News
Femtech and mental health – the biggest developments
The rise in femtech over the past few years has brought female health to the forefront of the market. From period tracking apps to fertility support, technology has opened up a whole new world for women looking to take control of their health. But how is the tech addressing women’s mental health concerns? Femtech World reports.
Over recent years, as a population we’ve all been increasingly aware with mental health, with books, courses and apps all being produced to support users’ emotional wellbeing.
In England, around one in five women has a common mental health problem such as anxiety, depression or self-harm.
And the pandemic is said to have disproportionately affected the mental health of women in particular. In fact, research from the US using real-time survey data, found that the gender gap in mental health in the US increased by 66 per cent over the course of the pandemic.
Now, femtech is being leveraged to help women take care of their mental health across a number of spheres – with a number of exciting developments and deals having been launched in recent years.
Maternal health
The magnitude of pregnancy and becoming a parent can often be the trigger for mental health issues in women.
And Covid-19 exacerbated the issue, with the risk for depression during pregnancy doubling during the pandemic, while breastfeeding issues were also magnified, with statistics revealing to a 41 per cent newborn readmittance rate for feeding problems in the US.
To combat the most common issues, in September 2021, women’s healthcare specialist Sonder Health and virtual reality firm BehaVR have teamed up to create NurtureVR, a VR-based digital therapeutic to help expectant mothers with stress, anxiety and fear.
When combined with Sonder Health’s existing services, the platform provides mothers-to-be and new parents with round-the-clock support.
It provides mums and their families with access to 22 weeks of educational material, mindfulness skills and immersive experiences, along with around-the-clock access to specialty-trained telehealth lactation consultants and registered dietitians.
Mindfulness
In October 2020, femtech start-up Clementine raised £1m in equity funding from impact venture capital firm Fortunis.
The female-focused hypnotherapy app, aims to help women find their inner calm, become more confident, reduce anxiety and sleep better.
It offers a range of bite-sized sessions of what it calls cognitive hypnotherapy, a style of talking therapy that encourages a person to shift their mindset, using a combination of soothing music and spoken word to lull users into a sense of calm.
The app was developed by Kim Palmer, who named it after her habit of bringing a clementine into stressful meetings and using it as a subtle tool to quell anxiety, by peeling or holding it to help keep her focused. Many of the hypnotherapy sessions on the Clementine app work in the same way: five-minute recordings designed to easily fit into users’ days.
Banishing worry
Women are statistically more likely to suffer from anxiety than men, although why this should be is unclear.
Worry Tree was developed by lifelong worrier Louise Stevenson, after her husband told her that her anxiety was having a negative impact on every aspect of family life.
The app is one of just 15 approved mental health tools in the NHS app library, and helps users notice and challenge their worries. It is available for anyone to use, but 75 per cent of users are women.
It uses CBT techniques to train people who suffer from excessive worry to notice when they are worrying and try to build more constructive habits of problem-solving and distraction.
Connecting mothers
As well as the physical and emotional changes that accompany pregnancy and motherhood, many new mums suffer from feelings of isolation and loneliness.
The Peanut app was founded in 2017 when Michelle Kennedy had her first child and found there was little social support available.
Having worked in social networking for ten years, Michelle set out to reduce feelings of isolation and make sure no one has to navigate womanhood alone.
Peanut started life as a way of bringing new parents together socially and has since grown and developed to connect women at every life stage – from puberty and pregnancy through to motherhood and menopause – so that women of all generations can access support.
Breast cancer support
One woman is diagnosed with breast cancer every 10 minutes in the UK. And while survival rates have improved massively over recent years – when diagnosed at its earliest stage, almost all people with breast cancer will survive their disease for five years or more – it can still be a worrying time.
Charity Breast Cancer Now’s Becca app provides specialist support to help sufferers live with, through and beyond their diagnosis, particularly when it comes to their mental health.
Easy-to-use flashcards give information, support and inspiration to anyone struggling to find their “new normal” following diagnosis.
