Femtech: An Introduction

March 26, 2026

What is Femtech?

The term femtech, short for female technology was first coined in 2016 by Ida Tin, an entrepreneur who developed a period-tracking app. Femtech generally refers to medical technology specifically related to female health; software, diagnostics, or internet-connected products or services that focus on improving women’s health.

Why is Femtech Important?

Although most medical conditions are not gender specific, there are many that affect men and women differently, such as

  • Reproductive health
  • Sexual health
  • Osteoporosis
  • Incidence of cancers
  • Arthritis

And of course, there are some medical conditions and subsequent procedures that occur only in females e.g. pregnancy, childbirth and menopause to name but a few.

See also: Developing a Point of Care Diagnostic Device for Continuous Lactate Monitoring During Labour

Medical diagnostic and device development has, like many STEM subjects, traditionally had more male involvement (particularly in leadership positions). This is also known to be true in pharmaceuticals. Historically there has been lower female involvement in clinical trials although this has changed in recent years. This had a knock-on effect in that many ergonomic designs of medical devices were simply unsuitable for females.

In 2022,  McKinsey released a report titled “The dawn of the  FemTech revolution”, describing the impressive growth of Femtech, enabling better outcomes for women patients and consumers.

What are the important issues for Femtech development?

Continuous Monitoring

Traditionally medical diagnostics have been a snapshot at the time a sample was taken. This might not be enough for conditions related to the menstrual cycle, where more continuous monitoring would be desirable. This strengthens the need for wearable devices which can report in situ, rather than taking a sample and sending it off for analysis.

A Female Perspective

Issues around pregnancy and childbirth can be highly emotive. Female-led developers are better placed to use personal experiences to make a product suitable for the end use. Furthermore, a woman’s reproductive status and sexual health is a private matter which means that data security must be considered at all times. In addition, disparities may be greater in low-income countries, so low-cost products are often required.

Medtechtomarket’s femtech experience

Medtechtomarket are proud to have worked on the following femtech projects:

Continuous monitoring of lactate in childbirth with Liverpool Women’s Hospital / University of Liverpool.

Problems during childbirth can have life-long effects on the child and their family, in addition to being very costly to the NHS. For this reason, doctors conduct more emergency caesareans than necessary, due to an abundance of caution. The lactate monitor will allow point of care diagnostics, to give doctors a better basis for deciding whether to intervene. The development team is female-led and emphasises patient engagement to make sure that it will be accepted by mothers-to-be.

A medical device to reduce post-partum haemorrhaging, especially for low-income countries. It is a simple device which has been cleverly engineered to fulfil an unmet need. Part of the design is to make it low-cost and environmentally friendly.

A medical device helping with vaginismus. A female-led company based on the founder’s own experience with this painful and often underdiagnosed condition.

A project with Hull University looking at a screening diagnostic for endometriosis. Women can wait up to ten years to get a confirmed diagnosis and some of the diagnostic techniques (laparoscopy) can make the condition worse.

Our staff also attend many events supporting women in science and as a company we are proud of our diversity in all areas; production, lab technicians, management and other senior roles.