Global FemTech Survey 2021: Current Market, Growth, Opportunities, and Challenges

FemTech Analytics conducted a global online survey in September 2021 across 16 countries in 6 major regions, including North America, Europe, and Asia. This survey had 48 FemTech leaders (CEOs, founders, investors) as respondents and aimed at forming a view of the FemTech market’s future development, opportunities, challenges, and trends. Among the 48 FemTech leaders, we had:

• 34% from Fertility and Pregnancy;

• 28% from Women’s Medicine

• 28% from Menstrual Health

How the FemTech Industry Will Change in the Near Future?

84% of our respondents expressed their firm belief that the global FemTech industry growth will improve drastically over the next 12 months, with only 2.1% declining their views. The rest of them felt it would remain the same.

In general, 31 survey participants (65%) expect their sales growth to be 10% and more next year. Subsector-wise, the percentage for this option in the top 3 subsectors is higher than in general.

But to achieve these positive results, business owners and managers will have to increase their brand recognition and awareness. They also need to focus on enhancing their customer experience, innovations, and exposure to new markets while hiring skilled specialists and advocating for more investment in the space and user traction monetization.

FemTech Across Geographies: Opportunities and Challenges

FemTech continues to struggle with various obstacles and challenges, which though can be treated as opportunities. For example, attracting capital is the biggest concern of the industry. But with more unicorns and exits emerging, investors will see the potential.

One of the primary issues for the whole industry is to reach decision-makers (mostly male) who control budgets and get them on board to understand the business case and the growing, cost-saving, and profit potential of FemTech solutions. Let us look at some of the regional opportunities and their challenges in FemTech and understand them better.

1.The USA — North America

It will expand telemedicine and virtual care sectors with a huge consolidation of competitors in spaces like fertility, menopause, and menstrual care. Tying hormonal health and wellbeing with other healthcare outcomes will be more easily accessible. The market will see growth in the conversation and education about taboo topics, so women know solutions exist.

There will be access to insurance coverage for femtech devices with increased funding from a broader range of sources. Also, the scope for many liquidity events, including SPAC, IPOs, and M&As, will expand.

Challenges

Some main challenges will be a lack of research, funding, education, and cultural acceptance of prioritizing women's healthcare. Women’s health is historically perceived as private and is not covered in socialized medicine, limiting its commercial prospects if market participants cannot get coverage.

2. Nicaragua — Central America

Nicaragua (and the rest of Central America) is a fertile land for FemTech with a need on every level — menopause care, digital health for rural regions (SRH), diagnostics, menstrual health, and equity. Industry leaders can use this need as an opportunity and create an app that gives women in the most vulnerable areas a chance to learn about sexuality and the empowerment of their bodies.

Challenges

The market lacks innovative ideas available to LATAM and investors. It also suffers from political and economic instability that can easily scare investors away.

3. India — South Asia

In India, there exists a vast opportunity in menopause, fertility, and sexual wellness segments. Just like Nicaragua, these can be good revenue earners if you plan and mentor them properly.

FemTech is growing by leaps and bounds in the services area, making the market ready for device and pharmacological, product-based opportunities. As the investor community becomes more focused on monetization, this is the natural next step for innovation in this geography.

Challenges

The challenge is to educate the market and exhibit revenue growth at scale. The customers are getting steadily more educated, but with competition in the FemTech space and existing social biases, they remain reluctant to spend on female wellness.

4. Israel — Middle East

There will be many new innovative startups in the sector, bringing openness about new emerging markets. Digital health has been exploding in Israel, but companies need to focus on a sustainable business model since the primary market for those products is outside of Israel. You can notice the largest trend in cosmetics as Israel is a center for manufacturing leading treatments for women’s esthetics and cosmetics.

Challenges

There is a lack of funding since the nation majorly seeks investments in cyber, fintech, cloud, AI, etc., making Israel a not-so-good place to deal in FemTech. Moreover, there is very little support from the government, and there are no good and competent workers.

5. Australia — Oceania

We will see sufficient R&D funding and government grants to support the diverse and aging population. The government will support nationwide female health initiatives to foster the growing interest in professionals wanting to shift careers towards FemTech.

Challenges

It has a small investment pool which means founders eventually have to go offshore. The country is isolated from the rest of the world, and it is hard to place female health education and education of FemTech in the tech category.

6. United Kingdom — North-Western Europe

Personalized treatment plans, at-home testing kits, and holistic offers (cyclical offering) will gain momentum. The treatment of female illnesses, such as endometriosis, customized treatment for females, e.g., in cardiovascular diseases, will be more prominent and better. A lot of VCs are now looking into the health-tech market, which will further accelerate the speed of growth of FemTech in the UK and entire Europe.

Challenges

In the UK, investment and R&D funding are shockingly little. Hence, the biggest challenge of the industry is to attract capital. Competition in the Seed Stage is also a big challenge. Another key challenge is to get access to public decision-makers and effectively lobby governments on the importance of the industry as a whole.

Endnote

Most respondents consider fertility and pregnancy technologies, menopause technologies, and menstrual technologies the top 3 trends driving FemTech nowadays. It means that these areas are getting acknowledged, which is the first step towards growth. However, menopause is particularly underserved with a huge addressable market — by 2025, there will be 1.1B women in menopause.

But looking at the current state and trends of FemTech, we can anticipate that the industry will only grow and will not face any backlash.

View results at https://lnkd.in/eRNc3xNA