With convergence between women’s health and digital health on the rise, Femtech is poised to disrupt the market, finds Frost & Sullivan
Frost & Sullivan’s recent analysis, “Femtech: Digital Revolution in Women’s Health”, finds that female technology (Femtech) is on the cusp of explosive growth. Spurred by almost $1 billion in funding over the last three years and a positive regulatory environment, Femtech is emerging as the next big disruptor in the global healthcare market.
Femtech refers to software, diagnostics, products, and services that harness technology to improve Women’s Health. Using a variety of digital health applications and technology that provide end-to-end solutions for key women’s health issues, Femtech applications target reproductive, maternal, and general women’s health and wellness, including mental health issues, elderly care, and chronic and communicable diseases. Self-management and continued engagement is core to managing women’s health issues, and Femtech has the power to add value across the care continuum.
While the benefits of Femtech are widely recognized, the market is still at a nascent stage and its remarkable growth potential remains unfulfilled, despite having a target customer base of 50% of the global population. This is partially linked to poor visibility and lack of communication about Femtech applications to key decision-makers, including women users and healthcare professionals. Persistent cultural and social barriers, coupled with limited access to healthcare products and services and overall affordability, represent additional pain points for women.
However, the increasingly influential role of women across the healthcare continuum as consumers, decision-makers, healthcare professionals, and caregivers, is pushing healthcare companies to actively develop specialized, interactive digital applications for women’s health.
Further trends that will drive growth in the Femtech market include:
- Understanding the right set of applications that can support patients and healthcare professionals across the care continuum;
- Identifying partnership opportunities for scalable business models that can expand the potential target customer base;
- Developing differentiated digital applications that specifically target women’s health and wellness;
- Formulating exclusive marketing strategies for Femtech, while maximising multi-channel interaction; and
- Obtaining insights into the drivers and motivating factors that increase usage, enhance patient perception, and encourage better engagement.
