“Women with gynaecological conditions don’t have the right support- that has to change”

Sibley Berty has been suffering with PCOS and endometriosis since she was a teenager, but despite her mum being a GP, she is yet to find the right support.

“Doctors weren’t very well equipped to deal with my health issues and so a lot of the time, the help I was given was misguided or was simply not right for me,” she says. “Not even my mum, as a GP, was able to give me the help I needed.”

With more than four in five women in England reporting there have been times when they were not listened to by healthcare professionals, Sibley is not alone.

The Women’s Health Strategy has found that tens of thousands of women in England alone felt that they were not taken seriously or that they had to persistently advocate for themselves to secure a diagnosis.

If they did secure a diagnosis, there were limited opportunities to discuss or ask questions about treatment options and other recommendations.

“Many women are in the dark for so long, unable to get the help that they need,” says Sibley.

“But there’s also a gap between the clinical side and the more holistic side of things. I’ve been told many times by GPs that losing weight would help with my PCOS, but there was no elaboration or help in terms of how I could do that.”

Like many women seeking support online, Sibley tried to find other treatment options that could help her, but she was left disappointed.

“After spending hours every week searching relentlessly, I realised that there were lots of different solutions out there, but they were all very scattered. There was no one central location where women like me could find credible information.”

Alongside her mum, Dr Claudia Berty, Sibley decided to create Femity to change what they describe as an area that has fundamental issues on a systematic level.

“Women have to go through a lot of pain and suffering that could be avoided,” the pair says.

“By launching Femity, we wanted to make their journey easier, because getting the right support shouldn’t be this difficult.”

A first-of-its-kind platform that aggregates information and solutions for women with gynaecological conditions, Femity is poised to become the one-stop shop for millions of women looking for support.

“Unlike other platforms, Femity is going to be a marketplace that brings together products, services and providers in one place, as there is still a big disconnect.

“This more holistic approach will provide a more seamless experience for women, helping them to find the to find the right solution whether they’re looking for a diagnosis, treatment options or ways to track changes to their gynaecological health.”

With features that will allow women to filter reviews and access expert support, the founders are hoping to help women beyond healthcare.

“We want to introduce features where women can continue the conversation and cultivate a much more open environment,” says Sibley.

“For example, someone with PCOS who might be looking for certain supplements could apply different filters to look through the reviews in a more personalised way. If they come across someone else with a similar experience, they might want to message them and ask certain questions they might have.

“Another interesting feature we are working on is going to have the ability to connect women with experts from different fields in an interactive webinar. This means women will be able to submit their questions in advance and during the webinar, an expert will answer them live.”

Dr Berty says a platform like Femity is desperately needed.

“For certain conditions, like endometriosis, there’s not a lot out there and, as GPs, we don’t get enough training,” she explains.

“There is still so much we don’t know about these conditions and without the right information, you could do more harm than good.”

With a shared passion for business and women’s health, the mother-daughter duo is beyond excited about their new venture.

“We really want to take on board women’s feedback and create something that’s really going to help them,” says Sibley.

“I’m still looking for answers and I know many other women like me are too. I hope with Femity we’ll be able to make a difference.”

“As a clinician, I’m very interested in helping people get diagnosed sooner,” her mum adds.

“It can take up to 10 years to get diagnosed with endometriosis, but I think with the right information, the right products and the right services we can absolutely change that.”

As the platform is expected to go live soon, the pair’s main focus is the software testing programme.

“The testing programme has always been part of our go-to market strategy and it will be key in driving traction and gathering that initial bank of reviews.

“It’s a great way for us to introduce ourselves to businesses and tell them about our mission. We’ve been really fortunate that companies in the femtech space share our vision, and fortunately 99 per cent of the ones we’ve spoken to have said they would love to be involved.

“Randox, Tempdrop, Jude, Womco and Thriva are just a few businesses who we have brought on board. We have over 15 businesses who are taking part so far.”

The process will be equally exciting for women. By registering and filling in a questionnaire, they will get the opportunity to test products and/or services that could help them.

“At this stage, data collection is really important and that’s because a woman with endometriosis is going to need a different product versus a woman with PCOS,” the entrepreneurs add.

“Collecting this information will help us build the best product for our users and hopefully, make a significant, tangible change in women’s health.”

To find out more, visit femity.com.