Is the Mena region ready for femtech?
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Amid the boom in healthtech over this past year, there is one sector that is now experiencing greater interest - femtech. This sector focuses solely on women’s health, from fertility and period-tracking apps to pregnancy care and sexual wellness. Several female-focused, tech-enabled startups have emerged in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, keen to provide women with products and services related to their health. But while interest has been gathering pace, there is still a large gap in terms of financing allocated to femtech startups.
Globally, the femtech market is set to be worth $50 billion by 2025 according to research firm Frost & Sullivan which calls femtech the “next big phenomenon” in the women’s health market. Last year $1.3 billion was invested in this space, a substantial amount at first glance, but a pithy one when compared to the $300 billion invested by venture capital firms in startups overall.