July 3, 2025 · Entrepreneurs, Innovation, Program Impact, Stories
Meet the Founder: Innovate Alabama Supplemental Grant Recipient Moremmé
As part of Innovate Alabama’s mission to support high-growth, high-impact startups across the state, the SBIR/STTR Supplemental Grant Program provides matching funds to Alabama companies that have received federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) or Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) awards.
In the most recent round of funding, Innovate Alabama awarded $3.3 million to 20 companies across the state. These founders are building the future — right here in Alabama.
Get to know them in our “Meet the Founders” Q&A series.
Company: Moremmé-Javore LLC
Founder(s): Dr. Akande-Dokun and Dr. Adedoyin
City: Birmingham, Alabama.
Q&A with Janet Akande, PhD (CEO, Moremmé)
In simple terms, what does your company do?
At Moremmé, we’re developing a hormone-free, natural vaginal suppository designed to help women, especially those going through menopause to find lasting relief from a condition called vaginal atrophy. This intimate condition includes symptoms such as vaginal dryness, irritation and recurrent UTIs, that can really disrupt quality of life. Our product is a unique blend of natural bioactives, carefully formulated to not only hydrate and restore the vaginal wall, but also promotes a healthy vaginal microbiome. Our mission is to provide women an option that’s safe, effective, science-backed and completely free of hormones.
Why are you building and growing your business in Alabama?
Alabama has become such a critical part of our journey. Being based at Station 41, Southern Research’s biotech incubator in Birmingham, gives us access to research laboratory space, equipment and a supportive entrepreneurial ecosystem, all in one place. Additionally, we have access to top-tier researchers and collaborators at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, a world-class university and academic health system located in close proximity to Station 41. There’s a real spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation here, and we’re proud to contribute to that as a female-owned startup.
Tell us about a recent success that you’re particularly proud of.
We’re especially proud of being awarded our Phase I SBIR grant and recently receiving the Innovate Alabama SBIR/STTR supplemental funding. These milestones validate the work we’ve been doing and give us the resources to expand our scope, like hiring a full-time research scientist and onboarding a Marketing team. We’ve also made great progress in formulation optimization, preparing for our preclinical studies, and fine-tuning our regulatory strategy in preparation for FDA clearance, which is a significant step toward commercialization.
How will the Innovate Alabama SBIR/STTR matching funds help your company?
This grant really expands what we can do. It allows us to go deeper into formulation development by studying how our product can support a healthy vaginal microbiome, something we couldn’t budget for in our original SBIR grant. We’re also using the funds to grow our commercialization team and cover essential lab costs. It’s helping us scale smartly and stay rooted in the local biotech ecosystem.
What’s next for your business?
We’re heading into a pivotal phase. In the coming months, we’ll complete our animal studies, identify our lead formulation and prepare for the next round of funding. Long term, we’re aiming for FDA clearance of our OTC product and launching our first hormone-free vaginal suppository. We believe Moremmé has the potential to become a trusted name in women’s health, and we’re just getting started.
Get the Download
The latest stories of inspiration and innovation happening all around our state, right to your inbox.