Femtech startups practically double funding {dollars} from final yr, however nonetheless make up small p.c of market
Digital well being startups within the U.S. serving girls and different folks with feminine biology raised $1.3 billion by means of August 2021, practically doubling 2020’s full-year whole of $774 million, in accordance with a new report by Rock Well being.
Rock Well being is asking this market section girls+ well being, describing instruments that relate to cisgender girls’s well being wants in addition to the wants of transgender and nonbinary individuals who could entry related care.
Though 2021’s $1.3 billion is probably the most funding {dollars} recorded within the girls+ area, it nonetheless solely makes up 5% of digital well being funding total since Rock Well being started monitoring in 2011. To this point, girls+ funding accounts for 7% of this yr’s digital well being offers, under the file of 11% in 2019.
The being pregnant, postpartum and parenthood sector nonetheless dominates new corporations based up to now 5 years, traditionally a big space of focus for ladies’s digital well being. Rock’s report notes that’s a limitation within the area.
“Nonetheless, with lower than 45% of the U.S. feminine inhabitants at reproductive age, and the U.S. delivery charge at its lowest file up to now, equivocacy between being pregnant, postpartum and parenthood help and girls+ well being can go away nearly all of girls+ deprioritized within the present scope of digital well being innovation,” the report’s authors wrote.
However that being pregnant and parenthood focus might be shifting. In 2021 thus far, the highest funded sector was preventative and first care, bringing in $668 million. Fertility help introduced in $330 million, and the being pregnant, postpartum and parenthood space scooped up $316 million.
Funding within the perimenopause and menopause sector, an space of girls+ well being that’s regularly stigmatized, doubled from 2019 to 2021.
However there are some gaps within the girls+ area. Despite the fact that behavioral well being funding is surging total, solely 4% of that funding went to corporations providing options for ladies+, and continual illness take care of this market hasn’t acquired any funding thus far this yr.
Different locations for development embody digital therapeutics for ladies+ well being; addressing gaps in options for miscarriages, abortions and surgical procedures corresponding to hysterectomies and mastectomies; addressing well being wants with a deal with intersectionality; girls+-focused main and continual care; and making certain girls+ teams are equally represented in scientific analysis.
WHY IT MATTERS
Girls make the most of healthcare companies extra usually than males, partially due to the necessity for reproductive care, and make nearly all of healthcare choices for his or her youngsters, in accordance with a short by the Division of Labor.
However practically one in 4 girls reported having bother paying medical payments up to now yr, with greater than half saying it was due, no less than partially, to the COVID-19 pandemic, in accordance with an April report by the Kaiser Household Basis. KFF additionally discovered girls have been extra prone to delay care in the course of the pandemic in contrast with males.
Rock Well being famous girls are additionally utilizing digital well being instruments like video telehealth, wearables and well being trackers at decrease charges than males; for example, solely 36% of girls stated they owned a wearable in 2020 in contrast with 49% of males.
THE LARGER TREND
Some massive digital well being offers within the girls+ area in 2021 embody Tia, which raised $100 million earlier this month, and Maven Clinic, which scooped up $110 million in August, bringing its whole elevate to greater than $200 million. Each function within the girls’s main care area.
Final month, diagnostics and drug growth big Labcorp purchased Ovia Well being, a digital household well being platform that features sources for interval monitoring, fertility, youngster growth and parenting.
“At Rock Well being, we’re hopeful that ladies+ digital well being will more and more get the talkspace, consideration and funding from buyers it deserves to proceed to serve the advanced, evolving wants of the ladies+ inhabitants,” the Rock Well being report authors wrote.
“The digital well being ecosystem is altering at lightning pace, and whereas funding for practically all areas inside digital well being has elevated for the reason that begin of the pandemic, digital well being founders and buyers have but to understand the complete potential in designing equitable and complete care choices that serve girls+.”
