Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Kim Kardashian's company Skims prepares for an IPO, fertility and period tracking app Flo Health is a unicorn, and there's a new top-valued female-founded startup. Have a fantastic Wednesday!
- Healthy valuation. A few select startups have dominated the list of the highest-valued female-founded companies over the past few years—especially as markets have remained hostile to IPOs and more companies have chosen to remain private. A new funding round, however, puts a fresh name in the mix among the top female-founded and -led businesses.
Spring Health, led by cofounder and CEO April Koh, is now valued at $3.3 billion after raising a $100 million Series E round, I reported exclusively for Fortune this morning. That valuation places Spring near the top echelon of female-founded and -led startups—including Melanie Perkins' Canva ($26 billion), Toyin Ajayi's Cityblock ($6.3 billion), and Rachel Romer's Guild ($4.4 billion).
"I'm very proud to be one of the few women to be leading a scaled business," Koh told me this week. In 2021, the now 32-year-old became the youngest female founder leading a unicorn. Spring was last valued at $2.5 billion in 2023.
Spring Health is an AI-powered mental health startup that matches people with the right form of care; it mainly sells its service to employers and health plans.
Koh founded the company eight years ago after her own experience struggling to find the right kind of mental health care in college. Eight months ago, she became a parent, and she says that welcoming her daughter shaped her commitment to mental health.
"It's given me a renewed sense of mission," she says. "I was always very passionate about eliminating every barrier to mental health. And now I'm very passionate about building a better world for [her] and making sure if she ever struggles with her mental health that she is able to get care that works for her. I keep that in mind every day as I build Spring."
Spring's Series E was led by the growth-stage firm Generation Investment Management as the startup looks toward an IPO, although Koh says she's in no rush.
For more on the round and Spring's new valuation, read my story here.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
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