Everyone needs healthcare. Yet, to the surprise of many people I speak with, both healthcare providers and the consumers interacting with the healthcare system are overwhelmingly female. Approximately 80% of healthcare decisions are made by women, who commonly guide care not just for themselves, but also for their children and families. Likewise, the majority of healthcare jobs — including doctors, nurses and technicians — are held by women. Given this, it’s worth a double-take that the system is run almost entirely by men. Only about a fifth of healthcare executives are women. I’m part of a small percentage of women who run digital health startups. My company, Maven, a digital clinic for women, bridges gaps in healthcare by providing on-demand access to a network of over 1,000 women’s and family health providers. Patients can see Maven Practitioners either by video, by text

Being a parent is stressful. Being a parent in the information age? "Utterly overwhelming." Those are the words Jenny Davis, mom of a six-month-old, uses to describe her experience with pregnancy and parenthood so far. "Everyone from the UPS guy to random people at the gym gives me unsolicited advice," she says. And on her Facebook page, well-meaning strangers love to opine on everything from walkers ("hazardous for cognitive development!") to specific toys ("that one has mold!"). Davis says the influx of unsolicited advice put her in constant state of anxiety—that is, until she started consulting actual medical professionals. She turned to Maven, a telemedicine startup that specializes in women's health care, for advice without the need to actually visit a doctor's office. Davis, whose employer offers Maven as benefit, says the service helped her avoid a late-night trip to the emergency room after a (failed) attempt to self-diagnose via Google.

Maven Clinic: For connecting women with the care they need, when they need it For many women, a family doctor simply isn't equipped to handle questions specific to women's health. Some women will see their gynecologist, but that's not always appropriate for issues related to hormones and nutrition, for instance. That's where Maven Clinic, a telehealth company for women founded by former journalist Katherine Ryder, comes in. The company works with hundreds of providers that sit inside and outside of the traditional medical system, including lactation consultants, midwives, family doctors, obstetricians, and physical therapists—and all of them were vetted for their ability to serve female patients.

If you've ever suddenly come down with a deeply uncomfortable ailment like strep throat or a urinary-tract infection, you likely have two immediate thoughts: "I know exactly what this is and how I need to treat it," and, "How am I going to get in to see a doctor right away?" Enter Maven, a women's health app that connects you with doctors via video chat, allowing you to ask questions, get advice, and receive prescriptions.

How to make an appointment with a digital doctor, and even get a prescription, with Katherine Ryder, Maven founder and CEO.

Maven, a telemedicine app that caters to the healthcare needs of women, launches out of beta today with $2.2 million in seed funding. Investors include Great Oaks Venture Capital, BoxGroup, F Cubed, and several angels including WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg, former Gilt Groupe and AOL exec Susan Lyne, and Gerson founder Thomas Lehrman. Maven founder Kate Ryder was working as a VC at Index Ventures when she came up with the idea for a digital healthcare app for women. “A lot of my friends started having kids, so I started doing some research. After speaking to many women in their 20’s and 30’s, I found that what was out there didn’t have specific focus on women’s health.”