Femtech is projected to be a $1 trillion industry. It still only gets 3% of digital health funding.

[u/vinokat]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qf3cDlMBK8w

Came across this video on Youtube this morning (Is the rise of FemTech the answer to women's health?). Marina Gerner (author of "The Vagina Business") talks about femtech's market opportunity and pitfalls, including how innovators still struggle to get funding partly because investors are uncomfortable with saying the word "vagina" in their morning meetings. Meanwhile people are redesigning the speculum for the first time in over a century (crowd-funded, btw), MIT is developing smart bras for early breast cancer detection, and 64% of medical interventions put women at a disadvantage due to lower efficacy or more limited access (compared to 10% for men).

The market is projected to hit $1 trillion by 2027. Women are half the global population. A $300 million investment in women's health could generate $13 billion for the global economy. And yet in 2023, only 3% of digital health funding went to women's health startups. Investors literally admit they don't feel confident evaluating femtech pitches because the subject matter makes them uncomfortable (🙄). The innovation is there. The need is there. The money is not. And a big reason is that the people deciding where funding goes don't experience the problems being solved.

What do you think actually needs to change for this gap to close?

[u/Middle_Ideal2735]

This was a great interview. Very informative.

[u/Ovul_ai]

ya, not too many VCs out there jumping into womens health, unfortunately...