{"id":47018,"date":"2021-01-27T12:19:37","date_gmt":"2021-01-27T17:19:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/?p=47018"},"modified":"2021-04-27T14:59:18","modified_gmt":"2021-04-27T18:59:18","slug":"fertility-startups-juliet-stix-easier-women-track-cycles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/fertility-startups-juliet-stix-easier-women-track-cycles\/","title":{"rendered":"The Femtech Market Is Booming. Here Are Some of the Risks and Rewards"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Pregnancy
Pregnancy and ovulation tests from Juliet, which is officially launching in February 2021. (Credit: Juliet)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When Jessie was trying to get pregnant<\/a> last year, she used Clue<\/a> to track her period<\/a>; Ava to track her ovulation and basal body temperature; Premom<\/a> for early pregnancy and ovulation test strips; and Pregnancy Test Checker<\/a> to crowdsource opinions from other users about whether she was, in fact, pregnant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are just some of the apps and products developed within the last few years, part of a growing trend of fertility startups and femtech companies looking to capitalize on a booming market that is estimated<\/a> to be worth $50 billion by 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many people associate fertility products with women who are struggling to become pregnant \u2014 closed Facebook groups like the one hosted by Premom become de facto support groups \u2014 but companies are increasingly marketing to women \u201cwherever you are in life,\u201d according to Ava\u2019s<\/a> homepage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Related: <\/em>This Founder Raised $10 Million to Make IVF Costs Easier to Handle<\/em><\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Jessie \u2014 who declined to use her last name and, full disclosure, is this writer\u2019s former college roommate \u2014 pregnancy was a project, and she wanted all the help she could get.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI felt like I was taking control of the process \u2014 the apps help you regulate your cycle a little better,\u201d she said. \u201cI was really negative and convinced myself I was going to have problems, so if it happened, I\u2019d be ready for it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Dr. Marcelle Cedars, director of the Center for Reproductive Health at University of California San Francisco Health, the influx of fertility resources can be empowering for women. \u201cGetting additional resources and money into the field is a good thing,\u201d she said. \u201cThe newer generation like more information.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, there are privacy concerns \u2014 many startups, including Premom, have been slapped on the wrist for sharing personal data<\/a> without user consent. And critics say they perpetuate a gender binary that is becoming outdated as calls for gender equality get louder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lisa Campo-Engelstein, a feminist bioethicist and director of the Institute for Bioethics and Health Humanities at the University of Texas Medical Branch, said companies often co-opt abortion-rights messaging to make women feel like they are taking ownership of their bodies, but they do not address larger social issues that overwhelmingly burden women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think women are trying to uphold this unattainable standard of being the good mother by doing everything within their reach,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd that’s my worry about a lot of these new technologies \u2014 it’s a technological solution to a social problem.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Female founders of newer startups argue that they\u2019ve come a long way from earlier, mostly male-founded fertility startups (Glow<\/a> and Flo<\/a>, two different fertility trackers, were started by men), and that consumers come because they are looking for a built-in community they can\u2019t easily find elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Stix
Stix co-founders Jamie Norwood and Cynthia Plotch. Plotch started the company after running into her boyfriend’s mother at a drugstore — while picking up a pregnancy test. (Credit: Stix)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWomen are so much more than their fertility,\u201d said Cynthia Plotch, co-founder of Stix, a self-described \u201cdiscreet\u201d pregnancy and ovulation test subscription service that raised<\/a> $1.3 million in seed funds in August. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plotch conceived of the company in 2019 after running into her boyfriend\u2019s mother in a drugstore while buying a pregnancy test (it all worked out; the couple are still together). And she and cofounder Jamie Norwood have just launched a new kit to help treat UTIs that includes a test, fast-acting pain relief and a daily supplement \u201cto help protect against future infections,\u201d according to Plotch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Stix
Stix has rolled out a new UTI mail-home kit that includes a dietary supplement. (Credit: Stix)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

[Related: <\/em>When Pain Derailed This Doctor\u2019s Career, She Started a $5 Million Nonprofit That Saves Pregnant Women\u2019s Lives Around the World<\/em><\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStix is so much more than just buying a test,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re building really deep relationships with our customers. We offer them educational things outside of a more transactional relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Philadelphia-based company compiles data around specific topics women search for, and then curates content on the website using those search terms. \u201cThe purpose of our library is to answer the most-searched Google options, and that\u2019s what will bring [customers] into the fold,\u201d Plotch said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over at Juliet<\/a>, another subscription service officially launching next month, founder Heather Smith wanted to join the market when she was feeling overwhelmed by the decision to start fertility treatments to have a second child as a single mom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s really nothing remarkable about an at-home pregnancy test,\u201d said Smith, who is executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Wyoming, North Dakota and South Dakota. \u201cBut there is something different about the experience you get with Juliet that you don\u2019t get with other companies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Heather
Heather Smith is the executive director of a regional ACLU and founder of Juliet. (Credit: Juliet)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The tests, which come in pastel pink and Robin egg blue boxes, have positive messages and space for women to write their own affirmations. A dollar from every sale is donated to SisterSong<\/a>, a reproductive justice collective for women of color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith, who counts the founders of Cora<\/a> and Thinx<\/a> as inspiration, acknowledged that women can just as easily order tests online from Target or Amazon. But \u201cmy hope is that with Juliet they\u2019re connected to this community of women who know exactly what they\u2019re going through,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Related: <\/em>Molly Hayward of Cora: Organic Hygiene Products for Every Woman<\/em><\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can go to a Target, but you don\u2019t get a bunch of women behind you, cheering you on,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Campo-Engelstein cautioned that many of these apps cater to a certain kind of woman: cis, white, straight and professional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are a lot of women of color, poor women, queer women, disabled women who are not included in these sorts of apps,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd so I had those same worries with a lot of reproductive technologies, that they’re geared toward more affluent, educated white women who can afford them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, she acknowledged that fertility startups are not going away, and will most likely keep multiplying as more players jump into a crowded field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One way to address concerns is to \u201cbe more holistic, and not just look at fertility, but try to connect it to other parts of women\u2019s health \u2014 mental health, sleep, health conditions,\u201d Campo-Engelstein said. \u201cNot to just reduce women to this one body part.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More fertility startups are cropping up in an already crowded and competitive field.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143,"featured_media":47022,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":false,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[187],"tags":[22144,19734,19682,19453],"class_list":["post-47018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-fertility-technology","tag-health-and-wellness","tag-women-empowerment","tag-women-in-tech"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFertility Startups Juliet, Stix Aim to Make It Easier For Women to Track Cycles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"More fertility startups are cropping up in an already crowded and competitive field.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/fertility-startups-juliet-stix-easier-women-track-cycles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"As More Women Try Fertility Products, a $50 Billion Market Is Born\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"More fertility startups are cropping up in an already crowded and competitive field.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/fertility-startups-juliet-stix-easier-women-track-cycles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Story Exchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheStoryExchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-01-27T17:19:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-04-27T18:59:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/app\/uploads\/2021\/01\/juliet-flower.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"717\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"511\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Corinne Lestch\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"The \u2018Femtech\u2019 Market Is Booming. 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