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Femtech by numbers – the rise of women’s health innovation
Female health has historically been underfunded and under researched, but the latest developments in femtech are aiming to restore the balance. Femtech World finds out all the figures you need to know about this booming industry…
Over the past decade or so, firms have been harnessing the power of technology to innovate in the world of female healthcare – and about time too.
Women have traditionally been overlooked when it comes to healthcare, in terms of both research and representation.
For example, around 65 per cent of healthcare employees are women, but they make up only 33 per cent of senior executives and 13 per cent of CEOs.
Male-dominated leadership, along with historical bias, has led to the overrepresentation of men in clinical trials, medical guidelines that fail to take women’s biology into account and a lack of innovation in women’s healthcare technologies.
And when we look at spending power, such male domination looks even more short-sighted; it is estimated that 90 per cent of women are the primary healthcare decision makers for their households, while also being responsible for 80 per cent of family healthcare spending. What’s more, women over age 19 also spend more per capita on healthcare than men.
Which is why the male dominated industry makes little sense, least of all financial – which is exactly the thinking behind the new generation of femtech businesses.
Let’s talk money
The femtech industry is predicted to be worth a massive $60bn by 2027, up from an already healthy $21.7m in 2020. Meanwhile, total global venture capital investments in femtech stood at $520m dollars last year.
However, the sex bias can even be seen in the world of venture capitalism. According to the Kauffman Foundation, private tech companies led by women achieve 35 per cent higher ROI than those led by men, but, in 2018, companies founded solely by women founders received only 2.2 per cent of VC funding. This could also be down to the inequality; women make up just nine per cent of venture capitalists working with start-ups.
In business
While femtech is certainly a booming field, it pales into insignificance compared to some of its tech-based peers.
The market is made up of over 200 start-ups worldwide, 92 per cent of which are founded and led by women. In comparison, there are around 12,000 fintech, or financial tech, start-ups in operation today.
However, a handful of dedicated femtech support programmes have been launched in the past two years, such as Station F in France, AXA Femtech Accelerator and the Tech4Eva accelerator in Switzerland.
What’s the focus?
In the early days of femtech, the focus was largely on periods, fertility and pregnancy, and some of the biggest names in the field, such as menstrual tracking apps Clue and Flo, are still concentrated here.
In fact, according to Emergen Research, the key field has been focused around pregnancy and nursing. In the US, pregnancy and nursing care apps are still the major shareholder of the market, holding around 40.2 per cent of it in 2019.
Unsurprisingly, given this market share, reproductive health is the recipient of the bulk of the funding too; 25 per cent of femtech investors are spending their money in this sub-sector.
However, as interest grows, femtech start-ups are broadening their horizons and investigating a variety of issues and conditions that disproportionately affect women, such as osteoporosis, breast cancer, stroke and depression.
And there are already signs that the landscape is shifting; in 2021 so far, the top funded sector has been preventative and primary care, bringing in $668m, followed by fertility support with $330m, and the pregnancy and parenthood area standing at $316m.
The biggest deals
In the 12 months to August 2021, women’s heath digital health start-ups in the US raised $1.3bn, nearly doubling 2020’s full-year total of $774m.
One of the biggest deals in that period was the $110m in Series D funding raised by Maven Clinic, a virtual women’s and family healthcare provider, which revealed it planned to use the funding to expand into new patient populations and invest in products.
In September, Tia, a healthcare company combining a virtual care with a real-life presence, announced a $100m Series B funding round.
Combining virtual and in-person care for a variety of women’s health needs, Tia provides primary, mental and gynaecological care, as well as acupuncture, for women across the US.
In a statement, the company said it plans to use the capital to expand its care model to more than 100,000 women by 2023.
In the UK, innovative femtech firm Elvie raised £97m in a Series C funding round in September. The firm, which was established in 2013, focuses on creating products that revolutionise women’s lives, such as an award-winning app-connected Kegel trainer and the world’s first silent wearable breast pump, Elvie Pump.
The women’s digital health market is set to reach US$5.28bn in 2026, up from US$4.36bn in 2025, according to a new report.
That would represent annual growth of 20.9 per cent, driven by factors including greater smartphone use among women, wider uptake of telehealth and a stronger focus on preventive care.
The report said the market could reach US$11.47bn by 2030, with projected annual growth of 21.4 per cent over the forecast period.
It also pointed to rising awareness of gender-specific health needs, expansion among digital health start-ups, growing demand for personalised healthcare, investment in femtech innovation and the spread of AI-enabled diagnostics.
Wearables linked to health apps and wider use of remote monitoring tools are also expected to play a larger role, as companies focus on more preventive and joined-up care.
Smartphone use was highlighted as a major driver because mobile apps are increasingly being used for women’s health services, from menstrual cycle tracking to pregnancy support.
The report cited Eurostat data showing that in 2023, 89 per cent of EU residents aged 16 to 74 in urban areas accessed the internet via smartphones.
The report also said companies in the sector are developing new technology aimed at improving access to more personalised healthcare.
One example it gave was a 2024 collaboration between Algorand and the Self-Employed Women’s Association to launch a digital health passport for women in India’s informal economy using blockchain technology.
Recent mergers and acquisitions were also noted. In March 2023, Maven Clinic acquired Naytal to expand its services in the UK and Europe.
North America was identified as the largest market in 2025, while Asia-Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing region.
Companies named as key players included Flo Health Inc, Natural Cycles, Elvie, Bellabeat, Clue by Biowink, MobileODT Ltd., Glow, Veera Health, Biowink GmbH, Ava AG, Hims & Hers Health, Inc., The Women’s Wellness Centre, Elara Health, myGynaeDoc, Maven Clinic, Kindbody, Allara Health, Tia and Hera Med Ltd.
