One in three women will experience incontinence in her life, yet the options have stayed stuck at pads or surgery. Leonie van de Kamer is building the option in between.
In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, I talk with Leonie van de Kamer, CEO and co-founder of Certain, about a patient-controlled device placed in the urethra for female stress urinary incontinence, positioned between disposable pads and invasive surgery. We trace how the valve technology started as a hormone-free contraceptive at Choice, why the team spun Certain out as a separate company, and what it takes to fund a preclinical medtech startup.
This episode is for female founders, women in tech, and health tech entrepreneurs, plus investors and women in leadership who want to see how a real medtech company gets built: the market validation, the regulatory strategy, and the funding decisions behind a women's health product.
What you'll learn in this episode:
- Why incontinence ranks as the second most impactful chronic disease on quality of life, and why one in three women is affected by anatomy, not injury
- How the same valve became two companies: adapting contraceptive technology to incontinence, and when to spin out rather than run a platform
- Why incontinence is a lower-risk investment case than contraception, in Leonie's own words
- How a lean medtech team "steers the orchestra" using external specialists instead of hiring every expert in-house
- Why the UK is a strategic first market after its ban on surgical meshes and tapes
- What early market validation with clinicians, patients, and insurers actually looks like before the product exists
- How Leonie uses AI to filter investors and cut the time lost to the wrong funding conversations
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
03:20 Introduction and background of Leonie van de Kamer
05:17 Leonie's journey from medicine and entrepreneurship
08:13 Inspiration behind Certain's incontinence device
13:22 Technical challenges and design considerations
18:26 Market strategy and spin-out process
23:15 Societal impact and addressing taboo in women's health
28:20 Regulatory classification and approval pathway
33:21 Funding strategies and investor relations
43:23 Building a lean team and quality management
53:20 Market opportunities in the UK and Europe
1:03:15 Future milestones and strategic partnerships
1:13:10 Closing thoughts and connecting with Leonie van de Kamer
Blog and show notes:
Show notes: https://womendisruptingtech.blog/2026/07/23/episode-162/
Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/womendisruptingtech/p/episode-162?r=2v0lts&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Connect with Leonie van de Kamer and Certain:
Website: https://www.certain.care/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leonie-van-de-kamer-2ba79a2b
Connect with Dirkjan Hupkes and Fundingcoach.ai
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dirkjan-hupkes/
Website: https://fundingcoach.ai/
About Women Disrupting Tech
Every week, Women Disrupting Tech covers the decisions, patterns, and structural realities that female founders and investors rarely discuss in public but run into every time they meet. Follow to get it in your feed.
