In the last decade, we have noticed a rise in businesses that are using technology to offer products and services dedicated to improving women's health - creating the new market name of 'FemTech'. In this blog, we delve into the world of FemTech while mentioning some of our favourite companies making an impact on the industry.
FemTech is a new term that best describes a category of healthcare aimed specifically towards women, including software, diagnostics, products and services that all use technology to help provide women with solutions that manage their overall health - whether it's menstrual cycles, reproductive health, pregnancy, or the menopause.
Traditionally, medicine and it's technologies have been mainly dominated by male experts, with the industry attention being largely centred around men's bodies and experiences of illness - however throughout recent years, awareness of the "gender health gap" has grown significantly with female entrepreneurs across the world taking matters into their own hands by embracing "FemTech" aimed toward's women's health issues.
Although women represent 51% of the population, females are significantly underrepresented in clinical trials and research - because of this gender gap, it's been shown to contribute to worse health outcomes for women, with less public knowledge about female health conditions in comparison to male health conditions and concerns.
Ida Tin, Co-Founder of Clue, the period-tracking app, has been credited with coining the term FemTech. Since Clue was founded in 2012, it truly reflects how new this market actually is and the progression that's to come - so we're discussing some of our favourite FemTech companies that are following in the footsteps of Clue.
Clementine
Clementine is a female-focused hypnotherapy app, based in Milton Keynes, founded by Kim Palmer in 2017. The Clementine app aims to help women find their 'inner calm', become more confident, reduce anxieties and helps towards a better night's sleep.
Clementine show that FemTech isn't just limited to physical healthcare, as they're now one of the top mental health care startups, leading the sector with their female-focused hypnotherapy app.
The app is free to download, designed "for women, by women" and has been rated one of the 'seven apps every woman should own' by The Guardian. The app itself has a very aesthetically pleasing colour palette, designs and is also extremely easy to navigate.
The premium version costs £8.99 a month or £49.99 per year, offering message mantras, morning and daytime audio sessions, sleep sessions and courses - with the perk of customisation depending on what you want to see, whether you want to learn to love yourself, learn to save money and even interview preparation.
The app also offers a 7-day free trial to those who want to experience the premium version before making a payment - with the free version of the app, users are entitled to the morning sessions, message mantras and three of the day time pick-me-ups.
Hertility Health
Hertility Health allows women to track their reproductive health through an app and at-home fertility and hormone testing. The company was founded back in 2019 by Deirdre O'Neill, Dr Helen O'Neill and Dr Natalie Getreu.
Hertility Health have already helped over 2,000 women understand their reproductive health and infertility risks - working with leading world experts to provide the personalised care pathways that will help with all aspects of women's health, including symptom management, egg freezing and even IVF. Hertility Health also understand the sensitive nature of the results and are able to offer fertility counselling to anyone that may need this option.
They have made the process extremely easy and affordable for their users - by taking a virtual assessment via the app, taking your 'at-home' test, receiving your online results created by certified doctors and then receiving the expert care for you - all for a total of £149 in comparison to the thousands you would typically spend.
"We live in a society that expects us to tolerate pain and mask our symptoms. Some women spend over ten years on their contraception, never fully knowing if there might be something wrong" - CEO and Founder, Dr Helen O'Neill.
Syrona Health
Syrona Health is a new virtual health clinic based within an app, founded back in 2019 by Anya Roy and Chantelle Bell. Their mission is to help women, transgender and non-binary people through evidence based research of endometriosis, fertility, PCOS, menopause and mental health.
Anya Roy and Chantelle Bell decided to take it upon themselves to create a patient pathway that would be kinder, better integrated, and more evidence-based than what's already in the current public health sector after having their own personal negative experience with gynaecology health care.
They have since developed a brand new app, Sora, which offers women a range of different tools and services that help to navigate chronic gynaecology conditions, including symptom tracking, telemedicine, treatment options, expert insights, access to mental health services, and a non-judgement zone community for their users to connect with. It seems as though the app is providing a lot more than what's currently out there.
"Our goal is to establish the world's largest digital and clinical biomarker library for Gynaecological health. This will help us advance women's health research, improve care for non-binary and transgender people, and work to close the gender health gap."
Peppy
Peppy is a London-based startup founded in 2018 by Evan Harris, Max Landry, and Mridula Pore. The startup offers their users health advice about various issues like fertility, mental health, and even parenthood.
Peppy is a digital health platform, which supports the less supported areas of healthcare, including menopause, fertility, and pregnancy - working with leading employers, connecting their team members with the experts they need, which allows them to have access to personalised support just a click away on the secure Peppy app.
Peppy offer many services within their app, giving their consumers opportunities to take part in the various benefits including; 'Healthy Minds' programmes - designed to tackle different topics relating to building and maintaining a healthy mind, giving users access to one-one-one chat support with mental health practitioners for a deeper support level and also offering specialised practitioners for those who require specialised advice relating to women's health.
"We believe that major life transitions - like trying to conceive, bringing a baby home for the first time and going through menopause - present unique challenges that leave many people needing extra support for the first time."
There's definitely a visible rise in the FemTech market with so many different varieties of healthcare now available, which is allowing women to take control over their own health needs, whether it's contributing towards fertility, improving period health or overall support. It's also brought a lot of open-mindedness towards women's sexual health, while creating diversity in the health market, which is needed.
It's exciting to see the positive development that the market has had so far and the progression that it will have in the future - and we hope that the FemTech market emerges within the public sector, helping to address the inequality within the tech and health care industry.