Insight
How to remain successful in the tough world of FemTech
By Gloria Kolb, Co-Founder & CEO – Elitone
It is well documented that FemTech companies, often founded and run by females, face a tougher uphill battle to get investment. Sadly, there is a continuing, historical negative bias towards female-founded and female-led companies, as highlighted by female founders in Forbes last year.
Accessing investment and capital is the first hurdle, which often faces blatant sexism by male-dominant investors and VCs, market misconceptions and a stigma attached to female-led enterprises.
But, the challenge doesn’t stop when funding is secured.
Notwithstanding the fact that we are finally starting to have open, honest and supportive discussions around topics that affect women, including birth, menstruation, gynaecological issues, menopause and pelvic health, amongst others, female founders are still not experiencing the same support when starting or running businesses that their male counterparts benefit from.
Like every business, the challenge becomes about growing a company that is financially and operationally viable for the long term, whilst staying relevant to consumers.
But that can be even harder if you’re not given the same level of support needed.
Despite the FemTech sector’s huge growth in recent years, the appetite for funding is still missing.
In my experience many investors assume the market is saturated due to the number of products and struggle to understand and distinguish between the various FemTech solutions.
It’s clear that female-founded and FemTech companies do well to actually get off the ground, and thereafter it’s the way these companies navigate producing relevant, effective and desired products, whilst successfully balancing the financial accounts, that is the difference between success and failure in the long-term.
The journey Elvie has experienced is an example of the challenges faced in FemTech.
It started as one of the most well-known, trailblazing sector businesses in the UK in 2013, with its ‘taboo-busting’ pelvic floor trainer.
It later launched the Elvie Pump, a fully in-bra breast pump, in 2018, and most recently pivoted its product offering to launch a bassinet.
Elvie was initially a start-up success story; since its launch raising in excess of $186 million in investment, however, recent sales figures were declining whilst debts were rising.
The good news for the sector is that Willow, the San Francisco start-up that made its name with wearable breast pumps, is acquiring Elvie.
But the question remains, how did a first-of-its-kind FemTech company go so wrong? The investment was there, so was it a lack of financial and operating diligence that caused it to fall?
In the female pelvic floor space alone, Viveve, which raised $113M was delisted from Nasdaq in 2023 when it failed to meet its incontinence endpoints, Incontrol Medical, which was the first to bring pelvic floor health to the home, folded shortly after the pandemic, and Liberty filed for bankruptcy.
So what lessons can be learnt? Why is it so difficult for FemTech hardware companies to succeed?
Firstly, more education is needed around the issues females face that result in the development of FemTech hardware. Education is tricky in today’s society.
Things are slowly changing on the back of the conversation opening up in recent years on menstruation and menopause, but there is still a long way to go and female conditions such as incontinence and bladder leaking are still somewhat taboo, embarrassing and not spoken about often enough in mainstream or on social media.
What’s more, what I have found while developing Elitone is that the issue of incontinence, pelvic health and bladder leaks is often a secret for those that experience it.
The desire to keep it hidden, without discussing with friends, family or the medical profession, exacerbates the lack of awareness and understanding around the condition.
People are ashamed, but don’t need to be.
Elitone is on a mission to ensure women feel empowered to speak about what can become a huge affliction.
I started the company precisely because I was suffering post-partum and couldn’t find effective solutions on the market.
We work hard to evolve and grow Elitone, to ensure there will always be a reliable, effective and accessible solution for the millions of women who suffer.
The way we do this is to ensure our financial and operational management is solid and provides the basis for continued success.
At one point, start-ups were told “grow fast or die”, or scale at any cost and worry about profitability later.
That may well work for software and internet-based products, but by definition FemTech is hardware and we believe that approach doesn’t work.
Our success is based on old-fashioned common sense; we are careful about our costs, we are quick to shut down marketing efforts that don’t show returns, and everything is a test first.
We already know Femtech is harder to get funded, so every dollar counts.
So, although our growth has been slower than some others, the real secret to success is creating a product that is truly loved and works!
— Gloria Kolb is the CEO and co-founder of Elitone, the first non-invasive, FDA-cleared, wearable treatment for women with urinary incontinence.
Elitone’s accolades include winning Best New Product by My Face My Body, Sling Shot, finalist in Women Startup Challenge, and CES’ Innovation Award. As an inventor with 30+ patents and advocate for women’s health, Gloria has been featured in Forbes as a Top Scientist Driving Innovation in Women’s Health, TechRound’s Top Women in Tech, Boston’s “40 Under 40” and MIT Review’s “World’s Top Innovators under 35.”
