Opening a coworking space tailored to women will be among the first acts of the newly launched Antigoni Studios, described as Canada's first femtech venture studio. The coworking space is intended to have childcare, and Antigoni is seeking further input on amenities and location, organizers said at a launch event on April 28.
Co-founders Riya Ganguly and Kate Ellis said the studio's purpose is to convene a network of women ranging from researchers to end users. Femtech is any science-backed innovation that supports women's health, from drugs to leak-proof underwear to life-saving tools such as the JADA System for post-partum uterine care. To foster more of femtech, Antigoni announced its membership model, introduced advisors Sheetal Mehta and Sandra Stabel, and shared plans for an annual event called the Femtech Summit, which could launch this fall. Members get access to the Antigoni network and events, plus reduced pricing for the forthcoming coworking space. They will also eventually have access to non-dilutive funding from a pool that Ganguly and Ellis are currently building, the pair told Taproot.
Antigoni exists because women's health is underfunded and understudied — a 2025 study found only about 7% of federal grants in Canada for health research focused specifically on women. A panel with Sarah Harper of My Fertility Labs, Vicky Jomaa of the Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation, Laura Reyes Martinez of the Women and Children's Health Research Institute, and Shazma Mithani, an emergency physician and co-host of The Doc Talk Podcast, explored that gap, with Reyes Martinez saying innovators are finally listening to women. "Right now … all of the innovation is driven and is anchored on what women feel and what our patients are trying to tell us," she said. "It's shifting away from the technology push, where it's the innovator or the technology itself that is driving the market. That's one of the biggest changes that is happening right now, and it's really important."