It includes patient stories, information on side effects of different treatments, menopausal symptoms, fatigue, diet, exercise and body image.
An EU committee has backed a report warning of systemic inequalities in women’s health research, diagnosis and treatment across Europe.
The European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality approved the report, which was initiated by Renew Europe.
Women remain under-represented in medical research and clinical trials.
Around 72 per cent of drug trials do not provide data separated by sex and gender, while only five per cent of global research and development funding is dedicated to women’s health.
The report was led by Renew Europe rapporteur Billy Kelleher MEP of Fianna Fáil in Ireland.
It calls for greater investment in women’s health research, stronger inclusion of women in clinical trials and gender-sensitive diagnostics and treatments, particularly for endometriosis, menopause and cardiovascular disease.
Kelleher, first vice-president of Renew Europe, said: “Women’s health remains one of medicine’s biggest blind spots.
“When research, clinical trials and medical data fail to reflect women’s experiences, the result is poorer diagnosis, treatment and care.”
The report also calls for improved access to sexual and reproductive healthcare, including follow-up to the successful European Citizens’ Initiative “My Voice, My Choice”.
Its recommendations include better support for women’s physical and mental health and access to high-quality care throughout pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period, free from discrimination.
It also highlights additional healthcare barriers faced by LGBTQI+ people and women in marginalised communities or vulnerable situations.
Kelleher said: “This report is about closing those gaps and ensuring that women’s health is recognised as a core measure of the quality and fairness of our healthcare systems.”
By placing women’s health higher on the political agenda, the report aims to support the implementation of the EU Gender Equality Strategy and shape future European health policies.
A final vote by the European Parliament is expected in September 2026.
Women’s Health Week Europe 2026 has released its full programme ahead of the October event at The Emirates Stadium in London on 7–8 October, with 700+ senior decision-makers and 80+ speakers confirmed across what will be the organisation’s most ambitious edition to date.
For the first time, the event will run across two dedicated stages, each built around a distinct set of questions facing the women’s health industry.
The Global Stage takes on the macro forces shaping the sector: where capital is flowing, how AI is transforming diagnosis and treatment, the gender data gap, wearable technology, stigmatised markets, and the policy landscape across Europe.
Confirmed speakers include Merete Clausen (EIF), Frida Polli (MIT), Nichole Young-Lin (Google), Alison Cave (MHRA), Emily Darlington MP, Kerry Buckley (Boots), Tim Davis (LSEG), Henriette Hessen (Verdane), Hillary Ball (Atomico), and Christine Hockley (British Business Bank).
The Scale Stage runs in parallel, focused on execution: how to navigate regulatory approval pathways, survive the valley of death, build the evidence stack that wins payers and partners, implement AI into a women’s health business, and position for acquisition. Sessions include a reverse pitch format, in which corporates and investors pitch to founders, and a founder’s guide to getting acquired.
The programme also includes two Pitch competitions, one per day, across the Consumer & Tech and Medical Devices & Therapeutics categories, with 16 finalists competing on the mainstage in front of the full delegate audience.
Every session is case study-driven, with speakers selected on the basis of having lived the problem they are on stage to solve.
Women’s Health Week Europe 2026 takes place 7–8 October at The Emirates Stadium, London. The full programme is available now.
View the 2026 programme here
Pre-agenda pricing ends 26 June
Tickets are currently available at pre-agenda pricing, with savings of up to £600 off standard pricing. The deadline is midnight on Friday 26 June. After that, prices go up.
Secure your place: https://wplatform.co/summits/womens-health-week-europe-2026?utm_source=advocacy&utm_medium=ext_email&utm_campaign=whw-europe-26-femtech-world#tickets
Also at The Emirates: Women’s Sport Summit 2026
The day before WHW Europe, on 6 October, The Emirates Stadium will also host the inaugural Women’s Sport Summit, a dedicated one-day event bringing together 400+ attendees from across sport, business, and investment. Focused on the commercial side of women’s sport, the Summit covers the full sports cycle: money, product, and market. Where women’s sport means business.
