The FemTech Revolution, is it our saviour?
FemTech: a term for products and services that use technology to address women's health and well-being.
Coined by Ida Tin (the co-founder and CEO of the period tracking app ‘Clue’) in 2016, FemTech refers to Female Technology, a spin off MedTech (Medical Technology). This buzz word encompasses a flood of products that provide information, diagnostics and solutions for female specific healthcare concerns. These are addressed in many different ways, from consumer products, wearable technology and apps to therapeutic drugs and medical grade devices.
Below are some fantastic examples of UK based FemTech companies, revolutionising healthcare for women.
Project Fifty One’s spotlight
The Neuroscience of menstrual health
Founders: Emilė Radytė and Alex Cook
Due to my Neuroscience background, Samphire Neuroscience caught my attention. This company embodies the revolutionary work brought by the FemTech movement. Their product, the Nettle Headset, uses neuromodulation (altering the brain’s pathways) to reduce PMS and menstrual pain. This technology is not only fantastically accessible, but it recognises a struggle faced by many women with a non-invasive treatment, reducing the reliance on hormonal treatments for period problems.
I’m fond of their period tracking app ‘Samphire’ which explains the neuroscience of why women feel the way we do throughout the month, giving proper reasoning to the changes we experience.
It’s refreshing to get answers that aren’t ‘it’s just your hormones’.
Empowering women to take control of their reproductive health
Founders: Dr Helen O’Neill, Dr Natalie Getreu, Deirdre O’Neill
From a plethora of information about hormones and fertility to services solving health concerns, Hertility is a hub for women to find answers. Their best-selling product is an at home Hormone and Fertility test. Customers receive a Doctor-written report explaining the results of their blood test, and are able to book with the right specialist for the next steps of their treatment. Hertility therefore not only empowers women with knowledge, but they also bring ease to treating fertility and hormone issues that can feel impossible to solve.
In a world where people are wanting to strip women of the rights to their health, Hertility gives us the knowledge and control for autonomy over our fertility.
3 Vira health
Delivering high-quality menopause care to women.
Founders: Dr Rebecca Love, Andrea Berchowitz
Their online menopause clinic, Stella, suggests personalised treatments based on data-points collected by a questionnaire, and provides a platform for 24/7 access to clinicians, coaches and care providers. In 2023 they partnered with the NHS to provide clinical menopause care for patients. Using their technology, ViraMD (a clinician support software developed by menopause specialists), Vira Health can deliver evidence-based treatment recommendations.
Vira Health is revolutionising the generic care given to women during the menopause and provides informed health interventions which will impact women’s general health too.
These three companies in Project Fifty One’s spotlight give insight into the amazing companies driving to close the gender health gap and better women’s health.
So, FemTech, a rapidly accelerating sector, with a global market size valued at $59.4 billion sounds like the answer to the Gender Health Gap. But is this true?
Revolutionising women’s health
FemTech not only improves women’s lives through physical technology, but in a much wider sense.
1. Increasing accessibility to information
Information about women’s health is now beautifully compiled on nifty period-tracking and pregnancy apps to name a few. This has empowered women with knowledge of their bodies, allowing us to understand the complexity being a woman, and the ability to make informed choices.
2. Reducing stigma around women’s health
FemTech has increased the conversation about topics that may have previously been taboo. I for one have often whipped out Clue or Samphire (menstrual cycling tracking apps) to compare app aesthetic and usability with my friends. Decreasing taboo increases conversations, and conversations lead to experience sharing, making women feel connected and less alone. Widening the conversation of Women’s health enables a better understanding of our unique needs and unveils the changes in society that can be made to better our day to day lives.
3. Female dominated industry
FemTech has given female founders a space to create in an area where they really are the experts, in a healthcare space historically dominated by men. The significance of female representation in the FemTech industry is huge. Women know what women need. McKinsey and company show that in their analysis of 763 FemTech companies, 70% had at least one female founder unlike the norm of 20% of new companies having a female founder.
4. Increase in research on women’s health
The success of FemTech companies drives more research into Women’s Health, increases funding and paves the way for new companies to form and add to the revolution.
