Key Takeaways:
The term "femtech" was introduced by Danish entrepreneur Ida Tin in 2016, although companies focused on women’s health tech innovation had started launching in the early 2010s. Since then, the industry has continued to gain traction, with numbers demonstrating a global market forecasted to reach $130.8 billion by 2034. But people with vaginas still suffer from menstrual, reproductive, maternal, and gynecological health issues across the globe—and the innovation map is uneven.
However, emerging femtech players in regions such as the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Latin America (LATAM), and Asia-Pacific (APAC) are fighting to shift stigmas and implement technology where it’s needed. In response, beauty and wellness brands such as Mauj, Luma, and Feel, are beginning to collaborate with start-ups or invest in local ecosystems to help build momentum and drive the conversation forward.
Early in 2025, the McKinsey Health Institute and the McKinsey Global Institute released a report that dove into the structural and systematic barriers women face: It found that those with vulvas spend 25% more time in “poor health” than those without. This gap highlights a significant unmet need—and a clear opportunity for brands. Addressing it could not only improve the lives of women but also boost the global economy by at least $1 trillion annually by 2040.
Mapping the Global Femtech Landscape
Typically, the West has led the way when it comes to women’s health tech innovation. In 2024, the fertility-focused period-tracking app Flo Health announced a $200 million Series C investment, valuing the start-up at over $1 billion and making it the first women’s health app to become a unicorn in the EU. The other seven femtech companies with a billion-dollar valuation are based in North America. But a new surge in both start-ups and investment is changing the playing field.
From India-based Luma Fertility, which secured $4 million in seed funding to roll out tech-enabled IVF clinics, to the Sao Paulo-situated femtech company Feel, which attracted an all-female pool of angel investors to raise just over BRL 1 million ($190,000), money is finally being funneled through companies to help women gain more trust, autonomy, and freedom over their bodies, globally.
Co-founder and CEO of Feel, Marina Ratton, told BeautyMatter that the challenges, however, are still considerable. “The venture capital ecosystem in Brazil is relatively young and highly concentrated. Femtech—especially brands working in intimate wellness—remains underfunded and often misunderstood. That’s why building a community of women investors wasn’t just strategic, it was necessary.”
Unfortunately, raising capital isn’t the only issue facing international femtech.
“What looks like a taboo to one society can be an important cultural framework for another,” Anna Butterworth, founder of femtech-focused futures agency Ultra Violet, explained to BeautyMatter. “Local brands in the APAC and MENA [regions] are doing a brilliant job of progressing the narrative around health and well-being while being culturally aligned.”
According to Lindsay Davis, the founder of FemTech Association Asia, 52% of women in South East Asia (SEA) feel it is culturally unacceptable to discuss women's health issues in public, particularly due to fear of judgement or shame—and it's the femtech start-ups and founders in the region championing the normalization.
The MENA region
“I had never heard it,” Nour Emam, a women’s health activist from Egypt, said to The New York Times about how she learned to pronounce the word “clitoris” in Arabic. “No one uses it, so there’s nowhere to find the right way to say it.”
The Middle East has a complicated relationship with women’s rights, sexuality, and body autonomy; however, recent years have seen societal shifts and social media activists make way for a rapidly growing femtech sector.
In fact, the industry is projected to be worth $3.8 billion by 2031 in the region, led by fierce female founders who are solving issues and addressing needs that directly affect their communities. Take Emam’s Cairo-based Motherbeing platform, which offers a variety of Arabic-only online classes for menstrual health, birth preparation, and pleasure-centric sexual education. Its latest offering is Daleela, an AI-powered health assistant deftly designed to provide MENA women with secure, private access to information and personalized support.
Another standout is Mauj, the first sexual wellness brand by and for Arab women that set out to destigmatize sexual and menstrual health in the region, not only through product launches, but by encouraging the exploration of female bodies. In 2023, the Saudi Arabian brand raised $500,000 in a funding round.
