Femtech: the investment case for women’s health
58% of women investors say they invest with a gender lens — and women’s health is the interest they cite most. That stated appetite now meets a sector genuinely growing, not just trending. Here’s the actual data behind it.
global femtech market, 2026 to 2034
18.4% annual growth (CAGR), per Fortune Business Insights.
femtech funding pace in 2026
The first quarter alone topped the whole of the prior year.
share of total health VC funding femtech gets
Down from 2.0% in 2016 — the pool grew faster than femtech’s slice of it.
raised by women’s primary-care startups in 12 months
The single hottest femtech sub-sector right now.
of women investors invest with a gender lens
Women’s health is the most-cited focus area within that lens.
of LPs in Portfolia’s dedicated FemTech fund are women
The clearest existing bridge between the two stats above.
Four sub-sectors, moving at different speeds
“Femtech” isn’t one market — it’s at least four, each with its own maturity and risk profile.
Menopause & hormonal health
Care platforms and hormone-tracking tools for a life stage venture capital ignored for decades.
- Evernow
- Alloy Women’s Health
- Elektra Health
- Vira Health
- XbyX
- Evela (€2.6M)
- Allara Health
Fertility & reproductive health
Diagnostics and biosensors giving women data on their own cycles instead of guesswork.
- Inne (€16M, saliva biosensor)
- Inito
- Diana Health
Maternal health
Tools spanning pregnancy, birth and postpartum recovery — one of 2026’s fastest-growing sub-sectors.
- Materna Medical
- Womed
- May Health
Diagnostics & primary care
The segment pulling the largest cheques — general women’s-health platforms, not single-condition apps.
- Flo Health
- Maven Clinic
- Midi Health
- Comanche Biopharma
Underweighted, not overhyped
The paradox in the stats above is the whole investment case: femtech’s dollar funding is climbing fast, but its share of total health VC has fallen — from 2.0% in 2016 to roughly 0.6% now. Health VC overall simply grew faster. That gap between real demand (58% of women investing with a gender lens, citing women’s health specifically) and capital supply is what a genuine white space looks like, rather than a sector that’s already been priced up by consensus.
How to get exposure
There are two practical routes in. The first is direct angel checks into individual companies — the same mechanics covered in ourinvestor playbook, just applied to a specific sub-sector. The second is a dedicated fund: Portfolia’s FemTech Fund, launched in 2018, was the first VC vehicle to invest exclusively in women’s health, and 90% of its LPs are themselves women — a fund built by and for exactly the audience this data describes. It’s profiled in our fund directory.
What to weigh before writing a cheque
- Exit history is thin. Most outcomes to date have been strategic acquisitions by larger health and pharma companies rather than IPOs — plan for illiquidity.
- Regulatory paths vary by sub-sector. A diagnostics device and a direct-to-consumer wellness app face completely different regulatory timelines — don’t assume one playbook covers "femtech" as a category.
- Geographic concentration. North America takes roughly 54% of the global market — the same US/Europe skew we flag across ourfund directory.
The sector isn’t underfunded because the demand isn’t there — it’s underfunded because the capital hasn’t caught up to the demand yet.
Sources
- Fortune Business Insights — Femtech Market Size, Share, Trends & Value
- New Market Pitch — Femtech Startup Funding 2025-2026
- Everything Startups — Femtech Startups That Got Funded, 2026
- Portfolia — Women's Health Fund
- Cerulli Associates gender-lens data, via industry reporting on women's investing behavior (2026).
Figures reflect the most recent public reporting as of 2026. Sub-sector examples are illustrative of funding activity, not investment recommendations.
See who’s already writing these cheques
Our fund directory includes women-led firms and dedicated sector funds — filter by focus and region.