“For a multitude of reasons, the world—especially the advertising world—has decided that at 50 you are no longer worth addressing,” Susan Feldman, founder of lifestyle site In The Groove, told JWT. “This may have been true in the past, but today women want to be in the know and feel relevant. Age-defying women are ready to engage and [are] looking for more.”
Most Gen X women are now in their late 40s and approaching experiencing menopause. They are tech-savvy and digitally literate. managing their lives, relationships, and finances, using social media and new technologies. This generation of “menopausal” women are not going to disappear into the sunset—they are removing the taboo and bringing menopause into the mainstream.
Femtech companies have largely focused on menstrual health and pregnancy, but there are a handful that are following the lead of beauty and personal care brands and launching digital-forward resources and tech-enhanced products to revolutionize menopause treatment.
Menotech Brands to Watch:
Gennev: A digital health platform built by women for women with telemedicine offerings. They are also compiling a database to improve general knowledge of menopause for the medical community.
Rory was launched by men’s health start-up Ro as a new vertical for women in perimenopause, menopause, and postmenopause. Rory merges telemedicine with the direct-to-consumer model to connect women with health providers, treatments, information, and community all from the comfort of their own home.
Grace Wristband is one of the treatments, a prototype for a bracelet designed to alleviate hot flushes by sending a localized cooling sensation around the wrist.
Fifty One creates cooling clothing that uses technology originally developed by NASA that regulates body temperature to keep wearers comfortable during hot flashes.
Cucumber Clothing: This British company produces a line of intelligent nightwear and clothing that uses efficient wicking fabrics from partner brand 37.5 Technology, which uses volcanic minerals to help keep your body at the ideal core temperature of 37.5° Celsius.
“I hope that, collectively, this focus on menotech…will start to normalize [menopause] so that it’s not this thing that’s brushed under the rug,” says Angelo. “Technology is an enabler. I’ve seen what it does to transform how we think about education, or banking, or personal finance, or healthcare; menotech is just another slice of that. And we’re just beginning.”
Read the full story on JWT Intelligence.
Photo: Philipp Sewing via Unsplash
