How the Femtech Space is Evolving in India | Wework Labs

Explore the growth, challenges, and opportunities in India's femtech sector. With rising demand for women's health tech solutions, discover what's shaping the future of femtech in India.

When Navneet Kaur decided to kick off her company in the femtech space, she left a billion-dollar industry to build a women’s health business from scratch, with no prior experience or connections in the field. Cut to 2022, she’s now at the helm of Femtech India—the country’s leading platform for all things related to women’s health. By all means, building a company in femtech—technology focused on women’s health—should not be that difficult. In fact all existing factors support its robust growth—it has the largest total addressable market, with the female population in India expected to reach to 152.2 crore during 2036 and the femtech industry as a whole is predicted to reach about $1.325 billion by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.8%.

Despite these positive factors, India is yet to see a definitive player to achieve scale and traction with femtech as a focus. Last year, 2023, in particular was a dull year for the sector with investments into the sector dropping to $26.8 million, a nearly 73% decline from the previous year.

So what ails femtech in India and where are the opportunities that lie ahead?

Establishing product differentiation

Aditi, the founder of Triya Health, an early stage startup focused on solving all chronic hormonal issues including PCOS through a wellness lens, says that when she hears investors talking about the space they often will struggle to find a differentiation.

(Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome is a hormonal disorder causing enlarged ovaries with small cysts on the outer edges.)

“Ultimately it’s very hard to build a product that is totally unique in this market because we are all trying to solve the same problem,” says Aditi. Globally as well, there has been a trend of commoditisation in the space, as per reports, with increased competition and with the markets flooded with similar products at differing price-points.

This oversaturation leads to consumer confusion and skepticism, which can hinder the acceptance of new solutions. As a result, startups like Triya Health are not only competing on product efficacy but also on their ability to provide personalized care and education about PCOS management and other hormonal issues. To counteract this, Triya offers personalised wellness plans tailored to individual needs which includes daily habit tracking to ensure accountability and progress, a supportive, non-judgmental community that fosters trust and education and expert sessions to empower clients with knowledge about their condition.

“For products as well in this segment, some of them don’t have efficacy right away which can make it a difficult proposition for investment,” says Navneet. “I think the risk of commoditisation presents an opportunity for startups like Triya to stand out by building trust and offering truly impactful care,” adds Aditi.

Addressing a specific market is also a way that some companies in the space are trying to build differentiation. For instance, Aashika Abraham, the founder of MAMMA-MIYA, an AI-powered co-pilot for busy moms with organic adoption in 127 countries says, "While India represents our second largest market in terms of downloads, I’m consistently hearing from other FemTech founders and investors that apparently Android (users) and Indian women don’t pay/ invest in themselves. We are still early in our monetisation journey in India and I am exploring B2B2C and Partnership routes for the Indian market because I’m constantly being told Indian women don’t pay! Whereas in the US, we have a very high B2C paid conversion ratio.” One would assume that in Tier-I parts of the country, women have the time, attitude and propensity to spend on themselves, but this is yet to be proven, she adds.

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Obstacles to scale For India in particular, scaling an online model seems to be a challenge. Limited access to smartphones and reliable internet connectivity continues to be a deterrent for adoption especially in rural areas where the majority of the Indian female population lives, which can make it harder for femtech companies to reach a wider TAM (Total Addressable Market). But perhaps the biggest barrier to adoption among Indian women today is paying for a service. While India as a whole is a price sensitive market, Indian women are less likely to pay for a product that has to do with their own health as opposed to spending as a household. Traditional norms indicate that women care more for the welfare of their household over their own, with many women leading to underreport their own health conditions or neglect it in its entirety. Aditi from Triya, for instance, saw this in her own journey, that when she decided to take her product to market she saw that she had fewer takers because they were unwilling to pay for a product or service.

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Bright spaces in femtech

Conversely, the fertility market in India is booming at a rapid pace. By 2030, the Indian IVF and fertility market is poised to soar to a value of $6 billion, marking a substantial growth trajectory, according to a study by Femtech India.

The IVF and fertility segment has seen rampant success in the offline space, says Navneet. “I think with the segment also it really comes down to pricing. With treatments for conditions like PCOS, PCOD, either they are working or starting their career… that age group has very limited money to spend on these things. Whereas since planning a baby is considered a family activity, there appears to be a greater propensity to spend.” (In vitro fertilization, also called IVF, is a complex series of procedures that can lead to a pregnancy. It's a treatment for infertility.)

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The WeWork Labs take

While femtech as a segment seems to be on the downturn at the moment, India is still ready for a bright player to emerge. What works to Indian founders' advantage in this space as compared to global counterparts are the regulations that exist. Indian women have access to procedures like abortions for up to 20 weeks in India, a right that is otherwise highly regulated in other countries like the United States for instance. Even regular consultations are also not a significant concern as patients have to wait less than 30 minutes to see a doctor and seek the treatment necessary.

The next startup to emerge from this segment is likely to be in the offline space. Like Proactive for Her for instance, the largest femtech company in recent times, which introduced offline clinics to its services after realising that it cannot solely be scaled online. Precautionary care, like services that are focused on providing early-detection care could be a significant market of interest. With greater education about women’s health issues and greater investor confidence in the segment, we’ll likely see more players emerge. But for now, it is wait and watch.

What are your thoughts on the femtech space? Let us know! See you in the next WeWork Labs blog.