She has engineering degrees from MIT and Stanford, and an Entrepreneurship MBA from Babson College.
Ki-67, a protein used to measure tumour growth, may also help prevent chromosome errors that drive cancer, a study suggests.
The findings could change how scientists view Ki-67, a marker commonly used in breast cancer and other tumours to assess how quickly cancer cells are growing.
Researchers found the protein may help preserve genome stability by maintaining the structural integrity of centromeres, key parts of chromosomes that help ensure DNA is shared correctly during cell division.
The research was led by professor Paola Vagnarelli at Brunel University of London in collaboration with scientists at the University of Edinburgh and the Technical University of Berlin.
Professor Vagnarelli said: “Doctors already measure Ki-67 to see how aggressive a cancer might be. But our results suggest it is actually helping maintain genome stability.
“That means it may be more than a marker. It could potentially also be a therapeutic target.”
The study examined three proteins that attach to chromosomes during cell division and help rebuild the molecular system that tells each new cell what kind of cell it is.
Every human cell carries identical DNA. What makes a liver cell different from a brain cell is which genes are switched on and which are kept inactive.
When a cell divides, that entire system of switches must be rebuilt. The three proteins involved in this process were Ki-67, Repo-Man and PNUTS.
Vagnarelli’s team developed a method that individually removes each protein from a living cell at the precise point of division. Older techniques could not isolate that moment cleanly.
They found that cells rely on all three proteins to reset themselves after division, but each failed in a different way when removed.
Without PNUTS, gene activity spiralled out of control and thousands of genes switched on at once.
Without Repo-Man, cells escaped safety checkpoints that usually stop damaged or abnormal cells from continuing to divide.
“What we didn’t expect was how clean the separation was,” said Vagnarelli.
Each protein fails in its own specific way. There is no redundancy, no safety net. Which means there are three separate points at which this process can go wrong.
“When the system breaks down, cells can emerge with the wrong number of chromosomes. That condition, called aneuploidy, is seen in disorders such as Down syndrome and in many cancers.
“We also found that these chromosome errors can trigger inflammatory signals inside the cell.”
Aneuploidy means a cell has too many or too few chromosomes, which can disrupt normal growth and function.
Inflammatory signals are chemical messages that can make a cell behave as if it is responding to injury or infection.
“These cells behave almost as if they are under attack,” said Vagnarelli.
“The immune response switches on because the genome is unstable.
“That link between chromosome imbalance and inflammation could help explain patterns we see in several diseases.”
The researchers said the findings may help cancer scientists better understand how chromosome instability, loss of gene regulation and cells dividing before they are ready contribute to tumour growth.
They said understanding the normal machinery that prevents these errors may help researchers find ways to push cancer cells into making mistakes they cannot survive.
“We now have a clearer map of the machinery that resets the cell after division,” said Vagnarelli.
“That knowledge gives us a starting point for thinking about new therapeutic approaches.”
After more than a decade of campaigning, doctors around the world have agreed to rename polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
It is hoped the new name, polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, or PMOS, will help end the misconception that the condition is all about cysts, which campaigners say has contributed to missed diagnoses and inadequate treatment.
The condition affects one in eight women, or 3.1m women and girls in the UK, and is linked to hormone fluctuations that can affect weight, mental health, skin and the reproductive system.
The renaming was spearheaded by UK patient charity Verity alongside Professor Helena Teede, director of Melbourne’s Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation.
It followed 14 years of consultation with clinicians and patients around the world.
The new name was published in a consensus statement on May 12 and announced at the European Congress of Endocrinology in Prague.
The paper states that PCOS should now be referred to as PMOS.
“This is a landmark moment that will lead to desperately-needed worldwide advancements in clinical practice and research,” said Professor Teede.
“It was heart-breaking to see the delayed diagnosis, limited awareness and inadequate care afforded those affected by this neglected condition.”
When doctors first named PCOS in 1935, they thought it was mainly caused by physical changes to the ovaries.
Decades of research have since changed that understanding, with clinicians now agreeing the condition is far more complex.
“What we now know is that there is actually no increase in abnormal cysts on the ovary and the diverse features of the condition were often unappreciated,” Professor Teede added.
