Femtech's revolution won't be stopped by investors giggling about vaginas
Our culture is squeamish about female bodies, but a new generation of entrepreneurs — 80% of them women — is fighting back.
By Marina Gerner, financial journalist, author and adjunct professor at the NYU Stern School of Business
When I first began the research for my new book The Vagina Business, I was in my early 30s and I knew that I wanted to have a child soon. I also knew that 9 in 10 first-time mothers experience a birth injury.
So I was excited to come across a start-up in California called Materna Medical, that’s working on a device that could drastically change the experience of giving birth, if it makes it through clinical trials.
It’s a dilator that pre-stretches the muscles of the vaginal canal in the first stage of labour, so that by the time the baby is ready to be born, the muscles are ready, just like how you stretch before a workout. This could help prevent the muscles from tearing, making birth an easier experience and potentially preventing pelvic organ prolapse later down the line.
When I spoke to Tracy MacNeal, the CEO of the company, I learnt that the one of the last big innovations in the standard of care of birth was the epidural. And the epidural was popularised in the 1950s. It’s mind-blowing.
Another instrument frequently used in birth – the forceps – was invented in the late 17th century and it’s basically a set of salad forks.
There is no other part of society or technology that relies on such absurdly old inventions. It’s like saying: ‘Look at this cutting-edge floppy disk! It’s the best we got!’
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This lack of innovation reflects that, historically, women have often been ignored by an overwhelmingly male-dominated healthcare and tech industry oblivious to our needs. It was only in 1993 that women and people of color were officially included in U.S. clinical trials. Even today, only 4% of healthcare research and development focuses on women's health. From the side effects of the birth control pill to the agonies of endometriosis, there is a universe of unmet needs in women’s well-being.
Now, a new generation of entrepreneurs — 80% of them women — is fighting back against this legacy of neglect under the banner of ‘femtech,’ which stands for “female technology,” a term coined by Ida Tin, the founder of period app Clue. Femtech includes technology focused on fertility, menstruation, pregnancy, menopause, and sexual wellness, but it also goes beyond the ovaries.
Through interviews with over 100 entrepreneurs, researchers and investors across 15 countries, my book uncovers the pioneering innovations that are transforming how society approaches female well-being. From smart bras that can track our heart health, to smart vibrators that can demystify the female orgasm, non-hormonal contraceptives that thicken our cervical mucus so that sperm can’t swim through, non-invasive tests for endometriosis, and gadgets that can track our hormone levels through our spit or our breath.
Oftentimes, these innovators are addressing a problem they have encountered themselves. They quite literally have skin in the game. Their experiences propel them to create groundbreaking solutions - products and services that could serve over 50% of the global population.
Yet as I discovered, the path to innovation is littered with obstacles. Femtech companies run by women receive less funding compared to femtech companies run by men, according to research by Ludovica Castiglia and FemHealth Insights, because investors believe that female founders are driven by idealism rather than a profit-oriented mindset. If a male founder pitches the same femtech business, investors are more likely to fund him.
What’s more, femtech founders face investors who giggle uncomfortably at the mention of vaginas, and a wider culture still squeamish about frank discussions of female bodies. As one VC investor has put it, “I don’t want to talk about vaginas in my Monday morning partner meeting”.
What we need, therefore, is a radical cultural shift to match the drive of these founders — one that normalises conversations about women’s health.
This means pushing back against online censorship of female anatomy. To this day, social media platforms censor ads that focus on women’s health, female sex education and the female body. That’s why companies resort to images of oranges and euphemisms like “this is for your v.” Here I was thinking v is for vendetta.
It also means calling out “scamtech,” as I call it – that may seem to be frankly talking about bodies but in fact peddles lazy stereotypes or exploits women's insecurities for profit. This includes vaginal steaming devices, “intimate wash” products, menopause supplements that are not based on evidence, and lifestyle apps that falsely promise to improve the quality of your eggs through diet changes.
The normalisation of female pain is at the core of what has held innovation back. For too long, society has told women that extreme period pain is normal, that IUD insertions don’t require pain relief and that breastfeeding might get less painful in a few months’ time.
It’s time for us to say that this attitude is no longer acceptable. We deserve better. And thanks to the vagina business, that better future feels closer than ever.
The Vagina Business: The innovative breakthroughs that could change everything in women's health, by Marina Gerner, is out now from Icon Books.