Maia, a start-up focused on the health and wellbeing of women during menopause, is born

"The project has been launched by GCO Ventures, Byld and Nora Viladomiu with the aim of responding to a still insufficiently addressed need in the field of women's health.\n\nThe new venture offers comprehensive and personalised support during perimenopause and menopause through plans tailored to each woman, access to specialised professionals and technology."

GCO Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle of GCO (which will become Grupo Occident from 1 December), has launched its fifth venture: Maia, a platform specialising in supporting women during perimenopause and menopause. The proposal combines technology, personalised monitoring, specialised content, and access to professionals from different disciplines to address the needs that may arise during this stage.

Maia has been jointly promoted by GCO Ventures, Byld, corporate venture builder, and Nora Viladomiu, CEO and founding partner of the start-up, with the aim of offering a comprehensive response to a stage that can have an impact on different dimensions of women's health and quality of life. Furthermore, it aims to help normalise conversations about menopause, a stage that has traditionally received little attention, and to enable women to face it with greater knowledge, autonomy, and access to specialised resources.

With this launch, GCO Ventures expands its activity in the health and wellbeing sector and continues to advance its strategy of identifying and building new businesses in areas with growth potential that respond to new societal needs.

Comprehensive and personalised support

In Spain, there are more than 7.6 million women aged between 45 and 64 years old, the age range in which a large part of perimenopause, menopause and the first years of postmenopause are concentrated, according to 2025 data from the Ministry of Health. If we broaden the range to between 40 and 69 years to include the initial and later stages of this transition, the figure exceeds 10.8 million. The changes associated with the menopausal transition can manifest in various areas such as sleep, mood, concentration, sexual health, body composition, joints, or energy levels, and each woman has a different experience.

Faced with this reality, Maia proposes a multidisciplinary support model that integrates an initial assessment, continuous monitoring, specialised content, personalised recommendations, and access to professionals in gynaecology, psychology, nutrition, physiotherapy, sexology, and coaching.

Based on an initial assessment inspired by clinical reference scales and criteria, the platform allows for the configuration of a plan adapted to the circumstances, symptoms, and objectives of each user. Among the references used is the Cervantes Scale, promoted by the Spanish Association for the Study of Menopause, which analyses the impact of this stage on different dimensions of quality of life.

The platform complements, but does not seek to replace, medical diagnosis or follow-up. Its aim is to provide women with tools and information that allow them to better understand the changes they are experiencing and to access specialised professionals according to their needs.

In the words of Maia's CEO and founding partner, Nora Viladomiu, 'Maia was created from a purpose: For years, menopause has been met with resignation. At Maia, we believe it can be experienced differently: as the beginning of a new stage of self-discovery. Together with GCO Ventures and Byld, we have created a space where every woman can go through this stage of life with rigorous information, the support of specialists, and a supportive community to make informed decisions and thus feel whole again.' 

A growing opportunity in women’s health

The launch of Maia also comes in a context of growth in solutions specifically aimed at women's health. The global market for menopause-related products and services reached $17.79 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $24.35 billion in 2030. Meanwhile, the global market for women's health apps, valued at $5.3 billion in 2025, could reach $23.4 billion by 2033.

According to Laura Cots, director of GCO Ventures, 'Maia responds to a specific need within a sector, such as health and wellbeing, where we see significant opportunities to develop new business models. Our goal at GCO Ventures is to identify these types of needs and turn them into projects capable of providing value to people and growing sustainably in the long term.'

For her part, Julia de Pedro, Partner & Head of Building at Byld, stated that 'the project stems from the identification of a still insufficiently addressed need and the opportunity to build a specific solution around it to support thousands of women with the rigour and closeness they deserve.'

GCO Ventures expands its portfolio of new businesses

GCO Ventures was established in 2023 as GCO’s corporate venturing vehicle to contribute to the Group’s long-term growth by identifying, building and launching new businesses linked to strategic areas and society’s evolving needs.

Since its creation, it has launched five ventures. The first was Adecua, specialising in adapting homes to the needs of older people; later, it launched Vivara, focused on safe and guaranteed home rentals; Musky, specialising in pet care and coverage; and Aurela, a digital platform to facilitate access to psychology professionals. With Maia, GCO Ventures is now expanding its activity in the field of health and wellbeing with a proposal specialising in perimenopause and menopause.

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About Byld

Byld is Spain's first corporate venture builder and builds businesses together with large corporations. Its model focuses on leveraging the corporate partner's main assets in the new company, reducing risk and increasing the chances of success. It has partners such as Sanitas, Carrefour, UNICEF, Ferrovial, Santander, Caser, Porsche and Telefónica, among others.

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