“A name change was the next critical step towards recognition and improvement in the long term impacts of this condition.”
The exact cause of the condition is still unknown, though it is thought to be linked to abnormal hormone levels and is associated with insulin resistance and raised levels of testosterone and luteinising hormone.
Insulin resistance means the body does not respond properly to insulin, the hormone that helps control blood sugar. Luteinising hormone helps regulate ovulation.
Common symptoms listed by the NHS include irregular periods or no periods at all, difficulty getting pregnant, excessive hair growth, weight gain, thinning hair, oily skin and acne.
Campaigners have acknowledged that the name change could cause temporary confusion.
“Despite decades of tireless advocacy to improve awareness, we recognised that the risk of change would be worth the reward,” said Rachel Morman, chairwoman of Verity.
“This shift will reframe the conversation and demand that it is taken as seriously as the long-term, complex health condition it is.”
It is also unclear if, or when, the NHS will change the language it uses.
An NHS England spokesperson said: “We routinely review and update content on the NHS website to ensure it reflects the latest clinical advice and will carefully consider these recommendations.
“The NHS will also continue our work to improve women’s healthcare, including for this important group, which involves giving women more choice over their care, bringing down waiting times, and delivering more care in communities.”
News
The RESIL-Card tool launches across Europe to strengthen cardiovascular care preparedness against crises
By Women As One
Women As One is proud to have contributed to the development of the RESIL-Card tool as an active Advisory Board member, ensuring that gender equity and the perspectives of women cardiologists were embedded from the outset.
Through strategic input on the project’s design, formal support of its EU4Health funding application, and ongoing participation in advisory activities, Women As One has helped shape both the direction and implementation of this initiative.
By amplifying awareness, facilitating engagement from our global community, and advocating for inclusive representation, we have worked to ensure that RESIL-Card reflects the diverse realities of cardiovascular care and supports more equitable, resilient health systems in times of crisis. Read more about our involvement here.
On the European Day for Prevention of Cardiovascular Risk (March 14), the RESIL-Card consortium proudly announces the official launch of the RESIL-Card tool, a free online resource designed to help hospital cardiovascular professionals and other stakeholders assess and strengthen the resilience of their care pathways — ensuring that lifesaving care remains accessible even during times of crisis.
Available now at https://www.wecareabouthearts.org/resil-card/online-tool/, the RESIL-Card tool offers a structured self-assessment framework for evaluating the preparedness of cardiovascular services and identifying concrete actions to maintain continuity of care when health systems face disruption.
“Cardiovascular care must remain uninterrupted regardless of the challenges health systems face,” said Professor William Wijns, Research Professor in Interventional Cardiology, University of Galway, Ireland, and We CARE – RESIL-Card Coordinator.
“The RESIL-Card tool provides healthcare teams with a practical way to assess preparedness, identify improvement opportunities, and ultimately ensure that patients continue to receive lifesaving care when it matters most.”
Why the RESIL-Card tool was developed
Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death in Europe, making the continuity and resilience of care pathways a public health priority.
Despite advances in diagnosis and treatment, recent crises – from pandemics to geopolitical instability – have exposed the vulnerability of healthcare systems.
In today’s increasingly uncertain health landscape and global environment, proactive preparedness is no longer optional – it is essential.
The RESIL-Card tool was developed as part of an EU4Health-funded initiative to support organisations providing lifesaving cardiovascular care in strengthening their preparedness, improving coordination, and safeguarding patient outcomes in times of disruption.
The initiative focuses on practical resilience strategies to help health systems anticipate challenges rather than simply react to them.
“Healthcare systems today operate in an increasingly complex and unpredictable environment,” said Ariadna Sanz, Health Policy Manager at the Catalan Health Service (CatSalut).
“Tools like RESIL-Card help shift the focus from responding to crises toward proactively building strong, adaptable cardiovascular care pathways that protect patients over the long term.”
A collaborative and evidence-based methodology
The RESIL-Card tool is grounded in a robust, multidisciplinary development process involving cardiovascular experts, healthcare professionals, public health specialists, patient organisations, and policy stakeholders from across Europe.
Its development combined comprehensive literature reviews and analysis of existing preparedness frameworks with extensive stakeholder consultations and co-creation workshops. Real-world insights from healthcare providers and patient representatives were integrated throughout the process to ensure the tool reflects the practical realities of cardiovascular care delivery. The methodology also included iterative testing and validation phases, allowing the consortium to refine the tool and ensure it is both scientifically rigorous and practical for everyday use.
