In the dynamic world of tech startups, FemTech, an industry committed to innovations in women’s fitness, is at the forefront of transformative change. On the scene, however, FemTech’s founders face a daunting challenge: securing the investment needed to advance their innovative ideas.
From investor biases to market misconceptions, FemTech startups grapple with a myriad of obstacles that hinder their access to capital. Despite the sector’s exponential growth and the prevalence of female-founded ventures, the journey to funding remains an uphill battle.
One of the main issues weighing on FemTech’s fundraising is the belief in an oversaturated market. Investors find it difficult to differentiate between other FemTech solutions, leading to skepticism about the sector’s potential. In addition, there is a widespread stigma towards female founders of FemTech. And their projects are considered exciting projects rather than serious endeavors.
Anya Kern, Co-Founder and Anastasiia Timon, Founder and CEO of Blooming Eve mention: “It has no compatibility with an existing VC box – investors have a hard time distinguishing between other FemTech responses, leading to the belief of an oversaturated market. In fact, most of the answers target other visitor segments or have a completely different business model.
Added to these demanding situations is the persistent confidence that FemTech is a niche market with limited expansion opportunities. This misconception, coupled with the gender disparity in the venture capital landscape, creates a formidable barrier to female founders’ investment.
Despite the undeniable market potential and the demonstrated success of women-led startups, FemTech companies continue to receive only a fraction of the funding allocated to their male counterparts.
Sylvia Kang, Co-Founder and CEO of Mira, adds: “70% of start-ups in the FemTech sector are founded by women. Despite this, femtech corporations founded by men tend to raise much more capital. On average, women-founded FemTech startups raised $4. 6 million, compared to $9. 2 million for male-owned corporations.
Elina Valeeva, CEO and co-founder of the Essence app, notes: “Lately, women-founded startups raise less than 3% of the entire overall venture capital budget, despite the growing representation of female founders overall, lately around 15%, and there are studies showing that female-led startups outperform those led by men.
The lack of female investors capable of writing really big checks further exacerbates this investment gap. Gina Bartasi, founder and CEO of Kindbody, says: “There are enough female investors who can write multimillion-dollar checks. There are more female investors, still very few are fund sponsors who can write a check for more than $5 million.
Elina adds, “We know that women raise less money than men. We know that most FemTech corporations are founded through women. We know that investors prefer to invest in topics that they can relate to seamlessly (spoiler alert: women’s health). As a result, a founder raising capital for a FemTech company is facing a meteoric rise. You’re a woman raising capital: make one. You’re a woman raising capital at FemTech – make two. The chances are high. “
In addition, the lack of studies and knowledge about the prestige of women’s fitness stifles innovation in the FemTech space, restricting the progression of innovative responses that can attract the interest of investors.
Marina Davidova, Managing Partner at DVC, explains: “FemTech is a relatively new category with few good luck stories, and the market lacks established players who can offer a safe strategy for venture capital firms through mergers and acquisitions (M
In the dynamic world of FemTech, where innovation intersects with women’s health, attracting investor interest is a tricky task. While some investors welcome FemTech’s prospects, others remain skeptical, hampered by bias and a lack of understanding of the sector’s nuances.
Anya and Anastasiia from Blooming Eve emphasize the very important role of private relations in attracting investors. At a pitch conference, even though the venture capitalists gathered were unfamiliar with women’s fitness, their private reporting on infertility closed the gap, leading to their FemTech idea. This highlights the importance of women sharing their fitness reports to spark investor interest and drive change.
“Women sharing their fitness stories with their male counterparts are what sparks interest in FemTech. Be the voice of change. “
Gina echoes this sentiment and acknowledges that, beyond encounters with investor misperceptions, many investors, both men and women, struggle to perceive the complexities of FemTech, leading to a lack of support for answers that address women’s fertility issues. As illustrated by Mira’s delight, investors’ lack of knowledge about female hormonal fluctuations and ovulation prediction issues hinders their ability to understand the potential impact of FemTech.
