In the next decade, technology geared towards women’s health will receive more funding than it ever has. “Femtech,” a term coined by female entrepreneur Ida Tin, describes technological software, diagnostics and products focused on improving and monitoring women’s health. In 2016, Ida Tin created Clue, a menstrual tracking application now used by millions of women. Most mainstream healthcare options are geared towards men, not women. However, femtech firms combine technological innovation and women’s health issues to design products that target aging & menopause, fertility management, period cares and more. More generally, these firms address taboo topics specific to women’s health. According to Forbes, only 10% of global investment is allocated to female-led startups, and even less directly funnels into women’s healthcare start-ups. Further, women’s health is traditionally only thought of in conjunction with pregnancy, birth and babies. However, the healthcare industry is finally beginning to change with growing attention focused on the femtech sector.
Femtech targets a market need: women’s healthcare products designed by women, for women. Femtech is a convergence of women’s health and the rise in popularity of apps like MyFitnessPal and Apple Health. Women want products that are specific to their needs. The market need is clear – Apple Health can tell a woman how many steps she took today, but has no functionality enabling women to track their menstrual cycles – an experience half the global population endures monthly. The overwhelmingly large target market for women’s health products plays a large factor in the industry’s valuation.
Femtech has raised $1B in funds over the course of the last three years. Frost & Sullivan, a leading growth partnership company, projects the industry will reach $50B by 2025. In 2013, global funding of femtech did not exceed $100M. Since then, the global industry has grown drastically. To put femtech’s potential growth into perspective, two single male focused healthcare startups have received 50% of all global female healthcare financing this year. Roman, a company that distributes erectile dysfunction drugs right to consumers, raised $88M in September. Hims, which creates products geared towards male skin, hair and sexual issues, has raised a total of $90M this year alone.
Almost 80% of healthcare VCs have never invested in women’s health, but women make up 49.5% of world population and drive 70 - 80% of all consumer purchasing through buying power and influence. Portfolia and Astarte Ventures are two VCs firms trying to change that. Portfolia is the world’s first femtech fund. The underserved market enables Portfolia to access the best deals with extremely reasonable valuations. Their goal is to build an investment community of 100,000 women investors by 2020. Astarte Ventures invests in companies focused on the health and wellbeing of women and children. Funds like these have helped start companies like Maven, Lola, Cora and Nurx. Maven is a digital health platform for women that raised $27M in September to expand into breast-milk delivery. Cora and Lola both provide subscription services for organic tampons. Nurx sells birth control at extremely reasonable prices and delivers it right to your door. Each of these firms target a niche aspect of women’s health considered taboo, capitalizing on the absence of similar products in the market.
The rise of femtech is revolutionizing how consumers and investors view women’s health and healthcare needs. We are witnessing three macro trends collide: the female surge, productivity & connectivity and the rise of interest in health and wellbeing. Once aligned, these massive changes will make for a cultural and technological environment fertile for female health and innovation. When femtech no longer needs the prefix “fem,” the market will have fully accepted this industry as just healthcare, finally achieving gender equality within healthcare financing.
