Femtech: Centering Tech for Women’s Health
As digital development and technology continue to change our systems and interactions with the world, like Chat GPT has done in just months, there’s an entire new tech industry that is rising filled with the potential not just test our digital imagination, but solve women’s health. As a femme in technology, the gender divides are so widely felt that it’s critical to uplift the technologies aiming to serve women.
Femtech is an industry with vast range that emerged through the rise of female health start ups. The problems these entrepreneurs aimed to solve were entirely focused on women’s health.
One in particular that has been recognized as creating the birth of Femtech, has been the Danish start up Clue, by Danish entrepreneur Ida Tin. Clue is a menstruation tracking app, where women are able to track their cycles and track their reproductive health. It was founded in 2012 as one of the very first companies in the sector. It was built with a collaboration of universities, researchers, and clinicians to address this tracking gap.
Since Clue, Femtech has emerged with several apps aimed at tracking cycles and fertility. Over the years, the industry has expanded now reaching just about all aspects to women’s health:
The Range of Femtech Products and Health Challenges (Opportunities):
As we can see from Crunchbase’s research, there’s a range to the different áreas of health and wellness, Femtech can innovate in. These products are not simple product development processes.
They require a strong understanding to the women’s health challenge along with a range of clinical trials and consulted medical experts. The consideration of medical professionals from endocrinologists, gynecologists, obstetricians, nutritionists/dietitians, psychologists/psychiatrists, data scientists, and regulatory experts is critical in value creation, as well as in “getting it right” with evidence based research. With the assembling of a diverse team, medical experts can inform products and services that are evidence based and truly meet the needs of women. Given the vast amount of women’s health challenges, the industry is estimated to be worth over 1 Trillion.
Wearable Devices in Femtech
So what do these products look like? There’s quite a range of different types of Femtech products ranging from:
- Fitness trackers
- Smart watches
- Period tracking devices
- Stress Trackers
- Posture Trackers
- Sleep Trackers
- Nursing Trackers
- Post Partum Apps
Regulation in Femtech
For those concerned with the femtech regulation aspect of the industry, the industry has been met with what the University of Edinburgh Law School suggests “little legal or ethical scrutiny.” In Femtech, based on the function of the product, there is a clear evidence based connection being made between the product and the user. This requires oversight prior to market launch. These can be subject to medical regulation.
Femtech is also adorned with additional regulation due to the sensitive data from products. From menstrual cycles to fertility desires, consumer trust and protection is vital to these companies. This creates an important capacity for these companies to capacitate in digital trust and also consumer trust. Medical device regulatory compliance is an important part of the product development process. Funding by venture capitalists and compliance to medical device regulations can create bottlenecks to bringing product to market.
FDA Regulation
According to Genevieve Grabman, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have made several attempts over the years to make medical products safer and more effective for women (2022). The FDA holds an office established in 1994 called the Office of Women’s Health (OWH). Grabman suggests women are underrepresented in clinical trials creating an “escaped regulation.” The rise of Femtech may be able to create the right enabling conditions for expanded medical trials given the testing of devices as this market expands.
For more information in FDA’s Pathway to Approval, see here: https://www.fda.gov/patients/device-development-process/step-3-pathway-approval
What are some of the lead start ups in Femtech?
Summaries listed from Apiumhub (2021)
Clue — is a Berlin-based menstrual tracking app. Its founder Ida Tin was the first to coin the term “Femtech” back in 2016 and her company has raised €27.4m
Natural Cycles — It is still the only mobile application which is a certified contraceptive in Europe. The company helps women track body temperature to predict when they are the most fertile and not. Founded in Sweden it now boasts 1.5m users worldwide with the UK as its biggest market followed by the US and Sweden. Funding: €34m.
Ava — Founded in Switzerland and has raised a massive €42m. Its multi-sensor bracelet allows women to predict fertile days while they are sleeping. No more temperature testing or counting days.
Grace Health — It is a Swedish period and fertility tracker for women in emerging markets. It has recently added a digital women’s health clinic to it. It has attracted well-known angel investors such as Cherry Ventures’ Sophia Bendz, Blossom Capital’s Louise Samet and most recently Vostok New Ventures for a total of €2.3m.
Plenna — Plenna offers face-to-face and online gynecology check-ups and services in the City of Mexico.
Ovia Health — Boston based company, designed to support reproductive health and parenting goals, with an app for each stage of the journey. Ovia Fertility helps women learn more about their health and fertility with cycle tracking, expert research and tips, and instant data feedback.
Ecosystem Resources
To stay informed on the Femtech products and participate in the ecosystem here are some incredible leads and groups supporting this ecosystem.
- Women of Wearables https://www.womenofwearables.com/
- Women in Tech https://women-in-tech.org/
- Elpha | https://elpha.com
- Femstreet | https://femstreet.com
- Healthtech Women | https://healthtechwomen.com/
Looking to scale up this industry across the Latin American and Caribbean Region & Europe. Please feel free to reach out to me for emerging market diagnostics, ecosystem assessments, or start up venture building.