A Chat with Gaele Lalahy, COO at Menopause App: balance

balance is the largest dedicated menopause app in the world, both in terms of our content library and number of users, as well as the only menopause app globally to be certified by ORCHA (the organisation that certifies apps for the NHS and other health organisations).

Our mission is to make menopause support inclusive and accessible to all and empower individuals to get a fast diagnosis and access to the treatment that is right for them.

The balance app is free, already downloaded in over 150 countries and was founded by leading GP and menopause specialist Dr Louise Newson. It allows users to access personalised content, track their symptoms, connect to a global community of like-minded people, and download a health report to take as evidence to their healthcare appointment, amongst other features.

In an effort to help those experiencing perimenopause and menopause look holistically at improving their future health, we have also just introduced balance+, our premium subscription. balance+ offers unparalleled access to the best specialists and clinicians in the field, all coming together to help women optimise their mental health, nutrition, sleep and sexual health etc, with classes, video recipes and more. balance+ allows us to fund the rest of the app, which in line with our mission remains free for everyone.
 
 

 

What do you think makes this company unique?

 
Without a doubt, our story and our mission.

Our app was born from the frustration of our founder Dr Louise Newson that she could not help everyone who needed it. Whilst treating women for their perimenopause and menopause symptoms she realised what a journey they faced to get access to the right advice. She saw how regulated body identical HRT, which is the first line of treatment recommended by the NICE guidelines, was transformational to so many lives, but she also recognised the enormity of the task – every year 48 million women worldwide become menopausal.

So, she turned the problem on its head and decided to empower the people who needed it the most by creating balance. Since its launch in 2020 we have had over 500k app downloads, more than 250k health reports have been downloaded, 87% of users have told us they have managed to self-diagnose and 69% have accessed treatment.

We are anchored in medicine & research, and we could not be prouder to have received the Bionow ‘Product of the year’ award, which is a recognition by our peers of innovation in biomedical science. We are working with the best academics and professors at the absolute edge of menopause knowledge.
 

 

How has the company evolved over the last couple of years?

 
Surprisingly balance is not even two years old yet! We are striving to deliver more services through our app and now our website which is the biggest medically approved menopause library in the world with over 2,000 resources dedicated to the topic.

We have grown our user base in over 150 countries and have organically multiplied by 10 the number of users we have been able to help since last year and always thinking about new ways to improve the balance experience.

We have grown our network of allies and are very proud that our app is used by many GP practices and by the MOD medical services as part of their treatment pathway.

We’ve also evolved our corporate partnerships with multi-national companies to help them create a menopause confident environment where taboos are broken, employees are trained, and individuals are empowered through the balance app. This is to enable them to retain and promote their female talent and ultimately help organisations reach parity, especially in senior positions. We feel passionate about working with them because I can tell you, these organisations can make change happen fast and at scale.
 

What can we hope to see from balance in the future?

 
We are so excited to have just launched balance+ which after one month already has users in 30 countries. We are working round the clock to make the content more accessible and inclusive to all and are calling for any partners interested in joining us to further our mission.

Our dedication to improving women’s health globally is relentless. We are leaving no stone unturned and are now looking at how we can deliver more evidence-based medical information and empower more women beyond borders in their native language. So for the future, expect more innovations and research, which this domain is crying out for.