Design agency to support femtech start-ups with US$500k sponsorship programme

The US design company Guidea is investing US$500k in femtech start-ups through a UX design sponsorship programme.

The Femovate programme aims to offer women’s health digital innovation start-ups UX research, design and mentorship services to accelerate growth in the femtech space.

Health-related technology for females is decades behind other areas of healthcare.

Femtech founders are often fighting against scientific and clinical data gaps as well as great funding inequalities — all while trying to improve the lives of millions of women.

Guidea founder and CEO, Theresa Neil, created the programme to help founders refine their UX to provide a better experience for users and improve traction with investors.

While the programme was originally designed to only sponsor three femtech companies this year, Neil said she was “blown away” by the founders’ vision.

This prompted her to expand the program to include 30 of the 100 femtech applicants, expanding the originally planned US$50k investment in women’s health innovation to US$500k.

“Women in tech have the power to support innovation in female-centric healthcare,” the founder said.

“We believe investing in these femtech founders will have a transformative impact on our world.”

Neil said the company would provide “game-changing” support to the femtech founder community.

She added: “While it’s hard to estimate the impact the Femovate programme will have on the future, every successful femtech innovation works to close the gap in research and provide insight for further innovation in women’s health.

“Guidea is proud to help design better health solutions for women and believe this guidance will create ripple effects in the industry for years to come.”