Femtech Startups Appear On Track For Record VC Funding

Source: PitchBook, Leah Hodgson
Photo: freestocks on Unsplash

Femtech startups are collectively on course to raise a record amount of venture capital this year following several mega-rounds.

About $1.2 billion has been invested in femtech startups—defined as companies offering products and services to address women’s health issues—globally since the beginning of the year, according to PitchBook data. At the current pace, 2024’s total deal value for the sector could surpass 2021’s record of $1.9 billion.

Having been a relatively overlooked segment in the larger healthtech market, femtech has drawn more interest from VCs in recent years.

London-based fertility app Flo Health recently became Europe’s first European femtech unicorn with a $200 million Series C from General Atlantic. In June, California-based molecular diagnostics company BillionToOne secured a $130 million Series D led by Premji Invest.

While total deal value for the femtech sector is already approaching last year’s level, deal count has not grown to the same extent.

Compared to healthtech, femtech has seen stronger performance recently. While both saw declines in annual totals last year from 2022, deal value fell further for healthtech—a 32.5% drop versus 7.1% for femtech.

Greater recognition of women’s healthcare needs has increased consumer demand for related health and wellness products and services.

VCs have also made a greater push to support female founders, who are more likely to lead femtech startups. Last year, the percentage of total VC deal count and value going to female-only founded startups reached record levels, according to PitchBook’s VC female founders dashboards.

About Leah Hodgson

Leah Hodgson is a London-based senior reporter for PitchBook covering venture capital across Europe and the Middle East. Leah graduated from the University of Surrey with a BA in international politics with French. She has previously been a radio reporter in France. She later turned to financial journalism, covering the wealth management industry. She joined PitchBook in 2018.

https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/femtech-startups-vc-funding-healthcare