Breaking down barriers: how femtech is changing women’s health in France

From detecting endometriosis to reconstructing breast tissue, the femtech sector in France sounds promising, to say the least. We speak to Delphine Moulu, co-founder and managing director of FemTech France, to find out what the market has to offer. 

With companies around the world using pioneering technologies to develop new products and improve patient outcomes, women’s health has never looked more exciting.

After decades in which women were excluded from medical research, the femtech sector offers a glimmer of hope.

Since the term was coined in 2016, the market has exploded, with more and more businesses seeking to disrupt the system and empower women to take control of their health.

However, to many, femtech remains a new concept. A former events manager at Station F, the world’s largest start-up campus based in Paris, Delphine Moulu had no idea what femtech was until one of her colleagues came up to her with an idea for a start-up programme.

“I’ve always been a feminist, but I hadn’t heard of femtech before,” she says.

“I started doing a lot of research and I was shocked to discover the health inequalities between men and women. So I immediately agreed to get involved in the the creation of a dedicated programme that we launched at Station F to help early-stage femtech founders from France and Europe.”

Soon after she was introduced to femtech, Delphine realised how passionate she was about it, so much so that she left her job at Station F and launched FemTech France, an association dedicated to accelerating innovation in women’s health in France.

“Having the right people around you can help you go faster, as an entrepreneur, and can save you time and potentially money,” she explains. “That’s what FemTech France is all about.

“Our aim is to support entrepreneurs by creating synergies between the different actors of the ecosystem and taking part in all the strategic debates around women’s health in France.

“Last year, for example, we did our first bootcamp where we provided eight femtech founders with a toolbox with all the information they needed to create a femtech start-up in France.

“They also had the chance to be connected to our two partners for this first edition, the pharmaceutical lab Organon France and the health insurance Groupe VYV. It was so successful that we are organising it again this year!”

As data on the femtech sector was limited, Delphine and her team also put together the first mapping of the French femtech start-ups, showcasing the work of more than 80 businesses across France.

“That was another important step for us,” she explains. “We wanted to show that the French ecosystem is booming, is not niche, and that, in fact, there are a lot of actors in this space, but they are still small because they have trouble getting funding.

“What we saw was that most of the femtech start-ups in France focus on reproductive health. However, we lack businesses around menopause and contraception. There’s a huge need, but due to stigma, there isn’t much innovation going on yet.

“In terms of trends, following the national strategy against endometriosis, we saw a lot more people talking openly about endometriosis and more recently, about PCOS.”

Finding a business model in health tech and femtech is also a challenge. Delphine says in France she sees a trend of start-ups shifting from B2C to B2B2C.

“Before Covid it was super taboo to talk about mental health at work. Now, every company offers employee benefits around mental health with applications and services to support employees. I hope in a beautiful future the same will happen for women’s health.”

The good news is that things are changing in France. Women are more open about their health than ever before and, unlike previous generations, they are now willing to speak up and take their health into their own hands.

“We’ve had a positive response from decision makers, ministers and politicians, as most of them are already aware of the gender gap in healthcare,” adds Delphine.

“We are happy to see that their doors are open. This is a public health issue, but if we work together, we can move things forward.”

To find out more, visit femtechfrance.org.