The Rise of Femtech: How Maven Clinic is Closing the Gender Health gap
In 2014, Kate Ryder, then an associate at venture capital firm Index Ventures in London, founded Maven Clinic- a virtual clinic service that provides end-to-end healthcare for women and their families. Since then, the femtech sector has expanded exponentially and in 2022, Maven became the first unicorn (a privately held startup valued at over $1 billion) in this sector. They raised over $250 million from a star-studded list of investors, including Oprah Winfrey, Natalie Portman, and Reese Witherspoon. They have over 15 million enlisted members in more than 175 countries.
Maven Clinic provides a range of virtual clinic services in areas like fertility, maternity, newborn care, pediatrics, and menopause. They also provide financial aid and mental health support. Their members can have continuity of care regardless of their life path. As Kate Ryder, the CEO, says, “For example, we are currently supporting a woman in London who signed up for our fertility track. She experienced a miscarriage around eight weeks into her pregnancy and now she is back on our fertility route, and we are helping her with cross-border egg donation between Spain and the UK.”
Unfortunately, even today, studies show that women’s healthcare needs are still generally neglected. For instance, one in five women suffers from postpartum depression but doesn’t get the mental health support they need. Meanwhile, four out of five women who seek care for menopause don’t get the care they need according to the Department of UK Health and Social Care.
Gender health gap
This gender health gap is what Kate Ryder and Maven Clinic are trying to fix. They provide more than 6,000 appointments every week, and members typically get appointments in less than an hour, with the opportunity to be matched with their preferred experts. Recently, in peer-reviewed studies published in the medical journal the Lancet, Maven Clinic demonstrated the effectiveness of their model. For instance, patients who met a virtual OB-GYN saw a reduction of ER visits by 4.2-fold. In contrast, new mothers who went through maternity care programs from Maven saw a 27% reduction in c-section fees. As Kate Ryder said, “We’ve done objective claim analysis to see if a virtual model affects the results. What we are seeing is that the magic happens when we put all the pieces together.”
The Rise of Femtech
In recent years, there has been a significant rise in femtech, which refers to woman-focused technology services and products. Research by Frost & Sullivan predicted that the femtech market would reach $50 billion by 2025. The femtech sector includes businesses that offer virtual clinics that provide healthcare from the comfort of your home, educational apps, menstrual tracking services, and fertility management. The sector is driven by the fact that women are overlooked and underserved, and there is a considerable potential for growth in this market.
Telemedicine and Virtual Healthcare
The Covid-19 pandemic has made telemedicine and virtual clinics necessary—one reason why Maven Clinic provided over 6,000 appointments every week. The pandemic forced patients to stay at home, creating a need for healthcare services accessible from anywhere at any time. Virtual healthcare gets rid of inefficiencies such as waiting times, as members can have appointments within an hour of booking. It also reduces healthcare costs, virtual healthcare costs considerably less than traditional in-person healthcare costs. The growth of the femtech sector has created employment opportunities as startups like Maven Clinic continue to grow.
Summary
Maven is the first unicorn in the femtech sector, providing a range of virtual healthcare services for women and families in a variety of areas. Studies show that women’s healthcare needs are still generally neglected, leading to new and innovative femtech healthcare services. As part of the femtech industry, Maven Clinic is uniquely positioned to continue to grow as the demand for woman-focused healthcare services continues. Their virtual model provides a unique solution to healthcare struggles while providing cost savings and reducing inefficiencies.
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In 2022, start of healthcare Expert became the first unicorn in the femtech sector after raising more than $250 million from a list of stellar investors that includes Oprah Winfrey, Natalie Portman, and Reese Witherspoon. The company provides virtual clinic services for women and families in a variety of areas, including fertility, maternity and newborn care, pediatrics and menopause, and also provides financial aid and mental health support. It has more than 15 million enlisted members in more than 175 countries.
Maven is end-to-end. “You can have that continuity of care, no matter what your path is,” says Kate Ryder, his chief executive. “For example, we are currently supporting a woman in London who signed up for our fertility track. She experienced a miscarriage around eight weeks into her pregnancy and now she is back on our fertility route and we are helping her with cross border egg donation between Spain and the UK.”
The startup was founded in 2014 by Ryder, then an associate at venture capital firm Index Ventures in London. “I was tossing around digital health at the time, and the one thing everyone was trying to figure out was patient engagement,” he recalls. “But a lot of the consumers for these companies at the time were women, and no one was really focused on their health.”
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Unfortunately, the data, even today, shows evidence that women’s health care needs are still generally neglected. Just consider that one in five women suffer from postpartum depression but don’t get the mental health support they need, or that four out of five women who go to their doctor to discuss menopause don’t get the care they need, according to the Department of UK Health and Social Care.
That is gender health gap that Ryder wants to fix. According to her, Maven provides more than 6,000 appointments per week, and members typically get appointments in less than an hour and have the option to be matched with their preferred experts. Last year, Maven published peer-reviewed studies in the medical journal the lancet demonstrating the effectiveness of their model: for example, patients who have met a virtual OB-GYN saw a 4.2-fold reduction in ER visits, while new mothers who go through maternity care programs from Maven saw a 27 percent reduction in C -lay fees. “We’ve done objective claim analysis to really see if a virtual model affects the results,” says Ryder. “What we are seeing is that the magic happens when we put all the pieces together.”
This article appears in the July/August 2023 issue of WIRED UK magazine.
https://www.wired.com/story/kate-ryder-maven-femtech-fertility-pregnancy-menopause-womens-health/amp
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