Sylvia Kang emphasizes this point further, citing investors’ difficulty in understanding female hormone fluctuations and the limitations of traditional ovulation prediction kits.
“For example, investors struggle to perceive fluctuations in female hormones and why classic ovulation prediction kits may not work for them. Our survey showed that more than 90% of Mira consumers believe that ovulation kits over-the-counter products have not been useful to them, investors do not seem to be paying attention or seeking to perceive those issues.
The path to investing in FemTech is fraught with challenges, exacerbated by investor bias and a lack of women’s fitness issues. However, those obstacles highlight the importance of advocacy and education in reshaping investor perceptions and driving investment in FemTech.
In the ever-evolving landscape of women’s health, signs of progress and promise abound, signaling a pivotal moment in the trajectory of FemTech. From the emergence of unicorn-status companies like Maven, Carrot, and Kindbody to the Biden administration’s renewed focus on supporting women’s health research, the tide is turning in favor of elevating women’s health to the forefront of healthcare discourse.
Anya Kern, co-founder of Blooming Eve, underlines this positive outlook and notes that the growing popularity of women’s fitness is a serious priority. As male investors show interest in making an investment in FemTech, the broad answer perspective is growing in popularity. that address the unique physical needs of women.
“I think we are on a good trajectory for women’s health finally being considered seriously,” says Anya.
Sylvia Kang highlights the escalating momentum behind FemTech, citing the surge of female-led health-tech companies and the mounting consumer demand for personalized health solutions. Despite persistent challenges, such as funding disparities and institutional barriers, FemTech is gaining traction and recognition for its transformative potential in addressing women’s health concerns.
“We’re definitely in a new era of healthcare and putting a big focus on women’s health,” says Sylvia. “I’ve seen a new Carta’s report, there is a rise in female-led health-tech companies. I do believe that we are in the era when women create more for other women.”
Elina Valeeva offers insight into the political landscape, highlighting the Biden administration’s landmark women’s fitness studios initiative as a significant step toward advancing gendered fitness studios. While efforts have failed, the renewed commitment to women’s fitness signals a promising shift in federal priorities, albeit accompanied by cautious optimism about tangible results.
“This represents a growing popularity of gender-specific fitness desires at the federal level in the United States,” says Elina. “The only challenge is that we’ve noticed those kinds of leadership moves in the past, and now we’re on whether this administration will be able to deliver on its promise. “
Marina Davidova adds: “This is an incredibly exciting time for FemTech. Several significant trends are converging: wearable devices generate a wealth of knowledge to analyze, and AI has evolved beyond simply identifying patterns in that knowledge. Personalized fitness coach for every woman, thanks to advances in primary language models. The rise of AI-based FemTech projects, such as Flo and Essence, is also catalyzing significant advances in the science of women’s fitness. Prior to 2016, the most extensive studies on menstrual cycles concerned only a few. thousands of participants. Now, researchers have access to clear, structured insights into a varied pattern of tens of millions of women. In fact, this is a remarkable development.
Rosana Rabines, Managing Partner at GWP Impact, explains further, “Post-COVID, we are witnessing a new era in fitness care, where empowered patients demand more from the fitness care system. “Systemic gaps and biases that affect your fitness results. that women, in turn, demand and work to create more equipment aimed at taking care of their fitness”.
Amid challenging situations and triumphs, FemTech is poised to redefine women’s healthcare, driven by innovation, advocacy, and a collective commitment to revolutionize long-term women’s health.
In the high-stakes world of fundraising, navigating the nuances of pitching female fitness inventions to male investors requires finesse and strategic acumen. Whether leveraging data-driven techniques or challenging existing narratives, founders will need to employ a multifaceted technique to capture the attention of male investors.
Anya and Anastasiia of Blooming Eve advise researching investors and their investments beyond that: the stage, the thesis, whether they’ve invested in corporations before, and whether they’ve invested in at least one female founder.
