UK-based Joyvié Health has closed its pre-Seed funding round, raising a total of €897k ($1.04 million) for its continence underwear – designed from first principles to significantly reduce stool-to-skin contact, maintain skin integrity, and reduce caregiver burden.
The funding is made up of an Innovate UK grant, as well investments from HERmesa Angels, SyndicateRoom, Lavender Ventures, and individual angel investors.
“Products designed for care should never cause harm. That’s not a vision statement. It’s the reason this company exists,” says Zoe Robson, Founder & CEO of Joyvié Health.
And Ruth, his wife and primary caregiver, carried a burden that was invisible to the world outside and impossibly hard to bear.
“My parents didn’t deserve that,” says Zoe. “They were both at their most vulnerable – and the product meant to help them was making it worse. The skin breakdown, the shame, the loss of dignity, the weight on my mum. It wasn’t from lack of care. It’s a design failure.”
The company is on a mission to end the silent humiliation of faecal incontinence (FI) – a condition affecting an estimated 656 million people globally, yet the most common non-invasive solution remains unchanged for decades: nappies and pads.
Where existing non-invasive product traps faeces against the skin, Joyvié contains stool in a disposable pouch immediately after excretion, significantly reducing skin contact, preserving dignity, and reducing the time and burden of care. Early testing shows approximately 90% reduction in stool-to-skin contact and approximately 70% faster changes.
Faecal incontinence is often caused by conditions such as cancer, dementia, MS, Parkinson’s, spinal injury, or ageing, yet remains heavily under-discussed. It disproportionately affects women as both patients and caregivers, with an estimated 70% of unpaid caregivers being women.
The company outlines that the women’s health sector attracts just 2% of healthcare VC funding despite serving half the population – mirroring statistics that show that women-founded startups receive only 1–2% of venture capital funding globally.
“Three things convinced us: a huge market that VC has typically ignored, an innovative product that demonstrably improves user experience and outcomes, and a strong founder in Zoe who’s driven and won’t take no for an answer. Those don’t often come together.” says Tom Shepherd, Senior Associate, SyndicateRoom.
Pilot programmes will commence soon to gather data on performance, health economics and usability across care home, hospital, and domiciliary settings. Published white papers will follow.
“Faecal incontinence is subjective and chronically underreported – we’ve never truly understood the scale of the problem because people are too ashamed to tell us. The clinical gap is real, and it has consequences. What Joyvié is building helps address the unmet clinical need and provides a useful adjunct in managing this,” says Dr. Ashish Sinha BMBS BMedSci(Hons) MD FRCS, Colorectal Surgeon, St Mark’s National Bowel Hospital.
Today’s announcement is expected to fund a direct-to-consumer product launch later this year, clinical pilots across care home, hospital, and domiciliary settings, strategic partnerships, and their first hires.
