TL;DR
AI is beginning to transform women's health. Hormone fluctuations can now be tracked with new accuracy, imaging systems are detecting conditions once missed, and biosensors are opening up previously neglected physiological spaces. The challenge now lies in building trust, navigating privacy and regulation, and securing funding that values women's health as core.
A Market Long Overlooked
In the U.S., women were only required to be included in clinical trials beginning in 1993, leaving large gaps in how diagnostics, dosage guidelines, and treatments have been designed. In 2024, women's health startups raised approximately $2.6 billion in venture capital, a modest share of overall health-tech investment. Yet investment in women's health surged by 55% that same year. Analysts suggest closing the women's health gap could add at least $1 trillion annually to the global economy by 2040.
Making Sense of Hormone Data
Dr Amy Beckley, founder of Proov, arrived in FemTech after her own struggle with infertility and recurrent miscarriage. Her product uses urine-based hormone testing across the menstrual cycle instead of a single snapshot. AI models absorb millions of data points, detect trends or deviations, and translate them into insight. "We're building something that's never existed before. We need AI to uncover patterns and make them clinically relevant."
Imaging at Finer Resolution
Endometriosis affects an estimated one in ten women, yet many women wait years for a diagnosis. Dr Hadas Ziso's startup, EndoCure, integrates robotics and AI to push ultrasound into new territory. "We want to detect lesions as small as one millimetre. If I asked a radiologist to look for that across thousands of images, they'd walk out of the room."
Biosensors, Pleasure, and Taboo
Isabella Sanda-Lewin, a biomedical engineer based in the NHS, is building Splash, a diagnostic tool for vaginal infections, and experiments with a biosensor-enabled vibrator. "We're measuring things like heart rate, muscle tension, and blood flow. AI then looks for patterns that might connect to pleasure responses." Her investor conversations reflect deeper biases: "They love the technology, but they often ask me to frame it differently."
Privacy, Regulation, and Trust
Beckley tries to shift the paradigm: "It's her data. She can delete it, she can keep it, or she can choose to share it. If we ask to use it for research, we pay her." Nick Solly, CTO of Mohara, emphasized that "transparency, explainability, and consent need to be built into the product from the start."
Where AI May Take FemTech
Hormone testing that once required specialist clinics can now be done at home and interpreted in real time. Imaging tools may soon detect conditions that previously escaped diagnosis. But success depends on more than technology. These innovations must deliver clinically verified results, guard deeply personal data, and win the trust of users historically underserved.
4 Emerging Signals to Watch
- AI-Assisted Diagnostics at Home, Fertility and hormonal testing moving into bathrooms.
- Robotic Imaging Platforms, Next-generation ultrasound systems expanding beyond endometriosis.
- Biosensors in Sexual Health, AI-enhanced devices treating sexual wellness as a legitimate field of data.
- Privacy as a Product Feature, Companies that embed privacy by design will thrive.
