Femtech history

Technology that addresses women’s health is a relatively new thing, with femtech gathering pace only in the last 10 years. 

According to UK Tech News, femtech is defined as technologies that focus specifically on women’s health. This includes hormonal disorders, period tracking, pelvic health, birth control and sexual wellness. It takes the form of applications, devices, products and data.

Where did it all begin?

The term ‘femtech’, a shortened term for female health through technology, is the brainchild of Ida Tin, the Danish-born founder of Clue, a period and ovulation tracking app.

In an article on its website, Ms Tin recalls holding her smartphone in one hand and a thermometer in the other and wishing she could merge the two to track her fertile days. So Clue came to be. One of the early pioneers, it paved the way for further innovations and is now just one name in the femtech space.

For a good while, the femtech 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.

However, as interest in the field has increased, femtech start-ups are broadening their horizons and starting to look at a variety of issues and conditions that disproportionately affect women, such as osteoporosis, breast cancer, stroke and depression.

Taking control

The rise in femtech has given women the opportunity to take control of their health, allowing them the means to understand it and improve it.

Increasingly, women want to have a say over which type of treatment, hospital and medication they use. Being able to do that with a phone and internet connection is incredibly powerful.

Femtech is also breaking down barriers when it comes to accessibility in healthcare, by providing access to medical support without the red tape, cost and time required to visit in person.

Apps allowing women to easily track their menstrual cycles, for example, give users an insight into their normal, helping to take control of their fertility and spot any anomalies early.

Changing the tide

Women have been underrepresented in healthcare for some time. In fact, in 1977 women of childbearing age were excluded from taking part in drug trials by the US Food and Drug Administration completely, regardless of whether they wanted, or could have, children or not.

The edict was the result of certain drugs, most notoriously thalidomide, causing serious birth defects.

Guidelines were changed in 1983, as it began to be recognised that many factors, including body size, hormones and body fat distribution, can affect the way drugs are metabolised, which could ultimately mean that life-saving drugs would not work in the same way for women as for men.

In an article for the New York Times, Michelle Tempest, a partner at London-based healthcare consultancy Candesic, notes that women lag behind men and that research has been overwhelmingly tailored to the male body.

This gender gap has led to significantly worse health outcomes for women. As a result, the tech industry’s role in women’s health may be more important now than ever.

As a result, the New York Times claims femtech is the next big thing in healthcare. And considering that women spend $500 billion a year on medical expenses, it is beginning to attract the attention of VC portfolios. A mostly male investment community remains one of the biggest challenges, but when it stands to make $50 billion by 2025, even the men might take note.

A look to the future

Recently, FemTech Lab was opened in London to encourage more innovative companies to establish their presence in this industry.

And across the pond, Femtech Focus is a non-profit organisation founded to empower, equip and bring together healthcare professionals. Both organisations exist to support and raise the profile of femtech.

It might have taken a while, but femtech is a welcome arrival and here to stay. The market potential is huge, and investors are interested.

Age-old taboos around women’s health have caused heel-dragging in the past, but those excuses won’t wash with a society that counts women as having higher buying power than men.

The numbers speak for themselves, with the femtech industry 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.

And while these numbers pale into insignificance compared to some of its tech-based peers – the market is made up of over 200 start-ups worldwide, compared to around 12,000 fintech, or financial tech, start-ups in operation today – it’s an ever-growing field.