Growing femtech investment brings solutions to underserved women’s health challenges

By Angela VanScoy, Audit & Assurance partner, and Heather Gates, Audit & Assurance Private Growth leader, Deloitte & Touche LLP

• The femtech market, which focuses on women’s health technology, is gaining momentum.
• Historical lack of investment has impeded women’s health care solutions, including femtech, but things are beginning to change.
• Deloitte can advise femtech entrepreneurs on funding strategies and audit and assurance services.

Each March, we celebrate women during National Women’s History Month, which also includes International Women’s Day. What better time to focus on a topic of vital importance to women: women’s health and, specifically, the emerging femtech industry?

What is femtech?

If you haven’t heard the term before, femtech (female technology) refers to a market segment focused on technology-based innovations in women’s health—from virtual health care platforms and wearables to apps, software, and services. These tools address health issues that affect women exclusively or disproportionately to men. Here are few examples:

• Women’s mental health and well-being: Devices and services that address challenges ranging from menopause and anxiety to depression and eating disorders
• Reproductive health: Tools for fertility, period-tracking, birth control, labor, and lactation
• Women’s geriatric health: Technology aimed at age-related conditions, such as osteoporosis, incontinence, and dementia, which affect women at much higher rates

Gender bias takes a toll

Many market watchers would agree that femtech is a segment whose time has come. As audit and assurance service providers for technology and life sciences growth companies, we’ll go a step further and say investment in femtech is long overdue.

It takes only a few stats—and there are dozens—to tell the story of the glaring disparity in investment in women’s versus men’s health issues:

• Just 4% of all biopharma research and development spending goes toward female-specific conditions.¹
• Roughly 75% of clinical trial participants are men; 25% are women.²
• Just two of 37 prescription drugs approved by the FDA in 2022 were for female-specific health conditions.³

Gender disparities like these have been around for ages. They’ve not only impeded advances in women’s health care but also in femtech and overlapping markets such as women’s medtech and wellness. In our line of work, we’ve seen the reason for this gender bias up close: An overwhelming majority of senior venture capital investment professionals are men. In fact, nearly 90% of investment decisions in 2021 were made by men, who tend to be reluctant to invest in markets they may be less familiar with—like femtech.⁴

The changing face of women’s health funding

The good news: We’re now seeing more women take on senior investment roles at venture capital (VC) firms. This exciting development has led to more funding for femtech startups. As more of these startups succeed because of previously unmet demand for their products and services, more will be able to make a case for venture funding.

Growing market awareness has also played a role. In the past few years, first movers leading the charge in this space have received increasing levels of media attention, creating greater recognition among both femtech investors and entrepreneurs. Efforts to level the playing field for women’s health issues in general are also having an impact. Last November, for example, the White House launched the nation’s first initiative for women’s health research led by first lady Jill Biden and the White House Gender Policy Council.

Startup opportunities are on the rise

Rising visibility has spurred more VCs to jump on the femtech bandwagon to take advantage of opportunities in an underserved technology market. Increasing capital, in turn, fuels opportunities for founders such as established tech companies and emerging tech and biotech startups looking to enter a promising new market.

While there is disagreement on the size of the femtech ecosystem, analysts do agree the market has grown extensively in the past several years and is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years. According to Statista, femtech topped $50 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow to $103 billion by 2030.⁵ Precedence Research estimates a market value of $108.8 billion by 2032.⁶ So there is quite a bit of opportunity on the horizon.

What role can Deloitte play?

Deloitte has a long history of advising emerging growth companies in life sciences and technology markets, including femtech. We can provide advice on funding and exit strategies, such as IPOs and reverse mergers, as well as accounting and reporting requirements.

For more information on the femtech market, download our new Road to Next and Women's health investment trends. And don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions.