The Rise of FemTech: Women-Led Health Start-Ups

For years, the healthcare industry has overlooked women’s health concerns, posing them as problems related to body weight or menstruation.

With the rise of FemTech, short for Female technology, healthcare has finally been made far more accessible for women from all backgrounds. From menstrual tracking apps created by women entrepreneurs to remote monitoring for fertility and prenatal care, the world has finally caught up to tailoring to women’s health needs. 

In the upcoming sections, we will be dissecting the various aspects of FemTech and the challenges faced by women-led start-ups even in today’s time. 

Read about science-based wellness tips for a happier mind here.

What is FemTech? 

In 2016, Clue founder Ida Tin coined the term FemTech, legitimising a space in health technology to address Women’s Health concerns that other mainstream health tech investors often ignored.

The director of HITLAB’s Women’s Health Tech initiative, Susan Solinsky, says this about the innovation in an article for Health-Tech magazine: “Like other female health tech entrepreneurs, she noticed that mostly male-dominated investment firms struggle with topics like reproductive health and menstrual tracking due to ingrained gender bias.

Soon after the #MeToo movement, there was also an increasing demand for consumer-centric and inclusive innovations in healthcare. The term ‘FemTech’ then gained visibility, which led to an increase in market growth in women-led ventures.

“The introduction of the term ‘FemTech’ was a step toward more open discussions. Eventually, the investment community recognised that women’s health is a subcategory of digital health worthy of significant investment,” says Solinsky.

In another report by Femtech Landscape 2021, it notes that FemTech is inclusive of problems related to reproductive, maternal health, sexual wellness, pelvic floor, vaginal, oncological, bone, brain, autoimmune and Heart health. FemTech products usually fall into one of six categories: medical devices and therapeutic drugs, to remote monitoring services and digital apps, including those focused on maternal care.

Adoption of FemTech related apps became seamless with the adoption of hybrid and virtual care delivery models during COVID-19, as patients and providers became more comfortable using digital health technology and remote monitoring.

The Rise of FemTech:  

A research study conducted on 763 FemTech companies, largely focused on tech-enabled maternal health solutions addressing women’s health, excluding Biopharma and traditional medical device firms, found that FemTech had already attracted strong investments.

The field had seen strong investment momentum, driven by an unmet demand for maternal care, access to healthcare, and improved health technology experiences for women.

Companies like Progyny, which offers inclusive maternal health services and support for reproductive health, and Maven Clinic – a virtual telemedicine platform for women’s health and family care have both reached billion-dollar valuations. 

The need for access to healthcare in underserved regions also continues to fuel FemTech’s market growth as traditional systems remain inadequate. This health technology sector has been gaining tremendous traction amongst investors, researchers, healthcare providers, and pharmaceutical companies. 

The estimated market size for FemTech ranges from $500 million to $1 billion, with a potential for double-digit revenue growth. FemTech currently receives about 3% of all digital health funding, with a major focus on maternal and reproductive health, menstrual tracking, consumer menstrual products, and gynaecological devices.

In Late 2021, funding had already reached $2.5 billion, and many FemTech companies started to fill the critical gaps left by traditional healthcare and biopharma companies, especially those in areas like maternal care and digital reproductive health. 

But that’s not all! FemTech continues to represent an area of significant untapped potential and possible innovation in the current generation. 

Taboos behind Women’s Health:

Although the evolution of FemTech continues to disrupt health technology, there are still many taboos that exist in society around women’s bodies. These include issues related to marketing, clinical research, and investor discomfort that is often fueled by systemic medical bias and gender bias.

These taboos tend to isolate and other its occupants, making it more challenging for Feminine products to be accessible for a marginalised population. 

Some of the issues that FemTech companies faced are discussed below:

I. Inequality in Funding Research Studies:

Several articles have highlighted the disproportionate amount of research studies conducted on sexual dysfunctions faced by men, which affects approximately 19% of the male population, as compared to the limited research on female sexual dysfunctions and broader women’s health concerns.

