Prickly Pear Health Will Showcase Women’s Brain Health At Techcrunch Disrupt 2025

Iman Clark, CEO of Prickly Pear Health, says she had an epiphany that yet led her to TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield astatine TechCrunch Disrupt 2025.  

It was astir 9 years ago. She moved from Tunisia to nan U.S. for grad school, past joined a institution that created gamified experiences for group pinch neurodegenerative conditions, for illustration dementia. This was done by giving them a tablet aliases a machine and letting them play games while doctors collected information connected them, for illustration their consequence of falling and wide scope of motion.  

“I realized that astir people, 75-plus, person 2 to 3 chronic conditions, and nary matter what we did, it is ever going to beryllium hard,” she told TechCrunch. “Then I went backmost to nan investigation and saw that like, 70% of nan Alzheimer’s organization are women.”

She dug deeper and recovered that women were doubly arsenic apt to beryllium diagnosed pinch slump and anxiety, and 3 to 4 times much apt to beryllium diagnosed pinch migraines. “That’s erstwhile I realized we are not really solving for women’s biology, and that is costing america lives and dollars.”

So she created Prickly Pear Health, which provides aesculapian support to women’s encephalon health, a voice-first, AI-powered companion that helps women successful their 30s to 50s navigate nan hormonal changes that impact encephalon health. The merchandise lets group grounds speedy reflections passim nan time utilizing their sound and Prickly Pear’s AI exertion analyzes their connection and discourse to way immoderate cognitive changes.

Prickly Pear Health will show of its tech astatine TechCrunch Disrupt, which runs October 27 to 29 successful San Francisco.

It besides pulls successful slumber data, bosom complaint activity, and different metrics from trackers for illustration Apple Health, Oura, and Garmin to thief connection personalized insights connected really they tin return amended attraction of their health.

Clark said location is simply a corporate statement that women’s wellness is simply a abstraction ripe for innovation, and that women want to beryllium founders, want to beryllium apical voices, and are tired of being successful nan backmost seats of their ain lives. 

Clark officially launched a free type of her merchandise successful May and is gearing up to motorboat nan premium offering successful October, for Mental Health Awareness Month and Menopause Awareness Month. 

She started doing attraction groups astatine Arizona State University and recovered that women successful their precocious 30s to early 50s were reporting a batch of encephalon fog and intelligence fatigue, but it often took them until their 60s to recognize it had to do pinch hormonal fluctuations, menopause, aliases moreover an onset of thing deeper. It was present that Clark realized she wanted to attraction connected this property range. 

“They’re often dismissed aliases misdiagnosed erstwhile symptoms for illustration encephalon fog, temper shifts, aliases irregular cycles first appear,” she said of women successful their 30s to 50s, adding that these midlife years are captious to encephalon health, but accepted attraction is failing to link nan dots. 

“We’re addressing that gap. Helping women admit and enactment connected early signals earlier they escalate into much superior wellness challenges later,” she said. 

Arizona is besides wherever nan inspiration for nan company’s sanction came from. She became fascinated pinch nan cacti, really they guidelines contempt nan power and nutrient patient fruit. “That’s erstwhile Prickly Pear came to life because that’s nan consequence that grows successful nan cactus tree, and it was an inspiration of thriving successful harsh conditions and joyful resilience,” she said. 

She considers competitors successful her aforesaid section to beryllium existing menopause apps, which, she said, are much for illustration denotation trackers. “We judge it’s important to understand symptoms, but we judge that those approaches are reactive approaches, while for us, we are location to beryllium capable to observe things.” 

She raised a $350,000 pre-seed information and said it was “really hard,” particularly arsenic a female of color. “We had to beryllium truthful bully that you cannot beryllium ignored,” she said. She sought to build relationships pinch investors earlier starting her pre-seed, which, she said, really helped erstwhile it came clip for nan ask. “That’s a celebrated point we say: ‘Ask for proposal and you get business, inquire for business and you get proposal sometimes,’” she said. 

Some proposal she received was to use for Startup Battlefield, pinch friends telling her to beryllium large and proud astir being portion of nan latest startups to transportation during nan competition. 

“Disrupt is nan eventual shape for caller ideas,” she said. She’s excited to spotlight women’s encephalon health, study from different founders, and, of course, “connect pinch investors and partners who believe, for illustration we do, that women’s wellness invention is not niche, it’s nan early of healthcare.” 

If you want to study from Prickly Pear firsthand, and spot dozens of further pitches, valuable workshops, and make nan connections that thrust business results, head present to study much astir this year’s Disrupt, held October 27 to 29 successful San Francisco.