Rachel Bartholomew has been involved in the start up community for the past 10 years working in various roles in small businesses, venture capital, innovation labs and ecosystem partnerships. She is currently working on her second business, Hyivy Health, focused on creating a medical device for women with pelvic floor conditions after her own cervical cancer battle in 2019. Her last start up, an automotive ecommerce software, worked with large corporate clients, such as eBay and Canadian Tire. She is a graduate of the Masters of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology program at the University of Waterloo and after graduation, she became an entrepreneurial advisor to over 250 formation stage businesses. She has worked as a professor in entrepreneurship for quantum computing, an Analyst for a venture capital firm, an Innovation Manager at a large Canadian Financial Institution and helped restart Laurier University’s incubator program.
1. For those of us who aren’t familiar, could you tell us a bit more about Hyivy?
Hyivy Health (pronounced Hi-Ivy) is a Canadian medical device company created by Rachel Bartholomew after her recent fight with cervical cancer. She wanted to change the way we treat hypotonic and hypertonic pelvic floor symptoms for the 1 in 3 women who will experience pelvic health challenges in their lifetime. Hyivy Health has created a pelvic rehabilitation system for women dealing with pelvic floor issues caused by a diagnosis such as menopause, post-partum, and gynecological conditions such as endometriosis and pelvic based cancers. Our system consists of a multitherapy vaginal wand performing hot and cold therapy, self-lubrication and auto dilation that are used in combination with biosensors, which are collecting the first ever data set on the pelvic floor. This data is tracked using our patient mobile application and our remote patient monitoring, clinician software portal for OBGYNs and Pelvic Floor Therapists.
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