Historically, the health care system has always catered to men than women, both in practice and research, due to deep-rooted medical bias. It wasn’t until 1993 that women were mandatorily required to be in U.S medical studies, but even then, they were often excluded from clinical trials due to extra costs or perceived complexity of factors like menstrual cycle, pregnancy, or hormonal shifts­. 

This lack of knowledge in gender-based research has led to many cases of misdiagnosis in patients, due to outdated medical care standards for conditions that primarily affect women. 

FemTech aimed to close these crucial gaps by developing health technology-based solutions that were deemed ‘taboo’. Yet, this field is too far in development to address the decade-long systematic oppression in the medical field. 

Innovations such as fertility tracking apps, menstrual tracking tools, digital contraception methods, and remote monitoring of hormonal changes continue to progress FemTech into the mainstream.

Without equality in research and funding, many of women women-related health issues remain misunderstood or untreated, making the case for FemTech not only relevant but essential.

II.  Content Censorship around Women’s Bodies

FemTech companies faced strict censorship on mainstream social media platforms such as Instagram and Apple. Words related to women’s health or body part such as ‘vagina’, ‘menstruation’ or menstrual health ads displaying pads or periods are often flagged for inappropriate or explicit content.

In a study done on 60 FemTech firms, results revealed that almost every one of them claimed to have their woman’s wellness-related ads suspended.

This forced start-ups to spend limited budgets to appeal to banks or rebuild marketing campaigns. Since digital advertising is a primary growth strategy for start-ups, these restrictions directly limit product visibility, user acquisition, and funding momentum, delaying innovation in women’s health. 

III. Problems with Investment and Innovation:

The taboos around female sexuality, menstruation, and women’s health don’t just affect consumers but also extend to the investment community. Many male-led venture capital firms have struggled to understand or even discuss reproductive health due to gender bias, despite strong market growth indicators. 

The consistent overlook of high-performing FemTech ventures further illustrates how medical bias distorts perceptions of investment viability and innovation potential.

The problem arises from a lack of knowledge about women’s bodies, shaped by existing stereotypes. As a result, male investors often turn away from investing in women’s wellness products, or even in high-potential sectors like digital health, which are revolutionising access to reproductive health care and improving reproductive rights.

In a Forbes interview, Elena Velena, the CEO and founder of Essence App, a menstrual well-being start-up, explains why gaining funding for FemTech start-ups is challenging:

"We know that women raise less money than men. We know that most FemTech companies are founded by women. We know that investors prefer to invest in topics they can easily relate to. Therefore, a female founder raising capital for a FemTech company faces a massive uphill climb. You’re a female raising capital, strike one. You’re a female raising capital in FemTech, strike two. The odds are stacked.”

This funding gap continues despite the growing role of big data in personalizing women’s health experiences and the rising global demand for inclusive and innovative health technology solutions.

Want to learn about less invasive medical techniques? Read here about Holistic wellness.

The Women behind FemTech:

Pioneers are reshaping healthcare by addressing women's unique needs with innovation, empathy, and technology.

I.  Ida Tin – Clue

As mentioned earlier in the article, Ida Tin was the founder of ‘Clue’, a popular menstrual cycle tracking app that’s available on both IOS and Android. Tin was inspired to create the app out of personal frustration with the lack of innovation in family planning tools, and the blatant limited understanding that the general public had of reproductive health.

The app’s conception started with questions of the difficulties surrounding the likelihood of pregnancy on a given day, the timing of one’s next period, or potential side effects of birth control methods.

Motivated by these gaps, she envisioned a scientifically grounded, user-friendly mobile application that could empower women and people who menstruate to track their cycles and gain deeper insights into their bodies. A prime example of consumer-centric technology.

II. Kate Ryder, Maven Clinic

According to the Introduction page of Maven Clinic, the sole purpose of the website is described as a service that centres on the maternal health-care needs of women and children. Maven clinic provides personalised health plans and intuitive benefits management through its 2000+ team of engineers, clinical leaders, designers, and operators who provide services for over 175 countries.

