“An Overview of How to Invest in Women’s Health” by Portfolia. Luke Newton, Creative Investment Research
Portfolia, a women’s health capital venture fund, hosted a webinar on July 23rd entitled, “An Overview of How to Invest in Women’s Health.” The event was moderated by Portfolia CEO Trish Costello and Portfolia Investor Relations Director Brittany Freehan.
Femtech, software services and technology centered
around women’s health, may be the largest overlooked investment opportunity in the
marketplace, with women’s health a severely underinvested sector. Despite gaining the largest percentage increase in national research, ironically, there are few women at the top of women’s research, Costello explained. The excuse offered by industry insiders is that participating
women could become pregnant, compromising the research. As such, femtech is
not currently able to maximally benefit women health’s across health, medicine,
and general biological services, signaling widespread investment opportunities.
Costello contends these investment opportunities go unnoticed for a very simple reason: an overwhelming 95% of venture
capitalists are men. It is the rule of investing to invest in what you
know and believe in, and men have next-to-no firsthand
experience with women’s health issues. As Costello says, men do not have to
endure mammograms, pap smears, or painful periods, so these issues don’t have
any significance for them.
There is a group willing to invest in women’s
health: women. According to Costello, women control over $145 trillion dollars
in wealth (with that number expected to increase another $30 trillion by 2030)
and are more willing to invest in health opportunities across the board, meaning
the capacity to uplift femtech is certainly present. Portfolia, the
first venture capital fund exclusively for women’s health, has observed a 314%
increase in women’s health venture capital investment since 2018 with over $435
million invested in non-fertility femtech startups in Q3 2023. Additionally,
76% of women’s health companies have a female founder, meaning they have the
first-hand experience with women’s health that the venture capitalists don’t.
Despite the massive potential femtech holds, it is important to remain vigilant
of the challenges. Currently, most femtech investors in the field state that there is
a shortage of late-stage investments. Additionally, an interesting, unexpected hurdle the
industry must face is that women’s anatomy terms are not allowed
on most social and advertising platforms. Costello argues that the rewards are
worth the challenges, pointing out that Portfolia-partnered femtechs are quite
literally saving lives through research in bone health technology, early
detection methods for ovarian cancer, and more.
Maternal mortality remains a women’s health issue that
disproportionately impacts Black women, with rates reaching a stagging 41.3 maternal
deaths per 100,000 live births for non-Hispanic Black women compared only 13.4
out of 100,000 live births for non-Hispanic White women (see here
for information). While the event was largely focused on the promise of femtech
investing, Portfolia may want to partner with other women run femtech funds and companies, like Meet Mae, Wolomi, LOOM, and others to increase investments targeting black
maternal mortality. This might signal a commitment to keeping socially
and equity conscious investment at the forefront of their venture strategies, thereby ensuring that racial disparities across women’s health are addressed. This would help fulfill the promise femtech represents for the nation.