Most IVF add-ons lack reliable evidence, with benefits either absent or inconclusive, the largest review of its kind has found.
More than 70 per cent of IVF patients in the UK, Australia and New Zealand reportedly pay for one or more additional treatments.
However, researchers found that most of the procedures, medicines and techniques had no effect on fertility or were backed by limited or low-quality evidence.
Unproven add-ons can also lead to false hope, greater financial strain and unnecessary medical procedures at an already difficult time for patients.
Dr Sarah Lensen, of the University of Melbourne, said: “In many countries, infertility care is largely provided by private clinics where IVF is highly commercialised, and some add-ons are extremely expensive.
“Our review finds a lack of evidence that most of the IVF add-ons we assessed provide any benefit to patients. Unproven add-ons can lead to false hope, greater financial strain and unnecessary medical procedures at what already can be a very difficult time for patients.”
Researchers said concerns have grown in recent years about potentially untrustworthy randomised controlled trials in reproductive medicine, including studies of IVF add-ons.
The team set out to review the effectiveness and safety of 10 commonly offered add-ons using trustworthy studies.
Researchers initially identified 157 potentially eligible randomised controlled trials but excluded 72 because of concerns about their reliability.
Randomised controlled trials compare treatments by assigning participants to different groups, helping researchers assess whether an intervention causes a particular outcome.
The team combined data from the remaining 85 trials in a meta-analysis, which brings together findings from several studies.
The review found no effect on fertility or inconclusive evidence for seven of the 10 add-ons examined.
These included acupuncture, which involves inserting thin needles into points on the body, and corticosteroids, medicines that reduce inflammation and suppress immune activity.
Endometrial receptivity testing was also not backed by reliable evidence. The procedure involves taking a sample from the lining of the womb to examine patterns of gene activity.
Another add-on was intralipid infusion, which delivers a fat-containing liquid into the bloodstream.
Researchers separately examined injections of platelet-rich plasma into the ovaries and infusions of platelet-rich plasma into the womb.
Platelet-rich plasma is made from a patient’s blood and contains a high concentration of platelets, which play a role in healing.
The seventh treatment was pre-implantation genetic testing for aneuploidy, which examines embryos to check whether they have the expected number of chromosomes.
The review found only weak evidence of a possible benefit from three other add-ons.
EmbryoGlue, an embryo transfer medium containing hyaluronic acid, may increase the probability of pregnancy and live birth. However, the evidence on live birth rates was not considered robust.
Endometrial scratching, a minor procedure that deliberately disturbs the lining of the womb, may also increase the probability of pregnancy and live birth.
Physiological intracytoplasmic sperm injection, known as PICSI, selects sperm based on their ability to bind to hyaluronic acid. Weak evidence suggested it may reduce the risk of miscarriage.
Lensen said: “There is widespread misinformation about IVF add-ons with private clinic websites and patient forums on social media – major information sources for patients – often overstating the benefits and omitting the costs and risks of add-ons.
“IVF clinics and clinicians should carefully consider whether it is appropriate to offer unproven add-ons, as their availability is often perceived by patients as implicit endorsement of benefit.”
Menopause4 weeks agoPerimenopause misinformation ‘putting women at risk’
Entrepreneur4 weeks agoWomen’s Health Innovation Summit opens submissions for 2026 Innovation Showcase
Insight3 weeks agoBritish women among angriest in Europe, health survey reveals
News4 weeks agoWomen still being failed when they reach menopause, experts say
Menopause2 weeks agoApple Health adds menopause and perimenopause tracking
Menopause4 weeks agoSweden eyes domestic production of oestrogen patches amid menopause treatment shortage
News2 weeks agoFemtech World Awards 2026: Winners revealed
News4 weeks agoThree menopause innovators shortlisted for Femtech World Award
1 Comment