The US femtech market is booming, with room for many startups to grow

The news: There were two buzzworthy developments in the femtech space closing out last week and starting off this week.

1. Women’s virtual care startup Tia partnered with UCSF Health to open a new clinic in the Bay area, per Fierce Healthcare. This marks Tia’s second partnership with a major health system. Its first was with CommonSpirit Health in 2021.

2. Femtech startup Ruth Health scored $2.4 million in seed funding, per HIT Consultant. It’s using the haul to build out its telehealth-powered comprehensive care platform for women.

A prediction we got right: Women’s health is becoming a big area of focus for digital health this year—as we forecasted last year.

• Femtech funding reached $2.5 billion by the end of 2021—more than triple 2020’s funding total, per McKinsey’s analysis.
• This aligns with our April 2021 prediction that digital health disruption had only scratched the surface of women’s health at the time.

Market snapshot: Digital health players are adding femtech solutions to their digital health suites. Meanwhile, femtech startups are seeing major gains in funding, business, and membership.

The majority of femtech boom activity has happened in the last year. Here are some of the most notable deals, per our tracking:

• Ro acquired reproductive health firm Modern Fertility for over $225 million in May 2021.
• Mount Sinai partnered with digital maternity care startup Oula in May.
• Maven Clinic was valued at over $1 billion after its $110 million Series D funding round in August 2021.
• Digital therapeutics firm Happify Health expanded its chronic care platform to include services for women experiencing menopause in August 2021.
• Apple announced plans to add a temperature sensor that detects ovulation cycles to help with fertility planning to its Watch in September 2021.
• Everly Health acquired reproductive health startup Natalist for its women’s health products (like ovulation tests, pregnancy tests, prenatal supplements) in October 2021.
• Fertility startup Kindbody acquired Vios Fertility Institute and its network of clinics, pushing Kindbody’s valuation to unicorn status in February of this year.
• HerMD raised $10 million in Series A funding to open new clinics and expand its telehealth offering also in February.
• And menopause-focused women’s health startup Evernow raised around $29 million this April.

The big takeaway: Women's health is still in its early stages of digital health transformation and has a ton of expansion potential. We see more employers and payers tap femtech startups to move the needle on comprehensive, equitable care.