Although healthcare has evolved, it has remained largely biased towards men, with most solutions and diagnosis designed for the standard male body.

In Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, author Caroline Criado Perez highlights how the healthcare system does not account for the differences in womens physiology, cells, and hormones. It is not surprising then that women are more likely to be misdiagnosed than men.

A new crop of entrepreneurs is addressing these blindspots by leveraging technology infrastructure to cater to womens health and wellness needs.

Notably, for most entrepreneurs, working on a femtech startup remains a personal journey more than a commercial pursuit even as it caters to crores of women who make up nearly half of Indias population.

Pioneers like Geetha Manjunath began exploring and innovating artificial intelligence (AI)-based, radiation-free breast cancer screening solutions when two of her close family members discovered they had breast cancer and eventually lost their lives to the disease. Founder and CEO of Bengaluru-based Niramai, she now holds over 17 patents for innovative tech solutions.

Vikas Bagaria, Founder and CEO, Pee Safestarted the women's hygiene and wellness brand with his wife Srijana when she was once diagnosed with UTI, possibly from using public toilets.

With more and more entrepreneurs solving women's health and wellness problems, Herstory caught up with entrepreneurs and investors in the space to uncover trends that will shape the growth of femtech.

Geetha emphasises that entrepreneurs embark on their journey in the healthtech, especially femtech space, if they truly feel for the problem.

But there is nothing like a bankable innovation to win over investors. While not every investors said yes to Niramai in its initial days, the considerable interest they secured was mainly because there was innovation in the way we were solving it (breast cancer diagnosis).

Surabhi Purwar, Senior Investment Associate at Titan Capital says not only are there few startups in the space but innovation has been far and few in between and a lot can be done femtech sector.

Women are also not very comfortable with their (often judgemental) gynaecologist and need someone trustworthy and comfortable to open up and that is where we feel femtech startups can fill a gap, says Surabhi.

Rachana Gupta had pitched Gynovedas idea of combining Ayurveda and technology to solve womens wellness problems to about 25 to 30 investors including institutional investors, family offices, and HNIs in India and US between June and October 2019.

The general feeling was of very high excitement towards femtech as a space, she says. The entrepreneur believes success stories in the west like those of New York-based Maven, the worlds first femtech unicorn is further fuelling the enthusiasm among the investor community in India as well.

Titan Capital which has funded two femtech startups says they are bullish on the sector.

YourStory data reveals that funding in the femtech sector is increasing, but at a slow pace: there have been a total of 40 funding deals amounting $98 million in the last seven years. The year 2021 saw the highest number of funding deals so far, pegged at 11.

A male-dominated investor community that would not be able to understand products for females is often considered a roadblock. However, Geetha says investors are putting in the effort.

At the end of the day, Geetha affirms investors are happy to support as long as there is good market potential, innovative product idea, and the passion to solve a real problem.

Running a Series A-funded startup, Vikas emphasises now is the right time to invest in the sector because markets and mindsets are opening up and people are getting bolder.

Surabhi has observed more and more startups taking up one chronic disease common among women and building a range of products and services around that.

Weve been actually seeing this trend recently where startups are trying to take one chronic disease at a time and then going full-stack in that, Surabhi says.

Aarti Gill, co-founder of Oziva believes the focus will be especially on preventive healthcare in the coming years. However, the femtech startups will have to educate the customers and solutions need to be customised to individual needs.

With increasing innovation, Vikas says female hygiene and wellness is no longer just restricted to sanitary pads. He credits the Gen Z and millennial population between the ages of 18 and 35 who are more of explorers and researchers and do not shy away from trying out brands and products that are new or leave behind unlike their parents generation.

Not just as consumers but Gen Z and millennial content creators and influencers are comfortably tackling the taboo surrounding womens health on social media which directly impacts how femtech offerings are received. For them, the age of skirting around topics like menstruation, period pain and products, and other womens hygiene concerns is gone.

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Opening markets and mindsets: What to expect from Indias femtech sector in 2022 and beyond - YourStory