Femtech is set to break $1.3 billion in investment in 2020, according to PitchBook鈥攁nd estimates suggest that around $200 billion is being spent on femtech products each year.
10 Femtech Startups to Watch
There鈥檚 a plethora of fantastic femtech startups leading the way in this progressive, taboo-breaking industry, including the following:
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Clue
We couldn鈥檛 start this list without one of the original femtech startups . Founder Ida Tin coined the term femtech in 2016, three years after releasing the cycle tracker.
Clue tracks more than 30 health categories including menstruation, mood, productivity, hair, skin, and digestion, using the data to predict ovulation and menstruation. The app also includes science-backed information on how these symptoms are relevant and what is common during each part of the cycle.
Clue supports research with its unprecedented data set: anonymised data from its 8 million users in 180 countries has contributed to . For example, a new collaboration with Stanford University is analysing menstrual pain patterns and how they might predict illness, while an ongoing study with the University of Oxford explores evolutionary perspectives on PMS.
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Elvie
Leading the British femtech charge is , a startup designing smart devices for women鈥檚 health.听
Its flagship product is a Kegel trainer which helps to build better bladder control, enhances intimacy and speeds up postnatal recovery. It鈥檚 recommended by over 1,000 health experts and can be prescribed by NHS health professionals in secondary or tertiary care services.
Elvie鈥檚 latest femtech release is a silent wearable breast pump that fits into a standard nursing bra and requires no tubes or wires, making it truly portable and discreet. The vision? Comfortable pumping anywhere, any time鈥攐n the bus, in a board meeting, or relaxing at home.
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Brarista
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Femtech startup is using AI to develop an app that recommends perfectly fitted bras from the comfort of your own home.
Most women are wearing the wrong size bra. At best, this means uncomfortable, unflattering lingerie; at worst, poorly fitted bras can cause lasting back problems. There are many reasons why women wear the wrong size, from never being fitted properly to being unable to find attractive bras in larger cup sizes, and the Brarista femtech app aims to tackle all of them.
Brarista cuts out tape measures completely, determining size by eye like a seasoned bra fitter. It can identify common symptoms of a badly fitted bra, like cup spillage and a back strap that rides up. Once it determines the correct size, the app will work with your preferences to recommend bras that suit your lifestyle and budget, available to purchase immediately and at the lowest price.
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Ava
is a clinically tested wearable that identifies the five most fertile days in a woman鈥檚 cycle based on her vital signs. The femtech Ava bracelet tracks skin temperature, resting pulse rate, heart rate variability, perfusion and breathing rate at night while the body is at rest, matching data up to known fertility patterns; the startup is so confident in its science that it offers a 1-year pregnancy guarantee.
In the three and a half years since the initial product launch, the company reports 30,000 pregnancies, including successful pregnancies in women with endometriosis.
20% from the sale of every Ava bracelet funds women鈥檚 health research and development. Anonymised data from users鈥� cycles helps to refine its machine learning algorithms, and the product itself undergoes rigorous clinical testing with results published in peer-reviewed medical journals.
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LactApp
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bills itself as 鈥渁 breastfeeding expert in your pocket鈥�. Packed to the rafters with guides, answers and advice, the free app autonomously answers more than 35,000 queries every week. It鈥檚 able to answer more than 76,000 possible questions with more than 2,300 in-depth, medically backed answers. On top of that, LactApp offers a one-to-one chat service with trained lactation experts.
Incredibly, one in four breastfeeding women in Spain already uses LactApp; the femtech startup has since launched an English language version for international users, with more languages to come.
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inne
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is a saliva-based hormone tracker designed for fertility control. The startup explains that it is a non-invasive alternative to standard contraception methods as it doesn鈥檛 alter hormone levels within the body, but rather tracks natural rhythms and offers reliable insights.
The method is simple: users collect daily saliva samples, plugging them into a reader for analysis. It takes just ten minutes to analyse the sample, which pairs with a cervical fluid reading to produce what inne calls a 鈥渉ormonal portrait鈥�.
