Women's health startup Midi Health hit a $1 billion valuation. Its founder says AI changed everything.

In a remarkable shift, Midi Health, a startup focused on women's health, has achieved a valuation of $1 billion, largely thanks to the integration of artificial intelligence. Joanna Strober, the CEO, initially aimed to create a dedicated menopause startup, but the landscape changed dramatically with the advent of AI. Founded in 2021 and based in Palo Alto, California, Midi Health specializes in providing virtual care specifically for menopausal women. During a recent event hosted by Business Insider in San Francisco, Strober shared how AI has reshaped her vision for the company. "I thought I was starting a menopause company, but it turns out I'm building an AI company," she remarked. The innovative use of AI has enabled Midi Health to train thousands of healthcare providers to effectively respond to patient inquiries, allowing the company to serve over 20,000 women weekly, translating to millions annually. This transition, however, was not without its challenges. Due to the limited research surrounding women's health, particularly menopause, generic AI chatbots—often trained on broad internet data—proved inadequate. Consequently, Midi Health took the initiative to develop its own chatbot, meticulously crafted using high-quality, validated data while filtering out outdated studies. Strober also emphasized the importance of collaboration within the company. She has been actively engaging with nurses across the country, introducing them to tools like Google Gemini, which streamlined a complex task from what was expected to be a month-long process down to just ten minutes. Furthermore, Midi Health has initiated AI office hours, where software engineers assist various teams in enhancing their workflows through AI integration. Strober reassured that this technological evolution is not resulting in job losses but is rather designed to augment the roles of existing employees, ensuring that AI serves as a supportive tool rather than a replacement.