On October 19, 2026, MENA tech outlet FWDstart and Dealroom News reported that UAE women's health company Nabta Health had secured backing from Abu Dhabi's Phoenix Venture Partners (PVP), which led the second close of Nabta's ongoing $3 million pre-Series A. Femtech Insider followed on October 20. The close combined new equity with purchases of existing shareholders' stakes. Neither the amount raised at this close nor PVP's share was disclosed. Nabta was founded in 2017 by Sophie Smith. It combines at-home diagnostics, virtual physician consultations and an AI assistant called Aya across fertility, pregnancy, menopause and other women's health needs.

Why It Matters

This is a small round, but it fits the clearest pattern in femtech funding this year: **DTC women's health is moving to B2B**. Blair Health said employers went from near zero to about [half its revenue in a single half-year](/stories/blair-health-42m-preseed-specialist-gap), [Allara raised $30M on insurance-covered care](/stories/allara-30m-womens-hormonal-care), and Progyny is forecasting a [record employer selling season](/stories/progyny-record-selling-season-2027). Investors are paying for channels where someone other than the patient pays. For the Gulf, which has a fast-growing private-insurance market and employer-mandated health coverage in the UAE, the employer route is a quicker way to scale than consumer marketing of sensitive fertility and menopause services. The weak spot is disclosure. An "ongoing" round with an undisclosed close size makes it hard to judge traction, and the deal includes secondary sales, so not all of the money reaches the company.

The pivot is the story. Nabta built its business selling direct to consumers. The new money funds a move to employers, insurers and healthcare systems. FWDstart reports its workplace product includes insurance-covered annual health checks, preventive-care subscriptions and treatment navigation, plus a partnership with employee wellbeing platform LVL. Dealroom notes Nabta announced $2M in pre-Series A funding in November 2025 and opened a Women's Health Centre of Excellence with Clemenceau Medical Center Hospital Dubai in June 2025. PVP founder and CEO Steve Khayat joins the board. Co-founder and founding investor Mussaad Al-Razouki steps off. "We believe the company is now at an inflection point where the focus can shift decisively toward go-to-market and sales acceleration," Khayat said.

Sources

Update — 2026-10-21

Initial entry — story first created.