Simultaneous exposure to toxic chemicals and climate-related heat may be worsening fertility harms across humans and wildlife, research suggests.
The review of scientific literature looks at how endocrine-disrupting chemicals, often found in plastic, together with climate-related effects such as heat stress, are each linked to lower fertility and fecundity, meaning the ability to reproduce, across species including humans, wildlife and invertebrates.
Though the reproductive harms of each issue in isolation are well studied, there is little research on what happens when living organisms are exposed to both.
“Together, the two issues are likely to pose a greater threat to fertility, and the additive effect is “alarming”, said Susanne Brander, a study lead author and courtesy faculty at Oregon State University.
“You’re not just getting exposed to one, but two, stressors at the same time that both may affect your fertility, and in turn the overall impact is going to be a bit worse,” Brander said.
The paper looked at 177 studies.
Shanna Swan, a co-author on the new paper, co-produced a 2017 study that found sperm levels among men in western countries had fallen by more than 50 per cent over four decades. Other research has suggested human fertility has been declining at a similar rate.
The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation has previously said the world was approaching a “low-fertility future”, with more than three quarters of countries below replacement rate by 2050.
The new paper’s authors focused on the effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals and substances, including microplastics, bisphenol, phthalates and PFAS.
These are thought to cause a range of serious reproductive problems, disrupt hormones and be a potential driver of falling fertility.
Brander said the harms linked to these chemicals are often similar across organisms, from invertebrates to humans.
Phthalates, for example, have been linked to altered sperm shape in invertebrates, spermatogenesis in rodents, meaning sperm production, and reduced sperm counts in humans.
PFAS are also thought to affect sperm quality, and both have been linked to hormone disruption.
The chemicals are widespread in consumer goods, so people are often regularly exposed.
Meanwhile, previous research has shown how rising temperatures, lower oxygen levels and heat stress, among other effects linked to climate change, may also worsen infertility.
Heat stress has been found to affect human hormones, and is linked to spermatogenesis in rodents and bulls.
Research shows temperature also plays a role in sex determination in fish, reptiles and amphibians.
The species has evolved to choose which sex it produces in part based on temperature, and the heating planet can “push it too far in one direction or the other, which overrides that evolutionary benefit”, Brander said.
Similarly, many endocrine disruptors may alter environmental sex determination.
The study set out some of the overlapping effects of chemical exposure and climate change across taxonomic groups, from invertebrates to humans.
In birds, for example, exposure to increased temperature, PFAS, organochlorines and pyrethroids may each individually cause abnormal sperm, increased fledgling mortality, abnormal testes and population decline.
“What happens if they’re exposed to more than one of those stressors at the same time? There has been little exploration of that question.
“Even if there have not been a lot of studies looking at these simultaneously, if you have two different factors that both cause the same adverse effect, then there’s a likelihood that they are going to be additive,” Brander said.
Katie Pelch, a senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council nonprofit, who was not part of the study, said the authors had reviewed high-quality science.
She said she wanted to see more examples of the overlap in impacts, but agreed with the overall premise.
“It is likely [multiple stressors] would have an additive effect, at very least, even if they have different mechanisms of harm,” Pelch added.
The solution to the systemic problems would involve tackling climate change and reducing the use of toxic chemicals.
The study cites the global reduction in the use of DDT and PCBs achieved under the Stockholm Convention as an example of an effective measure, but Brander said much more is needed.
“There is enough evidence in both areas to act to reduce our impact on the planet,” she said.
Home blood pressure checks after hypertensive pregnancy could cut the risk of heart attack, stroke and potentially early death, research suggests.
Women who regularly monitored their blood pressure in the weeks after giving birth, and had doctors tailor their medication if needed, had better functioning arteries nine months later than those who received routine care.
When the medication was adjusted to account for blood pressure changes, the women ended up with less stiff arteries, an effect researchers estimated could reduce the future risk of heart attack or stroke by 10 per cent.
Paul Leeson, professor of cardiovascular medicine who led the study, said the findings suggested that the weeks after birth provided a “powerful and often overlooked opportunity” to protect women’s future health.
“By simply monitoring blood pressure at home, new mothers with hypertensive pregnancies can protect their bodies from future damage,” he said.
High blood pressure, in the form of gestational hypertension or pre-eclampsia, where there are signs of organ damage, affects 5 to 10 per cent of pregnant women.
The condition can damage the mother’s organs and endanger the baby’s life.
Beyond the immediate threat to mother and baby, hypertension in pregnancy can raise the risk of long-term problems, with women three times more likely to develop high blood pressure and twice as likely to have heart disease later in life.
The Oxford team recruited 220 women who developed hypertension in pregnancy. All were on blood pressure medication but were due to reduce their dosage and eventually stop taking the drugs.
In the study, 108 women had standard care in which their medication was reduced based on a few blood pressure checks in the eight weeks after giving birth.
The remaining 112 women used a monitor to check their blood pressure at home each day.
They entered the readings into an app shared with doctors who, if needed, changed their medication day to day, with the aim of giving them better control of their blood pressure.
The new approach led to much better control of the women’s blood pressure, and in tests six to nine months later the women had less stiff arteries.
Stiff arteries are less effective at expanding and contracting, which can drive high blood pressure and ultimately the formation of clots that can block blood vessels and cause heart attacks and strokes.
Trials are now under way to find effective ways of rolling out blood pressure monitoring to women after hypertensive pregnancies. One option is for specialist NHS clinics to deliver the care.
Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, clinical director at the British Heart Foundation, which funded the work, said the results highlighted a crucial window after birth when paying close attention to blood pressure could help protect women’s heart health for years to come.
“We now look forward to seeing results from larger studies with longer follow-up to see how this might save women’s lives,” she said.
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