SAGES Reveals 2025 Shark Tank Winner

The Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) has declared FemTherapeutics as the winner of its 2025 Shark Tank competition at its annual meeting.

“Participating in SAGES was an invaluable experience and receiving direct feedback from a panel of physicians made it even more meaningful—something that is unique to SAGES,” FemTherapeutics Co-Founder/Chief Technology Officer Negin Ashouri said. “The judges’ insights provided critical early validation, strengthening the importance of our work in advancing women’s health. We are honored to have been chosen as winners and grateful for the judges’ trust in us and our mission.”

Montreal-based FemTherapeutics aims to provide personalized, accessible, and effective solutions to common pelvic health conditions. The company’s first product is a personalized intravaginal prosthetic (pessary) designed to manage Pelvic Organ Prolapse, which affects 50% of women at some point in their lives. Unlike traditional, one-size-fits-all options, FemTherapeutics’ pessaries are individually tailored to each patient’s anatomy and lifestyle, prioritizing accessibility while setting a new standard for comfort and effectiveness. 

FemTherapeutics is building an infrastructure that will allow the company to expand into other pelvic health categories including incontinence, pelvic pain, and maternal health; and is redesigning the patient experience through hybrid care delivery models.

“FemTherapeutics has created a product that addresses a concern for many women that’s poorly met with existing alternatives,” S.D. Schwaitzberg, M.D., stated. “The judges were impressed with the simplicity and ingenuity of the product, coupled with its potential market size and multiple distribution pathways.”

SAGES Shark Tank competition is designed to support clinicians focused on commercializing their innovations through investment capital, including by sale to a third party and not primary scientific research. In partnership with Varia Ventures, SAGES continues to educate its members on entrepreneurism, engage and showcase inventors through the reimagined and funded SAGES Shark Tank, and finance promising startups through SAGES Investment Network Collaborative (SINC).

Along with FemTherapeutics, this year’s finalists included Suture Shield, Qaelon and Evolving Education, all of whom presented their supporting business models to the Shark Tank judges that included Drs. Schwaitzberg and Jon Gould, Carla Pugh, and Danielle Walsh from SAGES, and Scott Friedman from Varia Ventures and Dennis McWilliams, founder of Apollo Endosurgery. As in previous years, FemTherapeutics’ winning prize money is $30,000.

The Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) is a leading surgical society representing a global community of more than 7,000 surgeons bringing minimal access surgery and emerging techniques to patients worldwide. SAGES’ mission is to innovate, educate and collaborate to improve patient care with a vision of reimagining surgical care for a healthier world.