OKLAHOMA CITY — OCTOBER 2021
Cortado Ventures is pleased to announce it has funded Watkins-Conti, an Edmond, Oklahoma-based company. Watkins-Conti Products, Inc. (WCP) is a platform women’s healthcare product design firm focused on the creation of progressive, innovative, and accessible direct-to-consumer medical devices. The seed-stage investment will allow Watkins-Conti to see their flagship product, Yōni.Fit® through clinical trial testing, paving the way for product commercialization. The study is led by Erik Sokol, MD, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
The Cortado Ventures fund is managed by partners Nathaniel Harding, David Woods, and Mike Moradi. The fund invests in early-stage companies in a variety of Oklahoma regional sectors by aggregating and managing investor capital and helps startups grow through seed funding, collaboration, and mentorship. The Cortado partners have launched the venture capital fund to build next generation companies which will bring future-ready technology jobs to the region.
The Yōni.Fit®by Watkins-Conti is designed to treat the causes and symptoms of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) in women. According to Mayo Clinic, SUI affects one in four adult women, and as many as 75% of women experience urinary incontinence above age 65. Watkins-Conti is positioning for Yōni.Fit, the nonsurgical, medical-grade silicone, intravaginal device to be available to women for use in the convenience of their own home, accessible over the counter.
“Watkins-Conti’s Yōni.Fit® is uniquely poised to address a common yet serious issue that a sizeable portion of our female population faces,” Cortado Ventures Managing Partner Nathaniel Harding said. “The team brings the expertise and drive to successfully carry their invention through clinical trials and to a household brand name. This intuitive and groundbreaking solution will solve problems for over 25 million people in the United States alone.”
“We are excited to reach this pivotal stage in the development of Yōni.Fit® and address this debilitating problem that affects millions of women worldwide with an easy-to-use, everyday solution,” Founder Allison Conti said. “Our hope is that it will improve millions of women’s lives. I’m so thankful to collaborate with Cortado Ventures, and the many women participants in our clinical trials around the country, who will be among the first to experience the benefits of this device that has changed my own life.”
In 2015, through her own anecdotal experience, Conti conceived the Yōni.Fit® solution and now holds patents in several countries. She and her team are building a Platform Women’s Healthcare Company with multiple recurring revenue streams in the pipeline.
Watkins-Conti is joined by a skilled advisory board consisting of medical professionals and individuals with medical device commercialization experience, including Karen Drexler, who has sold companies to Roche and Johnson & Johnson. Drexler also sits on multiple corporate boards including public companies ResMed (RMD:NYSE) and Outset Medical (OM:NASDAQ). “Despite some progress, there is still a huge need to improve upon and deliver more options in women’s health. I am excited to support WCP in this important work.” The most recent additions to the WCP Board of Directors are Jennie Martel, the Chief of Global Brand Protection at Colgate-Palmolive and Dr. Anula Jayasuriya, a successful private equity executive with expertise in Women’s Health and deep knowledge in clinical trials.
Cortado Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm investing in ambitious, growth-driven companies to define a new generation of economic prosperity for Oklahoma and the immediate region.
If you would like more information about this topic, please call Nathaniel Harding at (405) 698-1748, or email nharding@cortado.ventures.