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“Femtech” brings together all the innovations in the women’s health sector. Long neglected by start-ups, this sector is now gaining momentum. Delphine Moulu is Managing Director and co-founder of FemTech France, responsible for encouraging and supporting the creation of innovative projects in this field. She gives us an interview while participating in the BIG show, the largest business gathering in Europe.
Why did you create Femtech France?
Delphine Moulu: Femtech France was created two years ago to enable more synergy between entrepreneurs, investors and health professionals and thus bring about more innovations in the field of women’s health.
Our missions are threefold. These are:
- Catalyze innovation through our collective which today brings together a network of 80 startups. We help them with different supports and tools so that they can develop their projects;
- Federate this ecosystem by connecting manufacturers, for example pharmaceutical laboratories or insurance companies, health professionals, investors, with these startups which are members of our collective;
- Funding innovation in women’s health. This is a new part that we are developing starting next month. The idea is to launch a discussion with players in the world of investment and financing to think together about an alternative financing model for this particular industry.
In France, there is no shortage of start-up creations in women’s health. On the other hand, they have difficulty financing themselves in the long term and many go out of business. We are working to change that.
Why do you think this specificity in women’s health was necessary?
Delphine Moulu: The term “femtech” was created by an industry entrepreneur in 2016 because she did not identify with health tech. Last year in the United States, the research and development budget dedicated to women’s health was only 4% (compared to 2% just for prostate cancer, for example).
There are plenty of moments in life for which women are still left to their own devices. One in three women are affected by a gynecological problem, the same proportion suffer from premenstrual syndrome and one in 10 has endometriosis. If the strategy to combat endometriosis has made it possible to advance this theme and see numerous innovations appear, the majority of other women’s health problems remain unanswered. There is therefore a real need to bring these themes to the forefront and to reflect, to innovate and to really provide solutions, which range from diagnosis to prevention. Unhealthy women make for an unhealthy society.
What are the main themes that you believe require investment?
Delphine Moulu: When we talk about women’s health, we immediately think of reproductive and gynecological health. We think of periods, of motherhood, but in reality, women’s health also includes non-gendered illnesses which have a greater female prevalence, whether it is mental health (depression affects women twice as often) or lung cancer (which is increasing among women) for example.
To date in France we have seen few innovations emerge for women in the field of mental health, cardiovascular diseases, contraception… There are therefore still many things to do and therefore many opportunities for entrepreneurs who would like to get started in this sector.
Have certain achievements directly beneficial to women recently been achieved?
Delphine Moulu: Of course, the sector is growing. Women’s health is a very broad field: from wellness products to medications or new medical procedures, new products, new services… It would therefore be difficult to cite all the recent innovations. However, I could give you some concrete examples.
- The creation of health spaces with a multidisciplinary team dedicated to women’s health (Gynea, Jeen, Sorella) ;
- Connected perineal rehabilitation probes or portable breast pumps, a far cry from the image of devices just a few years ago (Fizimed, Perifit)
- Menstrual panties (Bertyne, Teenflo) but also menstrual sportswear (Haomah Sports, Celisette)
- Mobile apps dedicated to women’s health with a midwife available by chat (My S Life)
How can your participation in the BIG show advance Femtech France’s objective?
Delphine Moulu: The BIG show is one of the biggest events on the French entrepreneurial scene and for us, it is important to be present there for the second year in a row. This is an opportunity to shine a spotlight on this sector of innovation in women’s health and to highlight the players who represent it.
I will host a round table with two entrepreneurs and an investor in the women’s health innovation sector. It is an opportunity to promote this industry, to send a signal to investors about the real opportunities in this market and perhaps to create vocations for other entrepreneurs.