“Don’t waste your time with venture capital firms that haven’t. Additionally, crafting the narrative in terms of numbers, opportunities, and traction can help make it more attractive to male investors. Telling stories and repeating your personal experience is also helpful. Male investors have women in their lives, so check back to their private sprees.
Gina Bartasi advocates for a pragmatic approach, emphasizing the significance of focusing on data. She believes founders don’t need to get creative but should instead use data, TAM, and IRR – things that matter to investors regardless of gender.
Sylvia de Mira emphasizes the power of storytelling to capture investors’ interest and urges founders to synthesize complex fitness issues into applicable narratives. By leveraging images, anecdotes, and testimonials, founders can make their pitch memorable and emotionally resonant, highlighting the transformative perspective of their business. Innovations.
“When fundraising, be artistic with storytelling – use images, anecdotes, and testimonies to make the speech memorable and emotional. Remember, everyone you communicate with has a woman in their life. Let your wife, sister, friend, or daughter review your product. The goal is to provide the invention and illustrate it as a transformative solution to a societal need.
Rosana, Managing Partner at GWP Impact, comments, “When I talk to male investors, I propose that my founders start by building the prospective market for their solution and their credibility as founders. It’s natural for femtech founders, as ultimate health tech founders, to start with a non-public anecdote about the challenge they aim to solve. These anecdotes, while emotionally captivating, can lead the investor to make implicit assumptions about the duration of the market. Starting with the business case, femtech founders are debunking ununusual misperceptions about the niche nature of the industry.
Elina adds: “An investor once said that women’s fitness is vital because men’s fitness depends on it. The only way he could see our startup was to find out how it was similar to his own lived experience as a man. There is an ironic and twisted fact in his statement. Typically, investors invest in topics that they can easily relate to and understand. The physical fitness of women is presented in terms of its effect on the physical fitness of men. men, instead of identifying as something valuable and essential. We want a paradigm shift because women’s fitness is inherently valuable and deserves attention, investment and progression for its intrinsic value. We want to dismantle the narrative that presents women’s fitness only as a means to men’s fitness.
To navigate the fundraising landscape, the founders want to arm themselves with a diverse arsenal of strategies, from data-driven presentations to compelling narratives to the company’s commitment to challenging norms. By embracing innovation and resilience, female founders can unlock opportunities and drive progress in the dynamic landscape of female fitness entrepreneurship.
Anya underscores the challenge of investor bias, noting that most investors are men who tend to gravitate towards founders who resemble them, both physically and experientially. This tendency can create a barrier for female founders seeking support for their innovative FemTech solutions.
Gina adds, “It’s challenging because investors haven’t noticed enough successful results. The mindset around investing has changed dramatically in recent years, from the concept that it’s a niche to a massive stage today.
Sylvia brings a glimmer of hope amidst challenges and points to promising trends in FemTech fundraising.
“I say that women’s fitness is still a niche investment opportunity. There are positive trends in FemTech fundraising. Despite the challenges, women’s fitness corporations are experiencing remarkable positive development.
The average length of deals for those corporations reached an all-time high of $10. 4 million. Additionally, in 2023, women’s fitness corporations secured 4. 3% of the total $26. 5 billion in venture capital invested in startups classified as “fitness” or “fitnesscare,” according to PitchBook Data. This is the proportion of venture capital allocated to women’s fitness companies over the past five years and shows a year-on-year growth of 59%.
Still, we’re also getting from the government and the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research, which will go into effect in 2024. “
Elina questions the persistent belief of FemTech as a niche investment opportunity, attributing it to stereotypes and misconceptions about women’s health.
“I’ve talked to fellow founders who work on topics like orthopedics or elder care, and I’ve asked their investors if their topics are ‘niche,’ and none of them have reveled as much as I have as I did as the founder of FemTech.