In an article by Sequoia, Ryder’s vision for Maven Clinic is described as having risen from the lack of accessibility to maternal care when needed. A journalist by profession, Ryder approached the issue of creating a service that provided affordable, easy access to health care by interviewing health care providers and new mothers.

Now, Maven is said to have supported more than 10 million women and families, and offers access to various types of providers such as doulas, lactation consultants, midwives, and more than 350 subspecialties in women's and Family health.

The goal of the company, as mentioned on the website, is not to replace in-person prenatal visits or delivery but to complement in-person care with a support system that’s available for every patient 24/7.

III.  Elena Rueda & Paulina Cecula – Dama Health

Dama Health was founded by Elena Rueda and Paulina Cecula in 2021. The company aimed to provide personalised contraception services, tackling side effects and gender bias in prescription practices through pharmacogenetic research, genetic tests, and an automated matching system. 

Their goal, as stated on their website, is to improve the ‘trial and error’ process of contraception prescription that leaves 80% of its users to experience side effects that significantly decrease their quality of life. 

Potential Challenges Ahead: 

Despite its rapid growth, FemTech faces hurdles in privacy, regulation, and inclusivity that must be addressed to ensure safe, equitable, and accessible care for all.

I. Privacy and Data Concerns:

Although the launch of FemTech apps has improved access to maternal healthcare, making it affordable and accessible to a larger, diverse population, there are concerns about the personal information and data that are being shared on menstrual tracking or fertility tracking apps. The reproductive health data that is stored in these apps is are prime target for cyber-attacks, which poses serious safety hazards. 

One research study claims that over 61% of app vulnerabilities exist around remote monitoring security.

Another report from the University of Cambridge warns that data from period tracker apps could be used against users, especially in red U.S states where reproductive rights are diminishing.

Also, learn more about cybersecurity and data laws here.

II. Paradox of regulations complexity and Compliance:

FemTech products fall into the gap of being partly like regular health care apps that people use on their phones, but also medical devices that need various strict safety approvals. 

Due to this, companies have to follow complicated health and data laws like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation, HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), and FDA (Food and Drug Administration).

These hurdles not only slow down global market growth but also delay meaningful access to healthcare innovations for women in low-resource settings. The call for simplified compliance and standardisation is growing louder among start-ups determined to make consumer-centric FemTech accessible worldwide.

Additionally, advertising laws differ according to countries, making it harder for FemTech products to be promoted.

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III.  Bias against Ecosystem and gaps in Inclusivity:

 As many reports state, FemTech products cater to a select audience of Western users, unaware of the needs and cultural nuances of women belonging to marginalised communities, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour) women, and digitally underserved communities.

Another issue that arises is that not many FemTech companies collect the input of their target audiences that they are meant to serve.

The World Benchmarking Alliance reports that over 68% of organisations with a good ratio of gender balanced teams tend to perform better. These teams usually have members from diverse backgrounds who are better able to voice out community concerns.

This gap reflects deep-rooted gender bias and underrepresentation in leadership, which is a consequence of systemic medical bias that has long excluded diverse perspectives from healthcare innovation. 

Greater diversity and inclusive research are essential for equitable access to healthcare and maternal care.

Conclusion: 

The rise of FemTech in the health care industry is a transformative moment in shaping the health technology landscape, one that is finally starting to prioritise and personalise women’s health, maternal health, reproductive rights, and digital care. 

Women entrepreneurs are not only bridging the historic gaps in research, innovation, and access, but also redefining the future of Health-tech by normalising conversations around reproductive health care. Thus, attempting to close the large gaps in medical bias.

However, the journey has not come to an end yet. From data privacy concerns to gender bias in funding, FemTech's journey is far from over, as laws surrounding reproductive health are becoming more restrictive day by day.

Yet its rise signals a powerful shift: toward accessible, dignified, and empowering care for women globally, powered by innovative remote monitoring, smarter menstrual tracking, and an unwavering focus on access to healthcare for all.

Providing a space for healthcare to not only be accessible but affordable for women’s health needs, wherein they don’t feel ashamed or afraid to have an open discussion, is only the beginning of the rise of FemTech. 

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