Clara Stephenson is the Founder and CEO of Solence, a French FemTech company dedicated to helping women manage Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). Her journey into entrepreneurship began with a personal health challenge that exposed a significant gap in women’s healthcare. Rather than accepting the limitations of the existing system, she decided to create a solution that could help women access better support, guidance, and care.
Today, Clara is helping shape the future of digital women’s health through Solence. The company combines medical expertise, lifestyle interventions, and technology to support women living with PCOS. Her work is rooted in personal experience, but its impact extends far beyond her own story. Through Solence, she is working to improve how women understand and manage a condition that affects millions around the world.
A Career Built on Problem Solving
Before becoming an entrepreneur, Clara Stephenson worked as a corporate lawyer at EY (Ernst & Young). The role gave her valuable experience in business operations, strategy, and navigating complex challenges. Working in a demanding corporate environment taught her how to analyze problems, manage projects, and make decisions based on evidence and structure.
Although the law provided a successful career path, Clara eventually found herself drawn toward a different mission. A personal health journey revealed an opportunity to solve a problem that was affecting countless women but was receiving limited attention.
Her transition from corporate law to healthcare entrepreneurship was not a traditional one. However, the skills she developed as a lawyer later became useful in building a startup, raising investment, and leading a growing company.
Living with PCOS Without Answers
The idea for Solence came directly from Clara’s own experience with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. For nearly ten years, she experienced symptoms associated with the condition but did not receive a diagnosis.
Like many women with PCOS, she spent years searching for answers. The condition often presents through a combination of symptoms that can include hormonal imbalances, irregular menstrual cycles, fertility challenges, weight fluctuations, and other health concerns. Despite showing what she later described as typical signs of PCOS, her condition remained undiagnosed for almost a decade.
The diagnosis finally came during fertility investigations. Along with the diagnosis came the realization that many women face similar struggles. There was often a lack of clear information, coordinated care, and practical support after diagnosis.
For Clara, the experience was life-changing. It highlighted the challenges of living with PCOS and the broader gaps that existed in women’s healthcare. Instead of simply accepting those challenges, she began looking for ways to help other women avoid the same experience.
Building a Community Before Building a Company
Before founding Solence, Clara started an initiative called Les Natives during the COVID-19 pandemic. The French-language platform focused on hormonal health and PCOS awareness.
What began as a personal project quickly grew into an active community. Women from different backgrounds shared their experiences, asked questions, and looked for reliable information about hormonal health. The response confirmed what Clara had already suspected: many women felt unsupported and underserved.
The platform eventually generated more than 135,000 visits and built a community of over 8,000 followers. Through these conversations, Clara gained a deeper understanding of the challenges women faced every day. She saw recurring themes such as delayed diagnosis, lack of personalized support, confusion about treatment options, and limited access to practical guidance.
These insights would later become the foundation of Solence.
The Creation of Solence
In 2022, Clara Stephenson founded Solence with a clear mission: to improve the quality of life for women living with PCOS.
The company was created to provide personalized support beyond traditional healthcare appointments. Clara recognized that women often needed continuous guidance between medical consultations. They needed help understanding symptoms, adopting healthier habits, and managing the condition over the long term.
Solence was designed to address those needs through digital health technology. Rather than replacing healthcare professionals, the platform aims to complement medical care by helping users make informed lifestyle choices and better understand their condition.
From the beginning, Clara focused on creating a solution grounded in scientific evidence while remaining practical and easy to use. The goal was not simply to build another health application but to create a meaningful support system that could fit into everyday life.
How Solence Works
Solence offers a digital program designed specifically for women living with PCOS. The platform provides personalized recommendations and structured support that help users develop healthier habits.
The company’s approach focuses on areas that can influence PCOS symptoms, including nutrition, physical activity, sleep quality, stress management, and overall lifestyle behaviors. Through a guided program, users receive information and support tailored to their individual circumstances.
One of Solence’s key objectives is to help women better understand the factors that affect their health. The platform encourages long-term behavior change rather than quick fixes. This approach reflects growing evidence that lifestyle interventions can play an important role in managing PCOS symptoms.
Clara’s vision for Solence is based on the belief that healthcare should be more personalized, preventive, and accessible. By using technology, the company aims to provide support that extends beyond traditional clinical settings.
Turning a Personal Mission Into a Growing Business
Transforming a personal experience into a successful company requires more than passion. It requires execution, resilience, and a clear understanding of the market.
Clara entered the FemTech sector at a time when investors and healthcare organizations were paying increasing attention to women’s health. Despite this growing interest, significant gaps still existed in care and support for conditions such as PCOS.
Solence gained attention because it addressed a real and widespread problem. Millions of women live with PCOS worldwide, yet many continue to experience delays in diagnosis and limited access to ongoing support.