The debate over the terminology used to describe the generation that focuses on women’s fitness highlights the need for precision and inclusivity in the language used in the industry. Anya suggests that broadening the scope to “digital fitness” can appeal to a wider diversity of investors, highlighting the importance of framing FemTech in a context that resonates with diverse stakeholders.
“Yes, calling it virtual fitness helps broaden the diversity of investors to communicate with. “
Marina, managing partner at DVC, says: “I am a strong proponent of the term ‘healthtech’. ” Labeling it offers no clear advantages and may even drive away investors. Think about our holding company that develops remedies for prostate cancer: it doesn’t call itself “maletech. “
In contrast, Gina advocates for retaining the term “FemTech,” highlighting the distinct health needs and experiences of women that have historically been overlooked in healthcare.
“It has to be called FemTech because women are very different from men when it comes to physical care. For too long, women have been considered little men and not other human beings. In the field of biotechnology and drug discovery, women have been shown to metabolize drugs more than men, and this is just one example. There are tons of them.
Rosana agrees: “I like the term Femtech because it raises awareness among investors and the public that women are underserved through classical healthcare systems. This has created an ecosystem for femtech founders and an opportunity for the budget of femtech with more specialized investment theses.
Acknowledging the potential limitations of the term “FemTech,” Sylvia Kang offers a nuanced perspective and highlights its role in addressing a wide diversity of fitness issues. Broadening the scope beyond sexual and reproductive fitness, she advocates for a more inclusive technique that addresses the varied fitness desires of other life stages and situations.
“Women make up 50% of the world’s population, so FemTech defines a generation designed for part of the world’s population. However, it is perceived as a niche aimed at cis and economically privileged white women. Others say it’s not inclusive. I think this concept is outdated and incorrect.
Another problem is that FemTech is often perceived as technology focusing on women’s reproductive and sexual health. It is true that most of the FemTech companies (37% according to the report) address reproductive and maternity health, but they are not limited to these conditions.
Recent McKinsey research shows that sexual, reproductive, and maternal health make up only 5% of women’s health burden, with 56% of the burden coming from other health conditions that are more prevalent in women, like depression, headaches, and autoimmune diseases. This 56% is also a target for FemTech companies. So when it comes to convincing investors, you have to keep in mind that you pitch technology solving problems of half the world population, and not a mere group of privileged women.”
Elina echoes the sentiment that “FemTech” serves as a descriptor of a generation adapted to women’s express fitness issues.
“So far, ‘fitnesstech’ equates to ‘mentech’. Society, studies and medical networks continue to forget women’s wishes. Women are still just a feature, while men are the default. We highlight that the term “FemTech,” as it should be, represents our focus on women’s specific fitness issues and the need for tailored solutions.
Overall, the debate around terminology highlights the complexity of defining women’s fitness generation in a way that is accurate and inclusive. While there are other perspectives related to the most appropriate terminology, the overall goal remains to advance technological responses that address varied fitness desires. of women around the world.
The femtech industry faces multifaceted challenges that hinder its growth and innovation. Anya from Blooming Eve highlights the lack of governmental and public support as a significant barrier. Gina from Kindbody emphasizes the need to create more wealth for women to enable their participation in investment and funding ecosystems.
Sylvia, co-founder and CEO of Mira, identifies a very important factor in public awareness and understanding in relation to women’s fitness, pointing out that many women are unaware of hormonal imbalances and their effect on various fitness factors. Coupled with inadequate education and investment in women’s physical care, it perpetuates a cycle of insufficient education and insufficient investment in the sector.
“I think the key challenge is the lack of public awareness. According to Mira’s surveys, women don’t know much about hormones and don’t realize that many fitness challenges can be linked to hormonal imbalances. Since medical professionals also lack transparent studies and guidelines, they are unable to come up with an effective remedy plan to treat those conditions. According to McKinsey’s most recent report, the hole in women’s fitness equates to 75 million years of life lost each year due to poor fitness or premature death.
