High-Growth Femtech Companies UK | 2024
Lily Ruaah, 16 August 2024
In 2021, the global femtech market held a value of approximately $51.2b. Projections indicated that by 2030, this market is expected to more than double, reaching an estimated worth of $121b.
The rapid growth of the femtech market is driven by innovative technologies and increased awareness about women’s health, paving the way for groundbreaking advancements in healthcare tailored specifically to women’s needs.
Methodology
To create this article, we have looked at femtech companies headquartered in the UK. Companies must be ‘Active’ on Companies House in the exception of our view of femtech as a whole landscape.
To be included in the ranking companies must have received equity fundraising since 1 January, 2024. The femtech companies included have been ranked in chronological order of their 2024 fundraisings.
What is femtech?
Femtech, short for female technology, refers to a category of technology-driven products, services, and software specifically designed to address women’s health and wellness needs.
These technologies encompass a wide range of applications, including reproductive health monitoring, fertility solutions, menstrual tracking apps, pregnancy and breastfeeding care, sexual wellness products, and general healthcare tools tailored to women’s unique physiological and reproductive needs.
This transformative field encompasses a diverse range of digital health tools, wearables, apps, and medical devices designed specifically to address women’s unique health needs. Femtech covers a wide range of products and services and it looks like the market is only going to expand.
While femtech is an important area for investment and development, the term “femtech” has come up against criticism for being problematic. One reason for this is that it can be exclusionary towards trans-men and those that are non-binary. Find out more on the controversy of femtech, in our article: Femtech Companies Closing the Gender Health Gap.
Why are femtech companies important?
Healthcare
Women’s healthcare has long suffered neglect—whether that’s being misdiagnosed, not listened to or the lack of research done into women’s health issues. The issue came under scrutiny in 2022 when the government created the first Women’s Health Strategy for England. Steve Barclay, Health and Social Care Secretary came forward, saying, “It is not right that 51% of our population are disadvantaged in accessing the care they need, simply because of their sex”.
However, there are still those that would argue this is hearsay, and that women and men receive the same treatment—or even fare better as there’s evidence that women live longer than men. But let’s take a look at a real world example.
Cancer stands as a significant cause of death for women, ranking among the top three reasons for premature mortality in nearly every country worldwide. However, a recent report in the Lancet highlights that gender inequality and discrimination are limiting women’s chances to mitigate cancer risks—and harming their ability to receive timely diagnoses and high-quality medical care. The report states that up to 800,000 women could be dying each year due to inefficient care.
Equality
In many ways femtech is leading the way to create better equality between men and women—technologies can be used to ease the challenges a woman faces in her day-to-day.
Although the majority of femtech products and services are aimed at improving women’s health, there are others that focus more on creating equal opportunities for men and women. For example, Peequal’s gender equalising toilet facilities, which allow everyone to use urinals rather than standing in long queues to use a bathroom or festival portaloo.
Progression
Tech is always pushing us forward, and femtech is no different. Apps like Rebel Girls and Elpha have revolutionised the way women think about their place in society, their career, their family, their sexuality, health and much more—by connecting women and letting them share their stories and experiences. Progression wouldn’t be possible without conversation.
For example, in recent years, women’s health has become more of a conversation and not just at home but in the workplace as well—and mostly recently, employers have been looking at how they can support their employees with the menopause. With more and more employers offering resources and support for their employees going through menopause, there’s more of a demand for company’s like Adora who specialise in dealing with menopause and perimenopause in the workplace.
Conversations like these can lead to further progression for women, particularly in the workplace but also in their personal lives. It’s important that we continue to have these open discussions in society to ensure women are being heard, and given the same opportunities as men.
Why are people starting femtech companies?
Femtech takes a stand against poor healthcare for women—giving women the access to apps, platforms and other resources to look after and monitor their own health. But it’s also a great opportunity financially, with women representing 49.58% of the world population.
It can be an attractive company for employees as well. Femtech companies often push the boundaries of innovation drawing aspiring young talent that want to work in new tech.
How has femtech grown globally in the last ten years?
Femtech is relatively new—in fact it’s widely reported that the term was only coined in 2016 by entrepreneur, Ida Tin. In 2012, Tin co-founded Clue, a menstrual tracking app that now has 11m monthly subscribers. Her journey with Clue opened up the question, “why isn’t there more technology for women?” and this is when she started looking specifically at femtech. Since 2012, the global VC investments in femtech has risen from $107m to $1.1b.
As we said before, the global femtech market is expected to double by 2023. This growth is anticipated to occur at a steady pace, with a compound annual growth rate of 8.1% from 2022 to 2030.
Femtech in the UK
The pandemic led to a surge in the femtech industry, with access to healthcare a key reason behind this. The nation was locked down and hospitals were overrun with patients. In the context of the COVID-19 emergency response, women’s healthcare conditions became an even lower priority for hospitals, leading to a higher demand for women-based digital healthcare tools.
Why is funding needed in femtech?
Funding plays a pivotal role in driving the research and development necessary for femtech to exist. When creating technology, particularly something that deals with health and wellbeing, resources are essential for meeting stringent healthcare standards and guidelines—and ensuring that strict regulations are being followed.
Similarly, funding is needed to support the extensive clinical trials necessary to provide the valuable data used for femtech solutions.
Financial support is necessary for robust marketing campaigns and educational initiatives, raising awareness about these technologies among both the public and healthcare professionals. As femtech products often handle sensitive data, funding is crucial for implementing stringent data security measures and ensuring compliance with privacy regulations, safeguarding user information.
