Meet Ida Tin, the entrepreneur who coined the term ‘femtech’

Entrepreneur, author, and creator of the term “femtech,” Ida Tin is the chairwoman and co-founder of Clue, the pioneering period-tracking app. 

Despite growing up in an open-minded environment, Tin soon recognised the health gap affecting women across various facets of their lives. 

The absence of conversations surrounding menstruation, menopause, and pregnancy, and the poor investments in family planning schemes, motivated Tin to dedicate her life to building gender equality through technology. 

What is femtech?

In 2016, Tin coined the term “femtech,” a word situated at the intersection of multiple fields including healthcare, business, and gender studies. 

”Femtech is technology addressing the needs that people with female biology have,” she explains.  

”When we started out, we were thinking mostly about reproductive health. Now, I would say femtech also covers things where women are impacted very differently from men or non-proportionally are affected, like brain health or bone health”. 

Through the term, Tin sought to bring together diverse projects and experiences centred on addressing the needs of biological female bodies to enhance investor appeal and media recognition. 

With a target audience comprising almost half of the population, the femtech market size is projected to reach $75.1 billion by 2025, with the aim of yielding not only practical health advantages but also challenging gender inequality schemes. 

Clue, a pioneering example of femtech

Among the femtech companies striving to bridge the gender health gap is Clue, a period tracking app co-founded by Tin in 2012. 

The project stemmed from the desire to address the lack of investment in family planning initiatives. 

Today, Clue has more than 10 million users worldwide.  It helps people track their periods, facilitates a deeper understanding of the body, and enables them to take appropriate action. 

The company focuses on data collection, which Tin believes to be the key to challenging the gender health gap. People can upload details on Clue, from pains to sex drive, and this can help them find patterns and act accordingly. 

“There isn’t enough research on female health,” she says. 

“We win and users win when we do more science together”.