Fall of 2018 marked the beginning of huge advancements in Venture Capital funding for the emerging “FemTech” sector. In my November article, I covered the funding expected to enter this sector within the next 6 years. This week, FemTech came $42 M closer to its $50 B goal. Elvie, a London-based women’s healthcare start-up secured $42 M in its third private financing round. Privately-owned holding company IPGL, Impact Ventures UK, and returning investor Octopus Ventures all participated in this round of financing. The funding Elvie received this week is helping the company achieve its goal of becoming the go-to destination for women’s health.
Elvie, now six-years-old, is led by Tania Boler CEO who has a Ph.D. in sexual health, and co-founder Alexander Asseily, a hardware vet and co-founder of the consumer electronics business Jawbone. Elvie is unique in that the company takes a design-centric approach to creating female health products. Through their designs they strive to improve the quality of life of women across the globe.
The products Elvie sells are drastically better in quality and design as compared to existing breast pumps and pelvic floor exercisers. They developed the silent wearable breast pump, and smart pelvic floor exerciser to provide increased comfort, ease, and mobility to women and mothers. Both devices connect to the free Evlie app that monitors the breast milk produced when using the silent weable pump, and tracks progress when using the pelvic floor exerciser. “We know so many issues of womanhood can be improved by technology, and there is so much potential in this space,” said Boler in a statement. Some of Elvie’s most recent social media campaigns attempt to fight the stigma around breastfeeding and pumping in public.
According to Boler, Elvie is experiencing massive growth, with the annual revenue run-rate tripling over the past six months. The company is expected to grow by another 500% by the end of the year. The Elvie Pump is currently out of stock and there are reportedly tens of thousands of women on the waitlist to order. With this new injection of capital, the startup projects a 5x growth by the end of the year. Further, the startup is UK-based and thus has yet to tap into Silicon Valley’s golden treasure chest. Elvie hopes to use the investment to not only grow the impact its current products, but create products that support women’s health ranging from prenatal care to menopause. They will use its latest investment to continue R&D on upcoming products and build brand awareness and distribution for the Elvie pump and the Elvie Kegel trainer across the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia.
“Boler says reiterating some key statistics has helped during its latest fundraise, including the fact that in the U.S. alone, 80% of women breastfeed but many must stop earlier than recommended due to a lack of support from employers and health care providers as well as the fact that one in three women suffer from pelvic floor problems after giving birth. And of course, her pitch deck contains the kind reminder that women do make up half the population." — Tanya Klich, Forbes