As the company developed its platform, it attracted interest from investors who recognized both the scale of the problem and the potential of digital health solutions. Clara’s combination of personal insight and professional discipline helped position Solence as a promising company within the European FemTech ecosystem.
The company’s growth also reflected a broader shift in healthcare toward prevention, patient engagement, and technology-enabled care.
A Major Funding Milestone
One of the most important moments in Solence’s journey came in 2025 when the company secured €1.6 million in seed funding.
The investment round included support from Impact Shakers Ventures, Bpifrance, and several prominent angel investors. The funding represented an important vote of confidence in both Clara’s leadership and Solence’s mission.
For an early-stage healthcare company, raising investment is about more than capital. It validates the business model and provides resources to accelerate development. The funding allowed Solence to strengthen its technology, expand its team, deepen scientific partnerships, and continue improving its platform.
The successful funding round also highlighted growing investor interest in women’s health innovation. For many years, women’s health received relatively limited venture investment compared with other healthcare sectors. Companies like Solence are helping change that landscape.
Clara Stephenson’s Leadership Style
Clara Stephenson leads with a strong sense of purpose. Her leadership is closely connected to the mission of the company because she understands the problem Solence is addressing from personal experience.
This connection helps shape a leadership style that places users at the center of decision-making. Rather than focusing solely on growth metrics, Clara has consistently emphasized the importance of delivering meaningful value to women living with PCOS. Her background in law also contributes to her leadership approach. She brings structure, discipline, and careful analysis to business decisions. At the same time, her personal healthcare journey has given her empathy and a deep understanding of patient needs.
People who build mission-driven companies often face the challenge of balancing emotional commitment with business realities. Clara appears to navigate this balance by combining personal motivation with a practical approach to execution. Her leadership reflects a commitment to long-term impact rather than short-term trends.
Industry Expertise and Vision
Although Clara’s professional career began in law, she has become a recognized advocate for improved women’s health support through her work at Solence.
Years of engagement with PCOS communities, healthcare experts, and patients have given her significant insight into the challenges women face. She understands that healthcare is most effective when it combines medical expertise with practical, everyday support.
Her vision extends beyond symptom management. Clara believes that technology can help create more personalized healthcare experiences and support preventive care. She has spoken about the importance of empowering women with knowledge, tools, and guidance that allow them to take an active role in managing their health.
This perspective aligns with broader changes taking place across healthcare. Increasingly, patients expect solutions that are accessible, personalized, and available outside traditional clinical environments. Solence is part of this movement toward more connected and patient-centered care.
Making Healthcare More Efficient
One of the most significant contributions Solence aims to make is improving the efficiency of healthcare support for women with PCOS.
Many patients spend years searching for answers before receiving a diagnosis. Even after diagnosis, they may struggle to find consistent guidance about managing symptoms and improving long-term health.
Solence seeks to address this gap by providing structured support through a digital platform. The company helps users track progress, understand health behaviors, and access personalized guidance in a convenient format.
This approach has the potential to make healthcare interactions more productive. When patients better understand their condition and monitor their progress, they can engage more effectively with healthcare providers. Digital support tools can also help reduce uncertainty and improve patient confidence.
By bringing together education, habit-building strategies, and personalized insights, Solence aims to create a more efficient and supportive experience for women managing PCOS.
Looking Ahead
The future appears promising for Clara Stephenson and Solence.
Awareness of women’s health issues continues to grow globally, creating new opportunities for innovation. At the same time, advances in digital health technology are making it possible to deliver more personalized and accessible care.
Solence is positioned at the intersection of these trends. The company continues to develop its platform while expanding its reach and strengthening its scientific foundations.
For Clara, the long-term goal remains clear. She wants to help women gain greater control over their health and improve their quality of life. By combining technology, evidence-based practices, and patient-centered design, Solence aims to become an important part of the future healthcare landscape.
A Founder Creating Meaningful Change
Clara Stephenson’s story demonstrates how personal challenges can inspire meaningful innovation. What began as a frustrating search for answers eventually became a mission to improve the lives of women facing similar experiences.
Her journey from corporate lawyer to healthcare entrepreneur reflects courage, determination, and a willingness to challenge existing systems. Through Solence, she has transformed a personal health struggle into a growing company with the potential to reach thousands of women.
As awareness of PCOS and women’s health continues to expand, Clara’s work is helping drive important conversations about access, support, and patient empowerment. Her impact extends beyond technology. She is contributing to a broader effort to ensure that women receive the attention, resources, and care they deserve.
By combining lived experience with thoughtful leadership, Clara Stephenson is building more than a company. She is helping create a future where women have better tools to understand their health, manage chronic conditions, and live healthier lives.
