Fem-first innovation
Earlier this year Elvie, a British company focusing on women’s health, raised £32 million in funding. This was the largest investment to date in the rapidly burgeoning market of femtech. Femtech is a new space in the tech market focusing on software, products and services that use technology to address women’s health, ranging from wearables to internet-connected medical devices and smart hygiene products.
The main applications of femtech are fertility, period trackers, pregnancy care and services relating to women’s sexual health. It’s one of the fastest-growing sectors in tech, with more than $200 billion spent on femtech each year, and rapidly increasing interest from investors.
Here are the bold femtech companies you need to know, from the UK and beyond.
Elvie
At the forefront of the femtech revolution and responsible for placing giant boobs on Shoreditch rooftops as part of a marketing drive, Elvie first made it big with their pelvic floor exercise trainer, encouraging everyone to get their kegels on. Their latest design-centric product is a silent, wireless breast pump that’s already making waves.
KaNDy Therapeutics
This British company, founded in 2017, is developing non-hormonal treatment to help manage menopause symptoms. KaNDy Therapeutics are responding to the fact that 75% of women experience hot flushes at the time of menopausal transition, meaning there’s a huge market for their research.
Ferly
“Sex is complicated – let’s change that” is the motto of this colourful app which is looking to normalise conversations around sex and promote female pleasure as a part of everyday wellbeing. Ferly offers micropodcasts and bite-sized articles, all produced at the company’s Hackney base.
Moody Month
This app targets women who want to better understand their moods. Combining cycle tracking and mental health analysis, Moody Month offers personalised advice for women which goes beyond information to actually helping women change their lives for the better.
Ava
Ava is a Swiss company, which recently raised €42m in investment. It has developed an elegant sensor bracelet which helps women predict days on which they’re fertile with 89% accuracy.
Clue
Ida Tin, founder of Clue, coined the term “femtech” around her software. This menstrual tracker was launched in 2012, and combines product testing with its stated goal of launching new conversations about female health amongst its five million users.
Bonzun
This Swedish company promoting information for pregnant women has impressive credentials. Not only was Bonzun developed with midwives, but it has backing from both the World Health Organisation and UNICEF. After launching in China, it was downloaded 2 million times and won founder Bonnie Roupé a slew of entrepreneurship awards.
Natural Cycles
This app, launched in Sweden in 2013, is the first and only contraceptive app to get official marketing clearance in Europe. Natural Cycles now counts 800,000 users who use the simple technology, combining temperature and data analysis, to decide whether or not they need to use contraception that day.
LactApp
Spanish breastfeeding startup LactApp is amazingly used by one in four breastfeeding mothers in Spain. It provides answers to all questions that arise from breastfeeding, focusing on medical questions such as how to deal with cracked nipples or breastfeeding pain. Now available in English, it’s set to expand well beyond the Spanish market.
Cora
This San Francisco-based company views periods as a natural process, rather than something to be stigmatised. To that end Cora sell organic tampons and sanitary pads, even wrapped in soft packaging so they don’t make noise if you’re trying to be discreet in a public bathroom.
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