UK's Cerebella raises £60K to tackle menopause brain fog with cognitive tests
What's the deal? UK startup CerebellaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has launched Cerebella Foundations, a self-guided programme that uses cognitive assessments and non-drug interventions to help women manage brain fog during the menopause transition. The company has raised £60,000 to develop its approach, which it eventually hopes to bring into mainstream healthcare.
What's the endgame? Cerebella is targeting an area where clinical consensus is thin: there is no agreed definition of menopause-related brain fog, and conventional cognitive tests are not validated to detect the subtle changes women report. Its programme was built by cognitive neuroscientists to help women understand and support cognitive health without medication.
Why now? Chief executive officer Dr Nahid Zokaei, who spent 12 years as a senior research fellow at Oxford, says the work is personal. Her mother's brain cancer was diagnosed late after symptoms were repeatedly attributed to menopause, while a colleague — a leading dementia researcher — mistook her own menopause-related brain fog for early-onset dementia and was told to reduce her working hours.
What's the cost? Women in menopause are often at the peak of their careers, and cognitive symptoms can push them to cut hours or leave work entirely. In a Cerebella survey of roughly 1,300 to 1,400 UK women, brain fog was linked to reduced confidence, lower productivity, and intentions to quit.
What could go wrong? The £60,000 raise points to an early-stage effort rather than a clinically established product. A UCL-led review in The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology & Women's Health found more than two-thirds of women report memory or concentration difficulties during menopause, but stressed the evidence is limited and these symptoms are not, by themselves, linked to higher dementia risk — making clinical validation crucial.
The signal: Cerebella enters a crowded UK menopause-support market alongside employer-focused Peppy, digital provider Vira Health, and Bia CareDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, which recently won NHS funding for virtual clinics. Its focus on cognitive assessment targets a genuine unmet need — a symptom many women report but few treatments address.
Read more: Tech.eu
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
