The health care system has historically suffered from a gender bias, with women's health being underfunded, underserved, and overlooked. Misdiagnosis due to a lack of symptom catalogs for women, incorrect medication because pharmaceuticals are primarily tested on men, and limited to no knowledge of one's own body are the bitter consequences. But rescue is in sight! (Female) founders and startups are using technology to close the gender health gap. FemTech, or female technology, is a new field in medicine that focuses on women's health and uses technology-based products and services to track and assess symptoms, provide expert advice, and help women better understand their bodies.  With wearables, softwares, mobile apps and other digital tools, the FemTech industry is growing rapidly - by 2025, the value of femtech companies is expected to exceed $50 billion. In this article, we introduce you to ten emerging FemTech startups from Germany poised to revolutionize the healthcare industry.

At SpinLab, we always act in the interests of the environment, society and our employees. We are committed to driving social change and sustainable development in order to make an effective contribution to a future worth living.

Recent studies such as the Female Founders Report and German Startup Monitor clearly showed that the startup landscape is mainly white and male. Only 18 % of founders in Germany are women. Just five percent of these female startup founders received more than one million euros in funding, compared to 30 percent of men. Unfortunately, a lot of VC firms seem to be run with a "boys club" mentality, resulting in unconscious biases and systemic inequalities. As part of the 12th edition of the HHL SpinLab Investors Day, Bettine Schmitz (Auxxo), Dagmar Bottenbruch (Segenia), Petra Sokolová (Inven Capital) and Duc Quyen Tran (Dieter von Holtzbrinck Ventures) came together to discuss why more diversity in venture capital is needed. Dr. Tanja Emmerling (Hightech Gründerfonds) presented in her keynote: “Diversity -so what?!” Essentials for your Diversity Playbook: how diversity can be implemented in venture capital

Not really unexpectedly, the startup environment is not very diverse but rather homogeneous. Let the numbers speak: Let the numbers speak: 16 % of founders in Germany are women and roughly 75 % of VC money goes to male-only startup teams. Many companies, advisory boards, political parties have picked up these facts and want to contribute to change, for example by offering startup accelerator programs for (gender) diverse startup teams (Grow F, SpinLab Summer School), VCs that especially support female or mixed teams, quotas or scholarships. It has even become a trend in many industries.