Innovation and start-up activity in women’s healthtech is increasing at an astounding rate. These start-ups, more and more which are led by women, are addressing challenges beyond ‘obvious’ female health issues such as menstruation and fertility but incorporating everything from hormonal awareness to menopause.
According to The Economist, women’s healthtech focuses on solutions which aid most of the world’s four billion women at some point in their lives, creating a huge potential market. This is in contrast to healthtech aimed at men which often focuses on conditions which affect just a fraction of the male population. In fact, market predictions show women’s healthtech is forecast to grow to US$60 billion by 2027.
In addressing this vast opportunity, US$14 billion has been invested. To put this in context, this is 3 per cent of total healthtech funding to date. While it seems that the investment community is becoming more aware of the opportunity, this remains a remarkably untapped sector for venture investment where women are leading the way.
Deep-rooted bias in healthtech
There are multiple reasons that prohibit women’s healthtech in securing funding for their growth. One of them is that women’s health challenges have often been associated with taboo themes, such as menstruation, menopausal symptoms, or incontinence. For example, The Guardian reported that less than 3 per cent of publicly funded research was into reproductive health although around 30 per cent of all women will suffer from a related issue.