“We are immensely honored to be joined by The Case for Her on our journey to dismantle the shame and stigma around female sexuality in the Arab world,” Mauj CEO Noor N. said to Femtech Insider of the impact fund that participated in the angel round. “With its support and partnership, we are better equipped to revolutionize the landscape, and provide the tools and resources that make learning about and discovering our bodies and sexuality a shame-free and celebratory experience.”
In MENA, women face a lack of representation in the healthcare sector and are at risk of specific female-centric disease factors—they also fight social pressure and a tendency to put caring for others above their own health. While companies are launching across the region in response, it's the UAE that boasts the most concentration, with one-third of women’s health tech innovation in MENA located there. Both public policy and private sector innovation are driving growth in the desert; yet, male-dominated venture capital (VC) circles and lingering taboos still hinder growth despite rising demand.
LATAM and APAC
While high-profile femtech start-ups in LATAM and APAC are few and far between, a growing pipeline of innovation is emerging, particularly in telemedicine, fertility, and maternal health. Case in point: Mexico City’s Plenna just raised a $6 million Series A round to revolutionize how women in the country experience healthcare through digital touchpoints. Mexico, the second-fastest-growing start-up ecosystem in Latin America, recently launched its first femtech association, FemTech.Mx. Its founder, Mayra Hurtado, set out to build a community of like-minded founders and advocates, both in the region and internationally, understanding that it will take more than capital to seriously address the gender health gap on an international scale.
“When we pitched to Sororitê, a Brazilian angel investor network focused on women-led businesses, we saw immediate resonance speaking about vaginal dryness, painful intercourse, early menopause, low libido—they didn’t need us to translate the problem. They had lived it,” Ratton explained.
“More than just capital, this network brought true smart money: They helped us test products, opened doors, amplified our message through word-of-mouth, and added credibility to our brand.”
What’s slowing growth? An ingrained lack of understanding or awareness surrounding women’s health issues in these nascent femtech markets. In SEA, for example, it's the main barrier preventing nonusers from adopting femtech products and services. Forty-two percent, in fact, according to Davis. In response, femtech founders are shifting from creating standalone products to developing holistic health solutions that are clinically proven, digital-first, community-powered, and inclusive across various life stages.
“With this shift in care, start-ups are increasingly attracting regional capital, signaling strong investor confidence in the scalability of femtech solutions across diverse markets. Landmark funding rounds, such as Kindred PH (Philippines), Zora Health (Singapore), and Motherhood Care+ (Malaysia), highlight a growing demand for women’s health services and the region’s readiness to support innovation in this space,” Davis continued.
In March 2022, Nikkei Asia reported that the APAC region is now home to 14% of the world’s femtech companies. One year later, FemTech Analytics predicted that by 2026, the Asia-Pacific region would see the world’s fastest growth in women’s health apps. And according to Milieu Insight and FemTech Association Asia’s report, Insights into the Femtech Landscape in SEA, 60% of consumers are utilizing femtech products and services (and 54% of current nonusers show intention or consideration for near-future use).
In Latin America, healthcare has historically been challenging to access and afford. In 2024, 62% of McKinsey respondents reported deferring medical care, primarily due to these issues, while 81% expressed interest in health apps for wellness and preventive care, even if they would have to pay for them. The survey also highlighted shifting preferences towards convenient-first models, with 34% expressing an interest in virtual or at-home care for low-complexity situations.
"We've built a hybrid model that integrates three strategic pillars: high-repurchase physical products, impactful digital education, and a trusted medical referral network,” Ratton said. “Brazil’s population is aging, birth rates are declining, and the number of women seeking help for perimenopausal symptoms is surpassing those focused on fertility. This same demographic shift is happening across Latin America, which makes our product plus content plus medical authority model highly scalable throughout the region.”
Where Beauty and Wellness Brands Fit In
Out West, global beauty and wellness brands have partnered with or invested in femtech start-ups to expand their footprint and co-create new products. From Unilever Ventures’ investment in intimate
bodycare brand Luna Daily to L’Oréal’s partnership with Clue, the global period-tracking app, these collaborations demonstrate how regional players can overcome local barriers—such as limited access, stigma, or lack of specialized talent—by bringing resources, distribution, and credibility.