Additionally, Elina, CEO and co-founder of the Essence app, notes that privacy considerations and social norms are additional barriers to femtech progress.
“Concerns about data privacy, especially in the post-Roe era in the U. S. , have led to a global increase in the number of data privacy concerns. In the U. S. , they are creating a great deal of apprehension among women about the possible misuse of their confidential information. This concern is amplified through cases where women’s fitness knowledge has been mismanaged, which has a chilling effect. Even in evolved countries such as the United States and European Union countries, such as Poland, where abortion rights are restricted, social norms further complicate FemTech’s progress by reinforcing conservative attitudes. Situations require a holistic technique that only addresses monetary and regulatory aspects, but also works to break down social barriers and encourage open conversations about women’s fitness.
Promoting open discussions about women’s health is pivotal for dismantling societal taboos and fostering a deeper understanding and acceptance of women’s unique health experiences. Anya emphasizes the importance of women leading the conversation and encouraging dialogue with men, starting from influential figures within families and communities. By normalizing discussions about female anatomy and health experiences, we can educate men and cultivate a more supportive environment.
“As women, we communicate more easily about this, not only with each other but also with men. This is especially vital for women in power and for women who speak out within their families. My little niece, 8 years old, uses the word “vagina” as a component of its structure without an added layer of awkwardness. That’s pretty polar compared to what my generation of millennials was raised on. Then men will start talking about it. They don’t know what’s going on with our bodies unless we tell them.
Similarly, Gina’s call for more public debate on women’s fitness issues, such as menstruation and menopause, resonates deeply with efforts to destigmatize those issues. By brazenly addressing those issues, we challenge the social norms that perpetuate silence and disgrace around women’s fitness, creating for more inclusive and informed debates in both the personal and public spheres.
Marina suggests, “One promise is to collaborate with creators and influencers online, leveraging their platforms to normalize discussions about those topics. »
Sylvia’s focus on normalizing discussions about women’s fitness in the office highlights a very important but overlooked facet of physical education. Despite the significant effect of menopause and other fitness issues on women’s lives as runners, those issues are pushed aside due to stigma and discomfort.
“We want to be transparent when we talk about women’s fitness topics such as menstruation, menopause, chronic pain, pregnancy headaches, and postpartum difficulties. I see these issues invading social media and making the front pages of major media outlets, which is a sign to me. .
However, there is still a lot of work to be done, especially when it comes to discussing these issues in the workplace. Our recent study showed that 75% of postmenopausal women prefer not to talk about it in the workplace. These statistics speak for themselves, knowing that menopausal symptoms have a significant effect on 2 out of five women at work.
At Essence, Elina focuses on normalizing menstruation in the workplace through innovative solutions like AI hormonal cycle-based scheduling.
“We are working to normalize the taboo topic of menstruation in the office. A recent UK study found that more than two-thirds of women have poor paint reports due to their periods, and that more than 90% of women and others with cycles suffer from cycle-related pains and yet a staggering 95% don’t have access to office resources to help them manage those issues effectively, But they don’t say it because of the stigma related to menstruation at work and in society at large.
We created the Essence app, which optimizes painter functionality and well-being through AI hormone cycle-based programming, to combat this stigma and normalize paint changes. Practical tactics to achieve standardization include providing flexible, remote painting characteristics for painters and transparency about our menstrual cycles, even with (and especially with) the men on our teams. “
Anya suggests that the concentration of FemTech corporations in North America aligns with broader investment models, driven in part by significant healthcare demand situations in the US. The country’s healthcare system, characterized by a low level of accessibility and quality, offers many opportunities to address inefficiencies. , making it fertile ground for FemTech innovation.
“In my opinion, this is similar to the distribution of investment in general. In addition, in the United States, healthcare is in worse shape from the customer’s perspective: affordability and quality of service are very low, leading to more opportunities to target those inefficiencies.
