Laboratoires üma raises €4M Seed to scale hormone-free menopause supplements

Laboratoires üma (Lyon) has raised €4 million in a Seed round backed by The Moon Venture, Le DealClub, and Kima Ventures, announced 18 September 2026. The company, founded in 2023 by Priscaël Tovolahy-Gauvin, makes hormone-free supplements formulated specifically for perimenopause and menopause — a product category that has had remarkably little serious investment for its market size.

The headline figure is not the funding amount but what preceded it: more than 100,000 customers and a profitable direct-to-consumer operation before the institutional Seed. That combination — product-market fit demonstrated at scale, profitability maintained through the growth phase, and now outside capital for acceleration — is an unusual order of operations in consumer health. It also makes Tovolahy-Gauvin's raise a different kind of risk story than the typical pre-revenue DTC bet.

The market the company is addressing

Perimenopause typically begins in the mid-to-late forties and can last a decade; menopause symptoms — hot flushes, sleep disruption, brain fog, joint pain, mood instability — affect the majority of women through this period with varying intensity. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) remains the most effective clinical intervention for moderate to severe symptoms, but many women prefer non-hormonal options, either because of contraindications, personal preference, or access constraints.

The supplement market targeting this segment has historically been dominated by underdifferentiated products with weak evidence bases. üma's positioning is that formulation quality and scientific rigour are the differentiator: specific active ingredients at clinically relevant doses, backed by evidence rather than wellness positioning. Over 100,000 customers making repeat purchases in a category where churn is high is the most direct evidence available that the differentiation is working at the consumer level.

Kima Ventures and the architecture of the round

Kima Ventures — the seed fund co-founded by Xavier Niel, known for its volume approach and speed of deployment — entering a consumer health company founded by a single French founder is not its most obvious deal profile. The rationale is more legible when framed as a thesis bet: if the perimenopause supplement category is going to be claimed by a scientific-quality brand rather than a wellness brand, now is the earliest moment to get into the company that looks most likely to claim it.

The Moon Venture specialises in femtech and women's health across Europe and brings distribution and strategic access in the exact market segment üma operates in. Le DealClub adds a French angel-network dimension.

Note on investors: the Angelsquare database lists Ring Capital as a participant in this round; FrenchWeb's structured roundup does not. The discrepancy has not been resolved between publication and the time of writing — Ring Capital is not listed above until this is confirmed.

The €4 million will be used to extend the product range beyond the core menopause formulation, begin international expansion from the Lyon base, and deepen the scientific validation underpinning the formulations. A consumer health company with 100,000 repeat customers and a profitable P&L raising its first external round at €4 million is buying selective acceleration, not existence. The question the round doesn't answer is how large the addressable market is when framed as premium science-backed supplements rather than the broader wellness category — but 100,000 customers and profitability is a more honest starting point than most consumer health companies reach before their Series A.