Epic Angels invests in Colombia’s Salva Health and its Julieta device

Global female investment collective Epic Angels recently disclosed its participation in the financing round of Salva Health, the Colombian healthcare startup behind “Julieta”, a low-cost wearable breast cancer screening device.

Asiri Impact Fund, Impact Assets, EWA Capital and family offices also participated in the round, whose numbers were not disclosed. The capital raised will enable the company to accelerate its commercial deployment, expand its operations team, manufacture devices at scale, and manage regulatory approvals in new markets.

Focus on women

Each year, breast cancer affects 200,000 women in Latin America and claims 68,000 lives. While in developed countries the survival rate exceeds 85%, in the region it barely reaches 70%.

Among the possible causes is the lack of access to traditional screening methods. Only 4% of women receive regular check-ups due to costly, painful and difficult-to-access procedures, according to data shared in a press release.

Salva Health, founded by Valentina Agudelo, faces this challenge with Julieta, a device that eliminates the main barriers to early detection: cost, connectivity, medical infrastructure and availability of specialists.

“Epic Angels’ collective of women investors understands firsthand the urgency of making breast cancer screening accessible to all women, regardless of income or geographic location,” said Agudelo.

The startup already has INVIMA approval in Colombia and operates paid pilots with allies such as the National League Against Cancer, the Air Force and insurers such as Sura. The company plans to conduct 500,000 tests annually by 2026 and, with FDA approval on the horizon, is preparing for global expansion.

Recently, Salva Health was chosen as the winner of the Startup Battlefield 2024 global competition at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, beating more than 2,000 other companies.

Commercialization phase

Regarding its investment, Epic Angels explained that this is its first venture in the FemTech segment: “We were impressed by Valentina’s ability to combine robust social impact with a smart business model. We look forward to leveraging our global network to support her next phase of commercialization,” said Maaike Doyer, Founding Partner of the collective.

Its investment seeks to balance technological innovation with healthcare accessibility, addressing one of the most significant public health challenges for women in the region.