Ukrainian femtech entrepreneur wins top award in Kyoto

A Ukrainian femtech entrepreneur who launched a menstrual cycle tracker app has won the top prize in Kyoto Prefecture’s entrepreneurship award for women.

Anna Kreshchenko has founded Flora Co to support women in Japan and overcome the stigma around women’s health.

The 26-year-old founded the company in 2020 when she was studying at Kyoto University to break down taboos, encourage sex education and empower women through data.

“By building big data on women’s physical condition, I want to support their health throughout their lives, such as by predicting symptoms that are likely to appear during menopause based on the user’s menstrual indications and showing how to cope with them,” Kreshchenko told the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper.

The Flora Co app, which uses AI technology for period tracking, fertility and motherhood, allows users to keep a daily record of their condition and manage their symptoms based on personal data.

Suspecting that Japanese firms are not aware of what kind of support their female employees need, since many managerial positions are occupied by men, Flora Co also offers B2B services for women in the workplace.

The Kyoto-based start-up has won the top prize in Kyoto Prefecture’s entrepreneurship award for women, alongside 10 other business.

Japan has the highest number of cases of infertility treatment in the world.

Studies have indicated that women undergoing treatment feel stigmatised and suffer from psychological symptoms such as anxiety and depression and may be regarded as deviants from the normal pathway of marriage and childbearing.

Researchers from the University of Tokyo have concluded that efforts to reduce infertility stigma such as psychoeducation and cognitive therapy intervention could be essential for reducing anxiety, depression, and psychological distress in women undergoing infertility treatment.

Ryota Takada, Flora Co COO, said: “We want to take care of women’s health issues and create an environment where they can naturally thrive.

“Increased productivity in companies can benefit both men and women.”