Meet the Founders of Calla Lily, Lara and Thang: “Our greatest challenge is our perennial fight against taboos and biases…”
1. Describe your startup in two sentences.
Calla Lily Clinical Care is an award-winning women’s health B-Corp developing the Callavid® vaginal drug-delivery platform to deliver a wide range of existing and upcoming vaginal therapeutic including for fertility, miscarriage prevention, bacterial vaginosis and gynaecological cancers.
Further use-cases include delivering live biotherapeutic (LBPs) to restore and maintain a healthy vaginal microbiome and reduce the growth of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and precise sample collection to achieve far earlier detection of endometriosis.
2. What gave you the inspiration?
Lara: I’ve gone through numerous IVF cycles - all of which had failed - and each cycle involved no end of either painful injections or leaky pessaries and suppositories. Every single women who goes through this process, when opening the progesterone needle or pessary does not think “there HAS to be a better way”. Well, we have that better way…
3. How did you meet?
Thang: Lara’s ex-husband was my colleague at the investment bank Goldman Sachs in New York - we kept in touch over years and both ended up in London. I first met Lara in Birmingham where she was training instructors for advanced trauma life support as part of her national educator role with the Royal College of Surgeons. I went to the wrong hotel first but luckily the right one was only 15 minutes away! We hit it off over a cocktail or two, and Lara first became an investor when we were earlier focused on the consumer application for our technology (as a leak free tampon/ pantyliner combination).
Lara Zibner and Thang Vo-Ta, Founders of Calla Lily
4. What has been your greatest success to date? And your greatest challenge?
Our greatest success to-date is receiving ongoing validation and enthusiasm support from world-class clinicians and researchers. Our greatest challenge is our perennial fight against taboos and biases that exist in developing an impactful women’s health innovation. We are at the coal-face of the reality that only 4% of healthcare R&D is targeted at women-specific conditions, despite women representing 51% of the global population (McKinsey 2024). And this despite the World Economic Forum stating recently that women’s health is a 1 trillion dollar opportunity. But the tide is beginning to turn and we’re navigating the wave.
5. What kind of impact is your business having and how do you measure it?
We’re currently in the preclinical validation phase and will be doing our first-in-women clinical trial next year (funded by grants). The impact we will have post launch expected in 2026 could be immeasurable: by improving the physical health and mental wellbeing of tens of millions of women around the world.
6. When you were little what did you want to be when you grew up?
Lara: I wanted to be a French translator
Thang: A businessman
7. What would you save in a fire?
Lara: My children and then my photo albums
Thang: Hope they don’t ask which child first! =)
8. Who is your role model/ greatest influence? And why?
Lara: My parents. They expected a lot from me but also expected I could do anything.
Thang: My parents too.
9. What is your happy track?
Lara: “Soldier of Love” by Donny Osmond
Thang: “I Feel For You” by Chaka Khan
10. What is your motto?
Lara: Be kind.
Thang: Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.