause infection and often show no symptoms.
As part of the trial, both partners in the couple will first be treated with a round of antibiotics and following that, the female will use the V-Spot probiotic.
“The aim of the trial is to increase live birth rates…so [to help] couples who have these pathogens in their microbiome that may be affecting their infertility,” Slogrove said.
“We hope to see the healthy population of good bacteria in the microbiome, and ultimately support the treatment for this very under-researched pathogen that could have really dramatic impacts on people's lives.”
The call for more venture capital support
To date, Amelia Bio has secured $90,000 in funding from Australian Medical Angels, The George Institute for Global Health and the University of New South Wales 10x accelerator.
However, Slogrove would like to see increased support from local venture capital firms to back not only digital health services, but real-world products that could alleviate long-ignored women’s health issues.
“There is so much talk about the lack of research and women's health and the lack of innovation in women's health…those companies are often very underfunded through traditional means like venture capital and private equity,"
“I think that's because they don't necessarily meet the mandate of what venture capitalists might be looking for. They may be more interested in investing in a period tracking app or something that has a recurring revenue software component.
“It would be fantastic to see venture capitalists and people who are also creating women's networks…start to reconsider their mandate - to look at investing in companies that may be similar to us, which are actually bringing out a product that may help solve a physical problem.”
Just 15 per cent of total capital raised in 2024 went to startups with at least one woman on the founding team, according to the State of Australian Startup Funding 2024 report released by Cut Through Venture and Folklore Ventures. That’s a decline from 18 per cent in 2023 and a significant drop from 20 per cent in 2020.
The report did highlight record levels of participation from women in early-stage funding. Women-led or mixed-gender founding teams made up 42 per cent of angel and pre-seed deals and 29 per cent of seed rounds—an encouraging lift from 2023, suggesting diversity initiatives may be having an impact where companies are first getting off the ground.
However, this momentum doesn’t carry through to later stages of funding. At Series A, the proportion of funding going to teams with at least one woman founder dropped to 19 per cent, down from 22 per cent the year before. At Series B and beyond, the figure remained flat at just 16 per cent.
“I think not all of the solutions in health are digital health solutions. There should really be a swing focus to physical health and relief, which is what women really need,” Slogrove said.
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