“We are seeing early but promising partnerships between femtech start-ups and lifestyle brands in Southeast Asia,” Davis said.
One example is CPG-focused DSG Consumer Partners' investment in Moom Health, a hormone health start-up offering women’s wellness supplements. "Women’s health positioned as lifestyle is an effective strategy to leverage deep customer insight, establish brand trust, and scale through expansive retail or content platforms to bring femtech solutions into everyday routines," Davis added.
According to Ratton, there is a growing interest from brands and retailers in partnering with the femtech sector across Brazil and Latin America—but it’s still in its early, cautious stages. Brazilian retail tends to back categories that have already proven their profitability and rotation. Sexual wellness and intimate care still require market education to reach a level of acceptance and maturity.
“I believe the most strategic partnerships for femtech growth are those that don’t just move product, but help generate demand. That’s where partnerships with the healthcare ecosystem become especially powerful,” Ratton continued. Feel has seen strong results through collaborations with gynecologists, pelvic floor physiotherapists, and women’s clinics, which are seen as trusted spaces for education and recommendations.
These collaborations also aid femtech businesses through social media amplification. “But alongside individual changemakers, femtech requires broader ecosystem support for reach and impact,” Davis noted.
“While social media helps scale awareness, professional endorsement is still the most effective channel for breaking cultural barriers and accelerating growth in this category,” Ratton added.
Where the Gaps Remain
Some challenges facing femtech founders may be local, but many are universal. One of the most persistent is underfunding. Women’s health tech still receives only 2% of healthtech VC globally; however, Butterworth is not convinced that VCs are the best route of funding for most brands in this space.
“I think that if you have to work that hard to get someone to see the value in the proposition, then they aren’t the right investor,” she said. “Having said that, the market opportunity in women’s health is in the trillions, so any investor sleeping on this category is missing out on a very secure investment portfolio.”
“In my view, the most urgent need for femtech in Latin America right now is capital,” Ratton added. “But what’s most striking: Our growth has been fueled not by VC dollars but by our own customers. Investing in femtech isn’t just necessary—it’s one of the smartest opportunities in the region today.”
According to Davis, closing the gap in support from key institutions such as nonprofits, insurers, regulators, and public health systems is essential for femtech to move from a nascent to mainstream.
Certain regions could also benefit from more attention to specific areas of health. In the Middle East, for example, there’s a historical lack of attention paid to mental health—social stigma, lack of awareness, prevailing gender norms, trauma from conflicts, and a shortage of professionals have led to higher-than-global-average reports of mental health issues.
For international brands looking to scale into these emerging markets, it is essential to be mindful of their marketing and communications. Culturally informed, locally relevant solutions are key. “And it becomes even more significant if you’re a femtech or women’s health brand,” Butterworth stated. “Branding can often transcend markets if the approach, the communications, and language have been altered effectively. When doing this, it’s imperative to work with local teams.”
The Road Ahead
Davis states that current femtech users gravitate towards products for ease and convenience over cost. By partnering with healthcare providers, insurers, government bodies, NGOs, and even consumer brands, start-ups in this space can leverage existing infrastructures, enabling them to expand their reach beyond urban centers and reduce costs through shared resources.
Moving forward, companies should focus not only on the digital experience but also on the physical in-store experience. In counties with vast and complex geographies, such as Brazil, maintaining an in-store presence in pharmacies and specialty stores is crucial for both visibility and sales volume. “In a country like Brazil, achieving consistent, impactful reach across all regions is a massive challenge— and our biggest opportunity,” Ratton noted.
To unlock the next wave of femtech growth—and ensure women’s health innovates internationally—cross-sector collaborations, global investment, and a focus on diverse leadership are essential, particularly in the areas of access, affordability, and clinical integration.
