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The term “femtech,” or female technology, was coined in 2016 in response to the need to encapsulate the diverse array of technologies addressing women's health needs. Since this time, over 100 femtech start-ups have launched across Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam combined, with around 77 percent of these companies established since 2019. Given femtech is a nascent industry in the region, FemTech Association Asia and Milieu Insight partnered in Q2 2024 to conduct research offering consumer insights for femtech start-ups in Southeast Asia.
To begin, women in Southeast Asia lack a comprehensive women’s health education. Menstrual health, puberty, and sexually transmitted infections are the top three female health topics that women in Southeast Asia are taught growing up. With 69 percent of women in the region receiving their women’s health education at school, femtech companies across all categories need to extend their content and programming beyond reproductive health and raise awareness for a broader vision of women’s health care across the entire women’s health life cycle.
Along with explaining the women’s health pain points they are solving, femtech founders need to detail how their solutions work.
The opportunity for increased adoption of women’s health products and services through improved education is confirmed by 42 percent of consumers expressing a lack of understanding about femtech solutions as the main barrier preventing them from using women’s health-specific products and services.
Over 50 percent of women rank health-care institutions and professionals as their go-to sources for women’s health information. Key opinion leaders and femtech companies should work together given the consumers’ high trust of primary health-care providers in Southeast Asia, reflecting a Bain & Company report. Building partnerships with health-care institutions and providers builds strong affinity as patients are more likely to trust a product or service endorsed by medical professionals, a go-to-market strategy that pharmaceutical companies clearly understand and target.
Social media also presents a promising platform for fostering open dialogue, disseminating valuable information, and sharing personal experiences with others. Current femtech users often rely on community reviews for guidance on which femtech brands, products, or services to trust and use. While social media has a history of misinformation and gender discrimination through women’s health content censorship and moderation (e.g., Femtech World reported that social media companies expressly prohibit words such as “vagina” and “breast,” and women’s health ads have been disproportionately banned) start-up founders are resilient and find ways to work around the restrictions to continue building loyal consumer bases through authentic conversations and serving as a reference for women’s health information.
Femtech can also provide a much-needed safe space for women’s health discussions. Across Southeast Asia, 52 percent of women feel it’s culturally unacceptable to discuss women's health issues in public—particularly due to fear of judgment or shame.
Convenience and cost are the key determining factors for consumers in Southeast Asia when deciding which femtech solutions to use. Founders should prioritize easy-to-use digital solutions with cost-effectiveness as top-of-mind. As femtech is currently addressing a more premium market segment, accessible pricing is critical to increase reach across Southeast Asia.
Projections for Southeast Asia indicate an increase in spending among current users of femtech products and services that will add a further approximately US$1.2 billion to the current market, a meaningful 20 percent increase. This increase is expected to be driven by 54 percent of nonusers intending to adopt femtech plus about 80 percent of current users increasing their spending on products and services. The key to realizing and capturing this growth is improving consumer education and awareness. Femtech companies are poised to take on this challenge.
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