Gina attributes North America’s dominance in FemTech to its entrepreneurial culture and well-developed startup ecosystem. It focuses on understanding and improving the aptitude of women among female entrepreneurs, making it less financially difficult for FemTech companies.
“Since North America is more entrepreneurial than evolved countries, we have a more evolved entrepreneurial ecosystem of like-minded supporters and professionals. “
Sylvia acknowledges the disparity in clients’ awareness of women’s fitness among other regions, and mentions points such as school degrees and social roles.
“Since I was born in China, I can verify that there is a huge gap in terms of customer knowledge about women’s fitness in Asia compared to the Western world. The point of education, the point of women’s independence, and the social roles that women play in Asian countries contribute to this hole.
Marina adds, “I think the dominance of North America in FemTech correlates with the robustness of its startup ecosystem. The figures mirror the size of VC markets and the prevalence of unicorns in these regions, with 54.1% of global unicorns based in the US. Cultural factors also play a role; in some societies, these topics remain more taboo, suggesting a longer timeline for wider acceptance and growth.”
Anya Kern highlights women’s significant lack of wisdom in relation to their own health and advocates for comprehensive educational projects, from schools to social media.
“Academic education on social media focuses on this issue. And give your friends an e-book about women’s health. They would enjoy it at any age. For example, Vagina Obscura, through a science editor at Smithsonian magazine, writes for BBC Future, the New York Times, and Scientific American.
Sylvia Kang acknowledges the substantial gap in females’ understanding of their health, citing research findings that highlight deficiencies in hormonal and sexual health knowledge.
“One of our surveys found that a third of women know nothing about their hormones, and only 45% of respondents rated their knowledge about their sexual fitness (adding sex hormones) as ‘good. ‘ We want to dedicate a lot of time and resources to close this gap, adding research, funding, government policies, school education, women’s social status, benefits policies, employer support and more.
For example, this year starting on February 18th, Mira launches a nationwide Sex Hormones Awareness week to draw attention to the knowledge gaps in sexual health education. Besides online activities aiming to educate people about hormonal health, we’re hosting an onsite event in San Francisco. I believe this type of private initiatives could change the narrative around hormonal health and women’s health in general.”
Elina Valeeva denounces the understudied nature of women’s health and points out the long-standing shortcomings of clinical trials and anatomical studies.
“The physical condition of women is studied very little. Researchers fail to include enough women in clinical trials and look for differences in responses to treatments between men and women. Notably, the complete anatomical examination of the clitoris was not performed until 1998, and a more in-depth examination was performed. Observations using magnetic resonance technology were not made until 2005. This contributes to a widespread lack of knowledge among women about our own personal anatomy. It is not an understatement to call this an absurdity in modern society. We’ve literally landed on the moon, and yet we’re still finding a basic understanding of some of the population’s must-have human anatomy.
In conclusion, the FemTech sector is a beacon of innovation and progress in women’s health, but it still faces enormous demanding situations to secure the investment needed to advance its transformative ideas. Despite the exponential expansion and prevalence of women-founded companies, FemTech startups face an uphill war against capital due to investor bias, market misconceptions, and the lingering stigma surrounding women-led initiatives. The belief in an oversaturated market, coupled with confidence that FemTech is a niche with limited expansion potential, further exacerbates the investment dilemma.
In addition, the lack of female investors who can write giant checks exacerbates the investment gap, perpetuating gender disparities in venture capital allocation. Amid those challenges, however, symptoms of progress and promise abound, signaling a pivotal moment in FemTech’s trajectory. trajectory. With growing recognition of government initiatives and a renewed interest in women’s fitness research, the FemTech industry is poised to redefine the long-term of women’s fitness care around the world. By encouraging open debates, challenging superseded norms, and advocating for well-being, FemTech pioneers aim to dismantle barriers, promote inclusion, and revolutionize the landscape of women’s fitness entrepreneurship. As FemTech continues to evolve and thrive, it not only provides answers to women’s unique fitness needs, but also opportunities for societal transformation and empowerment.