What’s the problem?
Despite being an industry predominantly fuelled by women, for women, there are still gender biases in favour of men when looking at the funds raised by FemTech companies based on their founders’ gender.
FemTech companies face multiple battles when raising funds.
The disadvantages of a female founder
As we know, the majority of FemTech companies have at least one female founder. But when the capital raised by FemTech companies founded by men are compared to those founded by women, the stats are disappointing.
Analysis by Forbes show that in the first half of 2024, male founders of FemTech companies raised 8.3x more funds than female founders. Despite there being an overall increase in Venture Capital funding (when investors put money into start-up companies for example for a small amount of ownership of the company) which is hugely positive, there is still a gender bias.
Female founders are less likely to receive investment, which is the first hurdle a FemTech startup faces.
People of Project Fifty One
To find out more about barriers female founders face when raising funds, I spoke to Edwina Johnson, one of the top women in FinTech in the UK, and expert in residence for Sie Ventures. We discussed the many biases facing women, firstly the role of pattern matching when investors are deciding where to put their funds.
Pattern matching
This is where venture capitalists put money into companies that feel familiar to them, or perhaps invest in CEOs that remind them of themselves. As, in the past, most founders and CEOs were men, they therefore pattern match by investing into male CEOs. This feels like a safer choice, but evidently disadvantages women.
The VC (Venture Capitalist) workforce is 38% female with men make up 78% of the senior positions. These senior positions have more decision making power, and deeper pockets. Analysis by McKinsey shows that male investors prioritise health concerns that are male oriented, and ‘female investors solve for both’. When women are in senior positions, such as VC owners, women are twice as likely to invest in female founded enterprises.
Therefore, a lack of women in senior positions leads to a lack of investment into female founders. Even with an increase in female investors in our current working climate, there is a significantly smaller pool of women with pockets as deep as their male counterparts.
Investing into ‘characters’
Edwina then went on to outline the challenges of personality bias women face when pitching for investment. VCs invest into CEOs or founders with ‘character’. More often than not, this eccentricity is a likeable characteristic in male CEOs and founders, and less desirable in female CEOs and founders. Leading on from this, an article published by Forbes highlighted the importance of female CEOs to ‘establish.. the market potential of their solution and their credibility as a founder’ before any personal anecdotes of the motivations behind their enterprise. This is very different to male founders who don’t have to explicitly prove their credibility, as due to unconscious bias, their credibility is assumed.
This again highlights the difficulty female founders face when getting investment. Before pitching the product, they must prove themselves.
In summary: more senior male VCs with deeper pockets who invest into CEOs that they are either familiar with or who they relate to, leaves a very small level of interest in a female founded enterprise specialising in technology for women’s health.
The ‘stigma’ of FemTech products
To anybody, problems tackled by FemTech can be seen as complex. This is amplified when the problem is concerned with something you never have had to experience. For male investors, it is much harder to relate to the mission of a FemTech company, decreasing their interest. This is likely why startups solving fertility issues raise the most funding, as men are more likely to have experience infertility themselves or through a partner or family member. Therefore, to gain the interest of male investors, much more effort must be put in to persuade that their investment won’t be wasted.
Another issue, highlighted in an observation made in an article by Forbes is the issue of not being able to discern between ‘different FemTech solutions’. This therefore gives the impression of an oversaturated market that doesn’t need investment, as new companies are perceived to not bring anything new to the table. Again, more education to male investors is necessary so they have a deeper understanding of the market.
Is it our saviour?
There is groundbreaking research and innovation breaking into the MedTech industry, closing the data gap and improving women’s health. So yes, FemTech is a huge contributor to this mission.
However, the growth of this industry will continue to accelerate only with sufficient support and investment.
For this sector to have the impact it deserves, there needs to be a systemic shift in the presence of women in senior decision-making roles. Furthermore, support for male investors to catch their unconscious bias and increase their eduction in female health is needed to accelerate the investment gap.
For decisions to be made with reduced bias, diversity of people and thought is required. Without this, growth of the FemTech industry won’t reach its full potential.