Slated for launch this year, inne was built with a team of biochemists and marries new technologies with the traditional rhythm method. The goal, founder Eirini Rapti says, is to reconnect women with themselves. 鈥淚 want women to start tuning into their hormones early so they understand more about their bodies,鈥� she said in . 鈥淚f you have an insight into how your body works from an earlier age, you can understand how to give yourself the best chance at starting a family at a time that鈥檚 right for you.鈥�
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NextGen Jane
is developing a platform that tests for early signs of disease by analysing period blood from tampons. As founders Ridhi Tariyal and Stephen Gire put it, the body provides a natural biopsy every time it sheds its lining; their goal is to provide the tools to listen.
The potential benefits are huge. With the Smart Tampon system, it鈥檚 possible to run diagnostics every month; traditional forms of screening are offered every few years. This means that diseases such as endometriosis, fibroids and cancer can be picked up earlier, and from the comfort of your own home.
Smart tampons could also empower women and people who menstruate to get the medical care they need. Women鈥檚 health issues often aren鈥檛 taken seriously by doctors or are chalked up to individual experience, but being able to share solid data could speed up diagnosis and treatment.
NextGen Jane is currently building a database of tampon samples from around the world; you can sign up as a beta tester .
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Syrona Women
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is a British femtech startup offering specialist women鈥檚 healthcare on a single platform. Founders Chantelle Bell and Anya Roy are researchers at the University of Oxford; they describe the platform as 鈥渁 one-stop shop for women鈥檚 health鈥�.
The startup鈥檚 offering so far includes online gynaecologist consultations and pregnancy massages with qualified therapists. Soon to come are non-invasive home tests that can tell a user how many eggs she has left, potential IVF and egg-freezing outcomes, whether PCOS or endometriosis is present and whether she is at risk of gynaecological cancers.
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ATUSA
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Femtech product ATUSA, developed by , is the world鈥檚 first portable and automated 3D breast ultrasound scanner.
The patented scanner combines with artificial intelligence to perform breast scans that are as consistently accurate as trained ultrasound operators. Scans are painless and take one minute per breast; that鈥檚 fifteen to twenty times faster than manual probing. The device does not require a trained ultrasound operator to take images, thus freeing up more time for physicians to interpret the scans.
The device is initially aimed at doctor鈥檚 offices and women鈥檚 health clinics and is in the research phase of development; qualifying healthcare professionals can sign up for a three-week pilot.
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Maven
is a virtual clinic dedicated to women鈥檚 and family health. Over 1,700 specialist providers make up the network, including ob-gyns, midwives, doulas, mental health providers, nutritionists and paediatricians; while one major selling point is end-to-end support through pregnancy, Maven is for women at all stages of their lives.
Maven puts a small percentage of every appointment fee towards its Maven Foundation, which partners with nonprofits to provide free healthcare to women in need. One such partner is The Children鈥檚 Village, which serves homeless young women in New York City.
At present, Maven operates exclusively within the United States, although international users can make appointments on an education-only basis.
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What Is Femtech?
Femtech is female-focused technology, typically designed to support women鈥檚 health. Fertility, menstruation, gynaecology and sex are common focuses; some femtech startups support women in building their families, while others encourage healthy attitudes to sex.
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Why Is Femtech Important?
Despite making up 50% of the population, women are underserved and underrepresented across many areas, including tech. Just 4% of all healthcare research and development funding goes to women鈥檚 health, yet it represents a yearly economic burden of more than $500 billion. To put that into context, the reports that diabetes cost the world economy a little less than $500 billion in 2010, while cancer cost $290 billion.
Just 10% of global investment and 2.2% of US venture capital goes to female-led startups.听, femtech companies face additional barriers to raising money because women鈥檚 health issues are not always understood by investors, women are underrepresented in the investment community, and female founders are reluctant to ask for funding.
With women at the helm, businesses develop products that women actually need; they also raise awareness of poorly understood health issues and equip women to take control of their health.
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Is There a Femtech Hub?
Unlike various other sectors of startups 鈥� e.g. fintech 鈥� femtech has yet to establish a geographical hub. Femtech startups are instead popping up all over the world, with notable amounts rising throughout America and Europe.
Whilst there isn鈥檛 yet an established femtech hub per say, who knows what the future will bring to this sector of startups. As various femtech startups grow, and people become increasingly more aware of their useful products, who knows what such innovations may lead to, and where it may put down its roots.
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