“From the outset, RESIL-Card was co-created with clinicians, patient representatives, and health system experts to ensure it reflects real-world practice,” said Professor Niek Klazinga, Em. Professor of Social Medicine, Amsterdam University Medical Centre / University of Amsterdam.
“The result is a tool that combines scientific rigour with practical usability, enabling healthcare teams to translate resilience concepts into concrete action.”
What the RESIL-Card tool is and how it works
The RESIL-Card tool is a practical online self-assessment instrument designed for use by a multistakeholder resilience team led by cardiovascular care providers.
Through a structured four-step process, including a questionnaire and guided analysis, users assess the preparedness and resilience of their cardiovascular care pathways and gain a clear understanding of how well their services can maintain care continuity during periods of disruption.
The assessment process helps teams identify existing strengths as well as potential gaps in service delivery.
Based on the responses provided, the tool offers tailored recommendations and examples of best practices to support improvement.
These insights can then inform strategic planning, helping organisations prioritise actions that reinforce care continuity, strengthen patient safety, and optimise the long-term sustainability of cardiovascular services.
Benefits for Key Stakeholders
For healthcare professionals and organisations delivering cardiovascular care, the RESIL-Card tool provides a structured way to strengthen preparedness and crisis-response capacity.
By helping teams assess their existing systems and identify areas for improvement, the tool supports better coordination across services and clinical disciplines.
It also facilitates evidence-based planning and quality improvement initiatives, enabling healthcare organisations to enhance their operational resilience while maintaining efficient and manageable care processes.
“By promoting awareness about strengths and limitations of each system, the RESIL-Card tool will help physicians to understand where improvements are needed and strengthen coordination and planning to face crises,” said Doctor Alfredo Marchese, Chief of Interventional Cardiology Department at Santa Maria Hospital, Bari, Italy and President of the Italian Society of Interventional Cardiology (GISE).
For patients and patient organisations, the RESIL-Card tool contributes to improving the reliability and continuity of essential cardiovascular care.
By encouraging healthcare providers to proactively address vulnerabilities in care pathways, the tool helps promote uninterrupted access to diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up services.
It also supports a more patient-centred and equitable approach to care delivery, encouraging collaboration and transparency in preparedness planning.
Ultimately, these improvements can contribute to better health outcomes and increased safety for people living with cardiovascular disease.
“For people living with cardiovascular disease, continuity of care is not optional — it is essential,” said Teresa Glynn, Senior Executive Strategy & Partnerships at Global Heart Hub.
“By helping healthcare providers strengthen preparedness, RESIL-Card supports more reliable and equitable access to treatment and greater confidence for patients and their families.”
At the European level, the RESIL-Card initiative contributes to a shared effort to strengthen the resilience of health systems.
By providing a common framework for assessing and improving preparedness, the tool encourages cross-border learning and facilitates the exchange of best practices among healthcare providers and policymakers.
It also aligns closely with European Union priorities on health system preparedness, crisis response, and sustainability.
By helping healthcare organisations identify vulnerabilities and implement practical resilience measures, the RESIL-Card tool can support efforts to reduce inequalities in access to high-quality cardiovascular care across EU Member States.
“Strengthening the resilience of cardiovascular care is a shared European priority,” said Rachel Kenna, Ireland’s Chief Nursing Officer at the Department of Health.
“While the RESIL-Card tool has not yet been tested in an Irish setting we look forward to seeing how it can support the development of more sustainable and prepared healthcare systems.”
Call to Action
Cardiovascular care providers and other healthcare professionals are encouraged to explore the RESIL-Card tool at https://www.wecareabouthearts.org/resil-card/online-tool/.
By using it to assess their cardiovascular care pathways, they will identify areas where resilience can be strengthened and ensure that essential services remain accessible during times of disruption.
Patient organisations also play an important role in this effort. By engaging with healthcare providers and policymakers, they can help promote the use of the tool and ensure that patient perspectives are meaningfully incorporated into preparedness and response planning.
Policymakers and health authorities are invited to support the adoption of the RESIL-Card tool within regional, national and European strategies aimed at strengthening healthcare system resilience.
Integrating the tool into policy frameworks can help safeguard access to essential cardiovascular services and enhance the ability of health systems to respond effectively to future challenges.
Learn more about Women As One at womenasone.org
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