As we know at Beauhurst, funding fuels innovation. It enables femtech companies and startups to stay competitive, explore new features, and meet evolving market demands. Ultimately contributing significantly to the improvement of women’s health and overall well-being.
Who is investing in femtech and femtech startups?
Fundraisings for UK femtech companies reached an all time high in 2021 with £90.4m invested. This comes as no surprise following the medtech and healthtech boom during the pandemic. We also saw another spike in the number of femtech deals made in 2023, with 27 deals — more than we’ve ever seen before.
IPGL and Octopus Ventures have been a large part of that, investing £103m and £101m into femtech products or services respectively since 2013—making them the largest investors in UK femtech companies at this point.
But there are also investors that focus particularly on businesses led by women for women.
Angel Academe and Alma Angels focus exclusively on businesses led by women, particularly in the healthcare sector.
Which sectors does femtech cover?
Femtech companies span across a wide range of industries. Most significantly, we see application software here taking up over 50% of the cohort. This may be because application software can represent a wide variety of company operations; many companies may fall under femtech, application software, and another more specific industry such as mental well-being.
Healthcare, toiletries and living aids and parenting and pregnancy both come in at second place with 34.6%.
Founders in femtech
It might be taken for granted that all femtech companies are founded by women, but as we’ve seen controversy recently in the news with male-founded Flo becoming Europe’s first FemTech unicorn, it’s evident that this is not always the case.
According to our data, 52.9% of femtech companies are fully female-founded. While this is only around half, this percentage is still significantly higher than other industries. For comparison, only 6% of high-growth UK companies are fully female founded, so with that in mind, 52.9% is impressively high.
Overall, 76.5% of femtech companies are either fully-female-founded, majority female-founded, or equal split-founded. Just 23.5% of femtech companies are either fully-male or majority male-founded.
50 Female Entrepreneurs to Watch | 2024
Top femtech companies currently gaining investment
07.
Unfabled
Location: London
Date of latest fundraising: 06 February 2024
Amount raised in latest fundraising: £1.28m
Unfabled operates an online store selling menstrual care and symptom management products, focusing on organic and sustainable products.
Hannah Samano founded the company in 2021. The company has attended three accelerator events: FemTech Lab, Re/Wire Health Studio, and the Inclusive Ventures Lab which finished earlier this year.
06.
Samphire Neuroscience
Location: London
Date of latest fundraising: 21 February 2024
Amount raised in latest fundraising: £1.80m
A relatively new company, Samphire Neuroscience was founded in 2021 by Emile Radtye and Alex Cook. Samphire Neuroscience is developing a wearable device to support women with monitoring their menstrual cycle.
The company attended the Grow London Global accelerator programme in 2023. It also received two grants totalling £442k, meaning it has also hit our Innovation Signal for an R&D grant.
05.
Hertility
Location: London
Date of latest fundraising: 07 March 2024
Amount raised in latest fundraising: £781k
Hertility enables women to track their reproductive health and fertility through at-home hormone and fertility diagnostic tests. The company was founded by Dr Helen O’Neill, Diedre O’Neill and Dr Natalie Getreu.
The company has raised a total of £12.4m through five rounds of funding. It has attended three accelerator events: The Hatchery, P4 Precision Medicine, and most recently, M:Tech. It’s also featured on four high-growth lists, including the BusinessCloud HealthTech 50 earlier this year.
04.
Eleria
Location: London
Date of latest fundraising: 04 April 2024
Amount raised in latest fundraising: £100k
Eleria manufactures a menstrual cup cleaner which aims to help the transition to a menstrual cup easier and reduce plastic waste.
The founders, Monica Wai and Kira Goode, met at the University of Bristol studying Innovation. They wanted to understand why people weren’t using menstrual cups, and found two main causes: cleaning it in public toilets was challenging, and sterilising it in shared spaces was difficult or embarrassing — in which the idea for Eleria was born.
The company was founded in 2021 and has secured one funding round earlier this year.
03.
Peequal
Location: Bristol
Date of latest fundraising: 16 April 2024
Amount raised in latest fundraising: £10.0k
An academic spinout from the University of Bristol, Peequal designs and manufactures free-standing women’s urinals for events.
The company holds a patent for its unique women’s urinal and hit our Environmental (ESG) Signal for ‘Environmental accolades’. It was founded in 2020 by Hazel McShane and Amber Probyn. Peequal has raised a total of £505k through three fundraisings.
02.
Elvie
Location: London
Date of latest fundraising: 26 April 2024
Amount raised in latest fundraising: £9.60m
Elvie develops, designs, and manufactures technology for women, such as an electric wearable breast pump and a kegel trainer.
The company was founded by Tania Boler in 2013 and has attended three accelerator events: Upscale, Future Fifty, and the Mayor’s International Business Programme. It’s also featured on a mammoth 21 high-growth lists, most recently the E2E Female 100 and the BusinessCloud HealthTech 50. Overall, the company has raised £136m across eight funding rounds.
01.
BirthGlide
Location: Hampshire
Date of latest fundraising: 02 July 2024
Amount raised in latest fundraising: £400k
About 10% of the 140m childbirths world-wide annually suffer from delays in the second stage of labour, the step when the maternal effort pushes the baby out of the birth canal. This can cause serious issues. BirthGlide has developed a medical device to reduce the chances of a delayed second stage of labour.
The company was incorporated in 2019, and since then has gone on to raise a total of £889k through four funding rounds. It was founded by Richard Jameson and Nick Guo.
